3. Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men
For his haunting performance as hitman Anton Chigurh, Javier Bardem earned himself an Academy Award, becoming the first Spaniard to do so. Chigurh is so frightening because he has no motivation, he has merely been employed to track down a satchel that contains millions of dollars no matter what the cost. He appears to be a completely separate entity to the rest of the human race as he shows no remorse, compassion or feeling for anybody other than himself. Chigurh's relentlessness is terrifying and his quest for the satchel leads him head to head with the protagonist of the film - Llewelyn Moss played by Josh Brolin. Chigurh's almighty terror makes Moss seem like a better character than he actually is as there is very little beneath his surface. Chigurh appears to have a twisted set of morals in the fact that he likes to flip a coin to decide if he kills a person or not. His dependence on fate creates a Biblical-esque aura around the man and he essentially takes on the role of Death in both Cormac McCarthy's masterful novel and this film by the Coen brothers. Chigurh says very little, shows very little and does very little except maim and kill, making him one of cinema's purest and darkest villains.