Crazy Favourites.

It has been a while since I have posted and I am so sorry guys! I hope you all had a good Christmas and a good new year and a good Valentine’s Day aaaaaaand any other holiday I haven't said or forgotten; there's too many! However, all those days are in the past and I am back to make the future a little more velvet-y, is that a word?

To kick off the absence of my ramblings about the great media world of film & more; I thought I would share with you one of my most favourite subjects to ramble about and that is on-screen psychopaths, woo! Another reason why I have chosen this topic as my return is because my clever little Google statistics thingy keeps telling me that not only have you guys kept coming back to Velvet, but that my most viewed post is my Making the Perfect Psychopath essay which is insane! See what I did there? Mwhaha. So, sit back, procrastinate and enjoy my list of my top all-time favourite on-screen psychos.

Buuuuut first let me mention the list I have conjured up is in no particular order, they are just my main favourites; in that, I do not have a specific type of a psychopath-esque character, each one has different tendencies, the term psychopath just helps me sum it all up so the article isn't called-My Return After Christmas, So Here's A List Of My Fav Killer/Sociopathic/Psychotic/Cannibalistic, etc. Psychopaths!-See my point?

Billy Loomis, (Scream, 1996)

The role of the delightfully attractive 90's boy was played by Skeet Ulrich, who was one of the first to make women fall in love to an extent where they didn't care about the fact he was a a killer. However, his looks aren't why he is in my ultimate list, it is the mannerisms and the character portrayal that Skeet put across. I love the idea that he plays it so deeply, so seriously, in a horror film with intensions to parody other horror films. Between him and Matthew Lillard the plot twist becomes unforgettable and the comedy that is put into it by Matthew helps with that. Famous scenes from the film, excluding the stills of ghost face himself of course, include images of a smiling Billy licking 'blood' from his fingers, his curtains letting loose strands come across his face. You cannot forget the stereotypical beauty of his villainous role when him and Stu, like true villains, explain their plan to Sydney (Neve Campbell),  what they did, why they did it and what they are going to do next. Also, and this was put at the beginning of my essay, another reason I loved this character is because during Billy's highest level of psychotic he says one of the best lines in horror-"Movies don't create psycho's, movies make psycho's more creative".

Tate Langdon (American Horror Story: Murder House, 2011)

I'm not going to say a lot here because I wrote a whole paragraph about him in my essay-A lot of you will know this delightful guy because he has taken the hearts of many young girls, and that is why he is in my top; I see a lot of memes and posts created by lads pointing out how the character of Tate was a raping, murdering, sociopath and yet that made girls just love him even more and I have to admit I was one of them. The portrayal of Tate by Evan Peters is a very seductive one, but darkly seductive rather than erotically. I don't feel as emotionally invested in this character as I did when I first found him, but when I did I was at a very vulnerable stage in my life and the problem with being a female is you're very vulnerable most of the time and when a blonde hair boy like Tate walks in, telling you what you want to hear and showing you a deepness and a strange freedom you couldn't understand or even reach because Tate himself doesn't exist, you kind of give in to it. Complete genius, this character, this portrayal because nothing is more dangerous that a psychopath that you sympathize.

Billy Bickle/Jack of Diamonds (Seven Psychopaths, 2012)

Sam Rockwell was definitely the best choice in this casting, he has such a unique way of keeping the seriousness in a character while at the same time bringing in humour. Billy is one of my favourites because of his originality, he is selfish and selfless at the same time, he is angry and unfeeling at the same time, he is hilarious but is also a killer. It’s definitely a portrayal that makes you excited and brings the whole film together and in some of his other roles you can’t help but see Billy and wait for a shoot-out.

Edward 'Tex' Sawyer (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, 1990)

I know I said this list wasn’t in any order but good ol’ Tex is most definitely close to the top. It was a role that made me change my views on the talent of Viggo Mortensen; I never thought he was a bad actor, I just always thought of him as Aragon. With this character it wasn’t just the psychopathic cannibalistic personality, it was the little things that were added that made this psychopath one of the most convincing and full psycho’s; his nails were painted a feminine colour and he wears a woman’s apron in the scenes building up to his torturing. The scary thing about Tex is that he is the most normal looking, best acting member of the Sawyer family (The family of Leatherface) which makes you trust him. The character of Tex has sexual, seductive undertones that are not mentioned or played on, it is the simple facial expressions that draw you in.

Otis (House of a 1000 Corpses, 2003)

Bill Moseley is a horror god and you cannot deny the genius of Rob Zombie’s created character Otis and the way Moseley brought him to life. The sadistic man who carves up people and turns them into half human/half fish creatures is a once in lifetime psycho that is disturbingly entertaining. Otis is a character that breaks the boundaries and takes on the actions that go way too far and he couldn’t be happier. Otis is a psychopath who is not manipulative or secretive or plans in a villainous way; he’s very open about himself and has a poetic aspect of passion when he speaks during his kills-if you turn up at his house, you’ve given him fuel to be who he is and you will feel the pain of that.

Charlie 'Uncle Charlie' Stoker (Stoker, 2013)

It’s difficult to describe Charlie without just telling you to watch the movie Stoker and see for yourself but I will try; for those who are like me and get deeply attached to the movie they are watching you will understand what I mean when I say that this character almost puts you in a trance, just to watch him do the smallest thing or being seductive just to keep his plan in motion is fascinating. People who see this movie will go one of two ways; you will feel uncomfortable at the realism of twisted mentality and the fact that the main characters are related or you will sit in awe and your skin will tingle and either way, that is all thanks to Uncle Charlie.

'Polite Stranger (The Purge, 2013)

This portrayal of psychotic is one I find brilliantly creepy; the mixture of societal class, freedom of crime and determination to murder for the sake of class and point is very sinister. All of the minions of this character make the audience uncomfortable with their smiling masks and machetes but the ‘polite stranger’ gives the real goosebumps. I love the portrayal of this one due to the constant smile on his face that completely contradicts his demands and his plans, a true, and very underrated, edge-of-your-seat psycho.

Honourable Mentions:

Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, 1991)

William Collins (Chatroom, 2010)

Mr. Blonde (Reservoir Dogs, 1992)

Kevin (We Need To Talk About Kevin, 2011)

Patrick Bateman (American Psycho, 2000)

J.D (Heathers, 1988)

So who is your favourite psychopath? I have far too many but here is just a few and if there are any you don't know I highly recommend their movies! In the list are some of the greats of previous generations, let's hope there's some new ones coming our way!

VF.