Top 11 Scariest Performances

NC: Hello I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don’t have to. And I’m still continuing the month of Nostalgia-Ween.

Clip from "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" where a chain saw killer cuts off the kid’s heads

NC: What the hell's wrong with me? So, seeing how this is the month where everything is supposed to be scary, let's take a look at scary performances. We all know the traditional monsters and how iconic they’ve become, but a new breed of monsters has been evolving over the years. They constantly battle between what’s human and what's inhuman, and usually the more removed they are from an ethical reality, the more frightening they become. Now keep in mind I know a good performance isn’t just a good performance. A lot of good things go into it like the writing, directing, music, lighting, all that good stuff. But still, these are the characters and performances that just thinking about them can send shivers down our spines. And we’re here to honor the eleven of them here today. Why top eleven? NC makes an evil laugh

Number 11: Bill Sykes from Alfred. This guy is just a bastard. He does it all: kidnaps kids, steals from the wealthy, and even beats his own girlfriend, one of the main characters in the film, to death. What a fucked up creep! And every time you look at him, you know he's ready to strike again. He doesn’t care who gets in his way. If you say something wrong, your ass is going down. Even with that thick cockney accent, he still scares the living piss out of you. Hell, he can even make the act of calling his dog seem intimidating. You can just tell actor Oliver Reed was throwing everything into it, and because of that, we get one hell of a creepy thug. Bill Sykes is definitely one bad evil who will do anything to get his way.

Number 10: the T-1000 from Terminator 2. I know a lot of people found Arnold to be pretty scary in the first Terminator, but, let’s be honest, it’s still Arnold. He looks like a giant robot, talks like a giant robot, so it's pretty easy to guess he’s a giant robot, as well as easy to spot in a crowd. With Robert Patrick though, he looks like an everyday person, and can even act like an everyday guy, blending into the crowd with nobody suspecting him. But when he needs to kill, good God, nothing can stop him. He can turn into knives, he can turn into other people, he can imitate their voices, and plus, he's a cop. As if to say even the fucking police are after you, kid. You don’t have a prayer. On top of that, he’s chasing a child in this one, which seems much more vulnerable than chasing a grown woman. Granted, he's a strong kid, but he's still a kid, and this is as basic a boogeyman that you come up with. You can’t reason with him, you can’t hurt him, and all he wants to do is kill you. If that's not scary as fuck, I don’t know what is.

Number 9: Annie from Misery. The role that won Kathie Bates, an Oscar, this psychotic bitch is thirty-two flavors of crazy. She helped save the life of her favorite author in the world, and then goes crazy when she finds out he’s killing off her favorite character. She straps him to a bed and forces him to write a sequel to a book where Misery is brought back. If that isn’t freaky enough, she constantly back and forth, between sensitive and kind ...

Annie: You’ve got a lot of recovering to do, and I consider it an honor that you can do it in my home.

NC: ... straight to ...

Annie:You murdered my Misery!

NC: ... that. Actually for me the screaming and yelling parts always seemed a bit over the top. It’s when she was nice and pleasant that really got me on edge. But maybe that’s because I know that anything can set her off.

Annie: Ah, pa what a poet you are.

NC: Ahh... well isn't she just the nicest...

Annie: I'm going to kill you.

NC: I think this every celebrity's worst nightmare, to be in the hands of an obsessive fan who is not mentally well. I mean, poor James Cahn…

Kahn screams and NC tells him to shut up

… has a lot to deal with in this movie, but, hey, look at the bright side, we aren’t casting About Schmidt. No doubt about it, Annie Wilkes is one nutty lady that nobody should wake up to.

Number 8: Hannibal Lecter. Now, I’m just going to be very honest about this, I never really found Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs that scary. I actually thought Buffalo Bill was a lot scarier, because he actually seemed like a real live serial killer. For me, Hannibal was more like a James Bond villain. He had all the poetic lines, keeping his head down with an evil smile. All that was missing was a cat for him to stroke. I wouldn’t really mind, but the rest of the movie is so bent on being brutally realistic; and for me, this kind of seems out of place:

Hannibal Lecter: You fly back to school, now little darling. Fly fly fly.

NC: Come on, that’s pretty silly. Now granted the first time you see him is pretty damn creepy, just how he is standing in the middle of the room like he can smell her coming down the hallway. That's unsettling. But there’s just a hamminess to this performance that always seemed to rub me the wrong way. Hannibal snickers and the Nostalgia Critic laughs

