The Best Movie Psychopaths?

[Rowsdower!]

Anybody ever see Cory McAbee's The American Astronaut? 'Cos if we're talking genuine Pschopaths in movies, Rocco Sisto's Professor Hess is one of the first character's that comes to mind.

YESSSSS!!!! I love that movie and Professor Hess is the best part.

"ARE YOU GONNA SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME?!!"

Have you seen Stingray Sam? Overall I'd say the movie is better but for some reason I liked American Astronaut more. And Professor Hess is a much better villain than Fredward.

 

[TheWiseGuy487]

Whenever I think of "movie psychopath", the first one that comes to mind is Norman Bates. He's the one that pretty much started it all.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

How about the psychopathic chav in Eden Lake?

Don't wanna spoil it, but that last shot of him at the end just says it all

 

[Rowsdower!]

Early Grace - Kalifornia
Gertrude Baniszewski - An American Crime
Rorschach - Watchmen
Jeffrey Goines - 12 Monkeys
Mademoiselle - Martyrs

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I immediately thought of Max Cady from Cape Fear.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Loony Bin Jim - Punisher War Zone

 

[The Morningstar]

I don't know if this counts, but the one that always sticks in my head is this:

Don Logan (Sexy Beast)

He was just so convincingly mental, great great acting.

**** yea. Don Logan, how could I forget him. He's an underrated movie villain. One of the best ever.

Also, the two guys from both versions of Funny Games.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Jack Nicholson in The Shining

 

[moviedoors]

Madman Mundt!

You win for having the most refreshing pick. What a great movie.

 

[bullets]

Gary Oldman in Leon

Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now

Skeet Ulrich and Mathew Lillard in Scream

 

[-Arya-]

I always thought it was the other way around. Psychopath= insane

Sociopath= sane but no conscience

Psychopaths are generally sane in the sense that they are in touch with reality; same with sociopaths.

Schizophrenia is best characterized by insanity (not in touch with reality).


Anyway, my favorites that come immediately to mind are:

-Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange
-Hannibal Lector - Silence of the Lambs
-Anton Chigurh - No Country for Old Men
-Madman Mundt - Barton Fink

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Schizophrenia is best characterized by insanity (not in touch with reality).

Actually, that's not true, Schizophrenia has no clear definition, in fact, any psychologist who claims to know exactly what it is is either full of it, or not as smart as they think they are.

 

[-Arya-]

Actually, that's not true, Schizophrenia has no clear definition, in fact, any psychologist who claims to know exactly what it is is either full of it, or not as smart as they think they are.

I'm aware there's no clear definition to it, but the general symptoms of the paranoid variety include experiences (i.e. hallucinations, delusions, Incoherent thought etc...) in which the person is clearly not in agreement with others on what is real. So it's the best way to currently describe it.

 

[TenFold]

How about Vincent from Collateral played by Tom Cruise. He's charismatic, philosophical, and kills who ever without much remorse if any at all. He explained his actions by saying "It's my job." Thats psychotic.

Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt is all kinds of messed up. He's not trying to murder anyone but he's trying to bring the whole system down.

Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen. His character just snaps and he quietly and confidently takes everyone he wants out.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

I'm aware there's no clear definition to it, but the general symptoms of the paranoid variety include experiences (i.e. hallucinations, delusions, Incoherent thought etc...) in which the person is clearly not in agreement with others on what is real. So it's the best way to currently describe it.

It's a dangerous term that can be thrown around too easily by the ignorant.

You put a genius in a room full of morons, or people with their own agenda, and it's easy for them to turn round and accuse the smart person of being 'paranoid', when in actual fact, they are the ones who know what is really going on.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt is all kinds of messed up. He's not trying to murder anyone but he's trying to bring the whole system down.

Em, I wouldn't say having the idea of bringing 'the system' down was psychopathic, esp one as unfair as the capitalist one we live in, as long as you have a healthy plan for a replacement system.
But, his methods were unsound, ie going round blowing sh** up.

 

[the amazing fro]

^ The only way you can replace one system with another is by violence. Tis the way of the world.

 

[-Arya-]

It's a dangerous term that can be thrown around too easily by the ignorant.

You put a genius in a room full of morons, or people with their own agenda, and it's easy for them to turn round and accuse the smart person of being 'paranoid', when in actual fact, they are the ones who know what is really going on.

Well, many people will generally throw around terms like 'crazy' or 'insane' at others whenever there is a strong disagreement regarding a particular situation. But, I'm reasonably sure that all parties will agree that they are in a specific location, or don't have voices in their heads telling them they are being hunted - Unlike many schizophrenics who claim to be in another world or routinely hear voices of persecution in their heads.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

^ The only way you can replace one system with another is by violence. Tis the way of the world.

Yeah, I guess you are right there, blowing up the credit card buildings was more along the lines of that kind of thing, but randomly blowing up stuff for pranks, even ones that have a philosophy behind them, is pretty pointless.

@Arya, yep, and you could have some insidious person try to convince someone that they are schizophrenic, let's say if they had a personal dislike of them.
The term 'evil' gets thrown around a lot too, but I think most would agree that kind of attack on a person would fall under that definition.

 

[bullets]

Also Tyler Durden had a bit of an identity crisis.

 

[Thundarr]

About the "Sociopath vs Psychopath" debate. I'm pretty sure that sociopaths have no intimate feelings (love, friendship, etc) and are only capable of expressing their most primal feelings (anger, lust, etc). However they are intelligent and charismatic enough to hide this behind a wall of wit and charm. The first half of the word "sociopath" means social, after all. Ted Bundy was classified as being a sociopath. While a psychopath is equally without concience, he lacks the wit and charm to keep his "true self" hidden. These are the killers who live alone far from civilized folks, and typically use either blitz attacks to kill their prey, or they hunt low rent prostitutes. Willy Picton and Ed Gein would be classified as being psychopaths.

As for my favorite movie psychopaths? I no particular order:

Anthony Hopkins: Silence Of The Lambs
Anthony Perkins: Psycho
Jack Nickolson: The Shining
Robert Englund: A Nightmare On Elm Street

 

[BestGirl]

Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds was a great sociopath.

 

[Lighthouse]

Psychotic is not the same as psychopathic. Norman Bates is psychotic, Hannibal Lector is psychopathic.

One of my favorite psychopaths is Tracy Flick from "Election".

 

[Max J Power]

Harry Powell-The Night of the Hunter
Bruno Anthony-Strangers on a Train
Brandon Shaw-Rope

They're excellent sociopaths.

 

[Hotwire]

About the "Sociopath vs Psychopath" debate. I'm pretty sure that sociopaths have no intimate feelings (love, friendship, etc) and are only capable of expressing their most primal feelings (anger, lust, etc). However they are intelligent and charismatic enough to hide this behind a wall of wit and charm. The first half of the word "sociopath" means social, after all. Ted Bundy was classified as being a sociopath. While a psychopath is equally without concience, he lacks the wit and charm to keep his "true self" hidden. These are the killers who live alone far from civilized folks, and typically use either blitz attacks to kill their prey, or they hunt low rent prostitutes. Willy Picton and Ed Gein would be classified as being psychopaths.

As for my favorite movie psychopaths? I no particular order:

Anthony Hopkins: Silence Of The Lambs
Anthony Perkins: Psycho
Jack Nickolson: The Shining
Robert Englund: A Nightmare On Elm Street

www.helpingpsychology.com/sociopath-vs-psychopath-whats-the-difference

With that???
Edward Norton as Aaron in Primal Fear.

And to think, that was his big screen debut!