15 Chilling Movie Villains That Are Harrowing To Watch

The Silence of the Lambs has the benefit of not one, but two great villains. Hannibal Lecter is the more famous and iconic, but the truth is he's curiously likable when he's not munching someone's face off, while this criminally underrated secondary villain, the serial killer Buffalo Bill, is just horrifying to watch.

The film is full of terror, but Buffalo Bill is film's most complete representation of evil. A serial killer who skins women in order to make himself a female skin suit, Jame Gumb is certainly one of cinema's most depraved serial killers. Whether he's dancing while wearing women's skin or sadistically tormenting his victims in his basement's pit, he's always an incredibly unsettling presence in an already grisly and horrific film.

It is still infuriating to this day that Ted Levine is entirely overlooked by critics. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins are completely brilliant, but Ted Levine is just as good. With his unnerving voice, unhinged movements and mocking, dehumanizing demeanor Levine's performance is a harrowing and unforgettable depiction of warped madness. Infuriatingly, he wasn't nominated for any awards for his work.