EMBODIMENTS OF EVIL

Creepy performances that leave a lasting impression
ARTICLE | EMBODIMENTS OF EVIL

The inimitable Dutchman brings an icy stillness and layers of depth to the role of a psychopathic drifter who rides with us down the road to hell.

Four years after playing a killer desperate to dodge extinction—Roy Batty in Blade Runner—Rutger Hauer played John Ryder in The Hitcher (1986), a killer courting oblivion.

ARTICLE | EMBODIMENTS OF EVIL
The dead-eyed political aspirant Greg Stillson in David Cronenberg’s Stephen King adaptation encapsulates Trump-level terror.

Before we assess the villain, let’s begin with the hero—and “hero” is the correct appellation for Johnny Smith...

BY JOSÉ TEODORO  |  November 3, 2024

ARTICLE | EMBODIMENTS OF EVIL
The actor’s Oscar-nominated, atypically sinister turn supports the notion that unassuming fellows are often the ones to fear most.

After he’d fundamentally abandoned Hollywood moviemaking and cast his lot with the nascent medium of television, reinventing himself as...

BY STEVEN MEARS  |  August 20, 2024

ARTICLE | EMBODIMENTS OF EVIL
In the inaugural entry of a new column singling out enduringly creepy film characterizations, an American sweetheart cast against type emerges as one of cinema’s most unexpectedly chilling villains.

Sometimes all it takes is one sentence to demolish everything you thought you knew about a person. In the case of James Stewart—whom, it’s often noted, the world affectionately chose...

BY STEVEN MEARS  |  February 7, 2024