Top 20 Terrifying Movie Psychopaths

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Published 2024-07-06
Psycho killer... Qu'est-ce que c'est? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the scariest and most threatening psychopaths in film. Beware the spoilers! Our countdown includes characters from movies "Misery", "American Psycho", "Cape Fear" and more! Which of these characters scares you the most? Let us know in the comments below!

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All Comments (21)
  • @WatchMojo
    Join us for the Live Premiere on Saturday July 6 at 7pm! Until then, let us know which movie psychopaths scares you the most! You can also tune into out our 24/7 livestream here!: youtube.com/live/CsTHvxP2fsg
  • @WeylandLabs
    Kevin Spacey: "Seven" is one of the best portrays of a psychopath in film history. "WHAT'S IN THE BOX" was crazy ! And he won getting him to kill.
  • @Mos41f
    Rutger Hauer's character in 'The Hitcher' actually served as the inspiration for The Joker in The Dark Knight. It's also one of Christopher Nolan's favorite movies. Btw, these are NOT the most terrifying psychopaths in movies, these are only the most well-known ones. Even some well-known ones are shockingly absent such as Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, Lou from Nightcrawler, Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction etc. If this comment gets 100 likes, I will start listing each one, especially one psychopath who makes Heath Ledger's Joker seem like his Mickey Mouse compared to him.
  • Sir Anthony Hopkins definitely earned his Oscar for playing arguably the greatest movie villain and psychopath in film history.
  • Schindler's List's Amon Göth should be up there. He was perfectly portrayed by Ralph Fiennes
  • @jayr.3720
    Ben Kingsley's performance as Don in Sexy Beast is an all timer for unhinged performances. Such a genuinely unnerving character.
  • You forgot Scorpio in Dirty Harry. Even Andy Robinson physically flinched during filming
  • @peteharris556
    How on Earth did you miss Rosamund Pike's Amazing Amy? She deserves a number one or two on this list or any list of this type.
  • @toshirodragon
    Dude, I don't know about De Niro, but Robert Mitchum's Max Cady had me sleeping with the lights on for months!
  • @CRITTERBUSTERS
    Where the hell is Rutger Hauer’s character John Ryder from The Hitcher (1986) ??!! That character is truly terrifying!
  • @user-em6ie2be7x
    Patrick Bateman - American Psycho....Doesn't get more Psychotic than Trying to Feed a cat to an ATM.💁🏿‍♂️🐈 🏧
  • Norman Bates from 1960’s ‘Psycho.’ Impressive performance by Anthony Perkins. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
  • @Oceena
    Oldie but goodie, Robert Mitchum’s chilling performance in ‘The Night of the Hunter’
  • @TribeNotSpiders
    Who else but Hannibal Lecter could top this list? Anthony Hopkins' performance was absolutely chilling.
  • @LeonardoKlotz
    Patrick Bateman was the most traumatizing Especially when he kills that street dog, we don't actually see it in close-ups, but hearing it yelping gave an idea of how much it suffered And the worst part is that it's not even certain whether it died on the spot or if it took hours to die out
  • @ajversus
    A prequel to No Country for Old Men. Would be very intriguing. Simply called "Anton" or "Chigurh"
  • @marki7661
    Hannibal has been my favourite villain since I was 8 years old. Brian Cox, Mads Mikkelsen also did amazing work portraying the character, even the actor who played the younger version in Hannibal Rising. Anthony Hopkins was just magic. Just the way he perfected that stare while talking to Clarice, especially in the scene shown here at 16:48 with the wide angle closeup, combined with his chilling stone cold demeanour. 🥶🥶