You’re funny. So yeah, I've bashed him so much you're probably wondering why the hell I’ve even put him on this list. Well, to be honest, I thought he was scary in Red Dragon. Yeah, I know he’s like a bajillion years old and that’s really distracting, but in this movie, I find him more scary because he actually wants to get Edward Norton, and figures out ways to try and hurt him. That’s freaky as hell. You can lock him up and he can still get you. In Silence of the Lambs, I knew he wasn’t going to attack Judy Foster. In fact, she even mentions it at some point. But in Red Dragon, he fucking hates this guy, and even behind a glass wall, he can still find a way to attack him and his family. That’s diabolical, there’s no way to stop him. I also liked the fact its much more a challenge of wits. In Silence of the Lambs, Foster just seems to look at Lecter’s antics with frightened awe. In Red Dragon, Norton doesn’t take any of that shit. This makes their relationship more interesting to me, and just builds up the tension between the two, and makes the hero more interesting and the villain more angry, which, in turn, makes him more threatening. Now I will say, though, a lot of people argue that it’s much more threatening when an evil person loves you as opposed to hates you and, to be honest, I can see how that can be scary too. So, in this category, I’m saying that Hannibal Lecter from both the Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon are on the list. And, for those wondering why I didn’t put Hannibal on there… (laughs) … with the brain on the spoon… (laughs) … that was stupid. And anyone who likes that is stupid too. I know it’s just my opinion, but, I’m right.

Hannibal and the Critic both snicker at each other.

Number 7: Alex from A Clockwork Orange. It’s hard to believe that, not only is this crazy teen supposed to only be in high school, but we’re also supposed to, oddly enough, identify with him. After all, what’s not identifiable about murder, rape, beatings, breaking and entering, and being a complete psychotic nutball? The kid is a sadist, plain and simple. He’s not in it for the money or any kind of physical reward. (quickly) For the most part. He’s in it because he simply loves to do wrong, and sees an almost artistic life to it all. [Alex: Oh, bliss. Bliss and heaven. Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeossity flesh.] He’s a savage beast, but he listens to Beethoven. He feeds on the innocent, but is still intelligent and well spoken. We’ve seen smart villains before, but what really separates him from other villains is two things. One is his age: the idea that a person this young would be doing so many terrible things is pretty disturbing. The second is just how much he enjoys it. The smile on his face is just pure delight. He is in heaven. There is no remorse over what he is doing. For him, causing people pain is like reaching nirvana, nirvana on a roller-coaster. He simply loves every minute of it, to a point where he actually sings "Singin' in the Rain" while raping an older woman. This scene is so traumatizing that there’s still people out there who can’t listen to that musical. [

A clip from Singin' in the Rain'' plays. The Critic calls the singer a rapist and shoots him with a gun.] One of the most controversial characters in both film and literature, Alex is one of the scariest schoolchildren you'll ever come across.''

Number 6: Norman Bates from Psycho. Yet another character who just seems to keep you guessing and guessing. You can’t figure out if he’s a good guy, a bad guy, an innocent pawn or an evil plotter. All you know is he’s obsessed with his mother, and the less you know about that, the better. Every time you see him you get nervous; you can’t tell if he’s just a poor soul or a time bomb waiting to go off. His twitching and sudden mood swings keeps the character a complete mystery until the very end. And, without giving away the twist ending, let’s just say every movie nowadays that does have a twist ending owes everything to this film. If you haven't seen the movie yet, check it out; and see how influential both the film and his performance was. And speaking of influences, were do you think Alex got his smile from. Oh, and if you’re thinking about seeing that shot-by-shot remake, I have one thing to say to you: Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates.

The Critic plays a pretend jack-in-the-box with the word fail popping out.

Number 5: The Gemini Killer from Excorcist III. This film is short of like the Planet of the Apes movies. If you can buy the absurdity of it all, it’s actually a pretty damn good film. You just really gotta stretch your suspension of disbelief; and one of the things that makes it so effective is Brad Durruf and Jason Miller as the Gemini Killer. Sort of a long story, but after the death of Damion in the first Exorcist movie, another spirit, known as the Gemini Killer sneaks in. Therefore we sometimes see the person as Damion, or as the killer, and both are pretty damn scary. Jason Miller does well switching personalities…while Brad Durruf does well actually being one of the personalities. Both reign from gentle whispers to blood-curdling screams, never knowing what's going to come out of them. The film was directed by the author of the original Exorcist book, and he certainly shows an understanding of both suspense and horror. Is it as good as the first film? No. Can it be farfetched? Sometimes. But it's still a really creepy and nerve-tingling movie with haunting visuals, creepy ideas, and, of course, two great performances as the Gemini Killer.

Number 4: The Joker from the Dark Knight. It's almost pointless to talk about this performance as I talk about it so much, but I think everybody was taken aback at just how terrifying Heath Ledger was as the Joker. We know nothing about his past, family, or friends, we just know his goal is just to simply spread chaos. He’s like a demon that can’t be destroyed; but the most disturbing part is, he makes it sound like he shouldn't be destroyed, like he’s part of the grand plan. He makes it sound like its part of the natural order, that he's humanity fully realized. We don’t know if he was born that way or had to go though some crazy series of events, but either way, he’s bad news. Both Ledger and Nolan took what was primarily an old school comic book villain and turned him into the embodiment of anarchy and chaos. But there’s hints of a dark reality that lies in him too, and I think that’s where the real fear comes from. I think we can all agree the scariest scene is the one that seemed the most realistic; as the shaky camera and bad audio truly added to the grittiness of this murder scene. Combining the dark side of comics with the dark side of reality, the Joker is one evil clown you won't soon be forgetting.

