10 Terrifying Characters In Non-Horror Movies

Talk about range: Ben Kingsley, the former Gandhi, plays the world’s most temperamental man in Jonathan Glazer’s post modern gangster classic. As Don Logan, Sir Ben turns his refined reputation on its head, eating scenery and spitting venom and C bombs in the Spanish sun.

Sexy Beast turns on a simple notion. Ray Winstone’s Gary is a retired criminal who wants to enjoy his Costa Del Sol retirement. Logan believes he should pause his holiday for one more job. Gary disagrees, at which point Don Logan becomes very, very angry. Kingsley doesn’t seem like the intimidating sort as a rule, but he holds himself here like a man on the precipice of something dreadful. It’s the kind of performance that could so easily be embarrassing - he’s more wired than a late period Al Pacino - but Kingsley gets across the frustrations and disappointments of the man’s life purely through yelling.

Don Logan is so frightening that he dominates the entirety of the film despite having only 20 minutes or so of screen time. It’s a larger than life performance in a superb film - he is fear itself.