1. John Doe in Se7en
Se7en provides one of the most chilling and thrilling antagonist victories ever. The revelation that the doomed Detective Mills has been dancing to John Does bloody tune the entire time is a master-class in unsettling horror, the perfect capstone for the mounting sense of dread and hopelessness that hangs over the entire film. Having the theologically-minded serial killer actually succeed in his plan to skewer modern societys vice and apathy chimes with the movies general cynical tone, and avoids any clichéd race against time in the final act, as John has something more creative in mind than simply terrorising more victims. The plot also cleverly evades making the protagonists dogged investigation seem like wasted effort; theyve just been serving Johns depraved worldview the whole time, rather than fighting it. As Mills and Somerset probe the aftermaths of horrendous murders and gain enigmatic glimpses into the hateful mind of the solitary killer, they descend deeper and deeper into a dark and filthy rabbit-hole, until their investigations culminate in the most shockingly unexpected way possible. John Doe smugly turns himself in, having already set up the final elements of his scheme to illustrate the horrors of the Seven Deadly Sins in spilt blood and mangled flesh, and effortlessly manipulates the police into complicity in his endgame. Driven to a wasteland as barren as sin itself, Mills and Somerset discover the boxed head of Mills wife, butchered by Doe out of his Envy of Mills for being a relatively-balanced family man. Mills then carries out the Sin of Wrath by emptying his sidearm into Does brain, symbolically punishing him for his Envy and dooming his own career in the process. With all seven sins identified and poetically punished, John Doe dies quickly, painlessly and entirely on his own terms, secure in the knowledge that his lifes work was complete; the best end that anyone can imagine, and better than most people ever get, rewarded to a fiendishly-inventive psychopathic sadist. You cant really applaud him, but his warped intellect and determination inspire horrified respect. Anyone you were expecting we missed off? Do let us know!