Number 3: Anton from No Country For Old Men. It was actually pretty hard deciding who was creepier: Anton or the Joker? I decided to go with Anton for one main reason: unlike the Joker who wants to be anarchy and misery, I think Anton feels he has to be anarchy and misery, like there’s no other choice. That’s just another level of depression to add to this character. He doesn't really smile that much so he's not fully enjoying what he’s doing. It’s like a strange fixation that, if he doesn't do certain horrible things, the world will be thrown out of alignment. Much like the Joker, we don’t know why he's come to this conclusion, but it's pretty obvious nobody’s changing mind. You just look at him and you think unpleasantness. How does he see the world where he has to do these things? The whole movie itself is basically about the evolution of the dark criminal mind and how it’s only getting worse. Evolving to a point where not only can we not control it, but, even more disturbing, we can’t understand it. Anton is the perfect representation of that. Not feeling, never satisfied, and never knows if he is doing the right thing or the wrong thing, but overall, doesn’t care. Everything he says is beyond cryptic as well as confusing.

Jean: You got no cause to hurt me.

Anton: No, but I gave my word.

NC: I mean, when has a coin toss ever been so fucking terrifying?

The Two-Face in Batman Forever tosses a coin

I don’t think so.

The Two-Face in The Dark Knight tosses a coin

A little bit. But this still takes the cake

Footage Everything has a meaning, but nothing everything also means nothing; total shit your pants philosophy. Anton’s that stranger you hope you never meet in the middle of nowhere.

Number 2: Regan from the Exorcist. Considered to be the scariest movie of all time, the Exorcist all centers around a girl who’s possessed from something not of this world. Is it the devil? Maybe. Is it one of his followers? Who knows? But one thing we can figure out is that Regan is not alone. Atop of Linda Blair’s fantastic performance, we also have the voice talent of Mercedes Cambridge, who has one of those creepy voices where you can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman, which makes it all the more surreal. On top of that, the make-up, the lighting, and the overall direction makes the idea of a possessed girl seem surprisingly plausible. You really feel like you’re there as all the shit is going on, and so did a lot of people apparently. Audience members went screaming out of the theatre when they first saw this film, and even today they continue to show it in theatres around Halloween. Why? Because it still gets a shock out of people. This little demon brat was scary then and is still scary now. She had everything: a spinning head, green vomit, telekinesis, voices she could imitate, shape shifting, she had it all. And I guess she might have been a murderer too, but I don’t know. Is the idea when father Marron is found dead they died over a heart attack, or did Regan kill him? If they did kill them, how does that work? (pretends he is in a scene of the Exorcist) Hey father, look over there. All right. (Kills the father with a baseball bat.) Whatever happened, there’s certainly no doubt that little Regan definitely had more than one person in her head.

And the number one scariest performance is Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Why? Because he’s everything terrifying and inspiring and terrifying about the evolution of man. He’s the supreme computer, has artificial intelligence, and can come to logical conclusions on his own. [Hal: I would recommend that we put the unit back in operation and let it fail. We can certainly afford to be out of communication for the short time it will take to replace it,] But with that comes a thinking that only runs on logic, and when the computer sees the crew of the ship as a danger to the mission, he destroys them. No second thoughts, he just destroys them.

Hal: During the past few weeks, I've wondered whether you’ve been having second thoughts about the mission.

NC: There's no sympathy, no reasoning, just logic.

Dave: Open the pod bay doors Hal. Hal: I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that. This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

NC: Everything he says, no matter how creepy, is always in that monotone voice. He’s never happy, sad, or angry. It’s not like a person where you can argue to their emotional side. With Hal, you know there’s no emotional side. If he thinks you should go, you’re gone, and he’ll use everything that mankind has programmed into him to carry it out. [Hal: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.] The other creepy thing is Hal knows about the human animal, and does everything he can to trick them. Like pretending he can't hear them in the space pod when he’s secretly reading their lips; or how about when he tries to play to Dave's emotional side by flat out lying to him.

Hal: I know everything hasn’t been quite right with me. I feel much better now. I really do.

NC: He’ll do anything to complete the mission, and what makes him so scary, is that we designed him that way, we have nobody to blame but us. In many ways, he’s the ultimate accomplishment, but in others he's the ultimate fuck-up. We can’t blame him because we’d be blaming ourselves, and the sinister determination that Hal has is a direct representation of what we pride: efficiency at any cost. [Hal: It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been linked to human error.] Hal is scary because of his voice, his actions, and most of all where he came from: us. He’s a cautionary tale of not only where mankind could be going, but also what we can, have, and ultimately, become.

And those are my top eleven scariest performances. And for those wondering why I didn't put Tim Curry from Id on there, don't worry, enlightenment will be coming next week. (Evil laugh)