The 14 Greatest Psychological Thriller Villains

Charming monsters, quiet stalkers and one very polite cannibal: the scariest villains in this genre rarely raise their voices. Pick the one who still haunts you.

1. 1
   Hannibal Lecter

   The brilliant, cannibalistic psychiatrist who mind-games Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Norman Bates

   The shy motel owner with a murderous split personality in Hitchcock's Psycho.
   621pts
3. 3
   Tom Ripley

   The charming con man who kills to assume a rich man's life in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
   461pts
4. 4
   Annie Wilkes

   The obsessive 'number one fan' who holds a novelist captive in Misery.
   407pts
5. 5
   Keyser Soze

   The near-mythical crime lord behind the twist ending of The Usual Suspects.
   344pts
6. 6
   John Doe

   The methodical killer who stages the seven deadly sins as murders in Se7en.
   344pts
7. 7
   Nurse Ratched

   The icy head nurse who rules a psychiatric ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
   344pts
8. 8
   Jack Torrance

   The caretaker who descends into homicidal madness at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining.
   271pts
9. 9
   Patrick Bateman

   The polished Wall Street yuppie and killer of American Psycho.
   271pts
10. 10
    Frank Booth

    The gas-huffing, unhinged gangster who terrorizes a small town in Blue Velvet.
    271pts
11. 11
    Max Cady

    The vengeful ex-convict who stalks his former lawyer's family in Cape Fear.
    185pts
12. 12
    Mrs. Danvers

    The sinister housekeeper who tortures the new bride in Hitchcock's Rebecca.
    185pts
13. 13
    Alex Forrest

    The jilted lover whose obsession turns deadly in Fatal Attraction.
    185pts
14. 14
    Amy Dunne

    The 'cool girl' wife who engineers her own disappearance in Gone Girl.
    0pts

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