15 Chilling Movie Villains That Are Harrowing To Watch
7. John Doe - Seven
Following recent revelations about Kevin Spacey, watching him in anything is uncomfortable, but looking back to before we knew what we now know, this was still a terrifying serial killer and one of cinema's greatest psychopaths and also the orchestrator of one of cinema's greatest finales. It's partly thanks to this character's brilliance that Seven is the arguably best serial killer movie ever (sorry Silence of the Lambs).
He's certainly one of cinema's most sadistic murderers. His murders are so grisly that if any of them were on-screen Seven would've been permanently banned and he's also an exceptionally intelligent manipulator. As Detective William Somerset memorably says, he "exacting, methodical and worst of all, patient", making him unusually difficult to defeat. Had he not turned himself in, he wouldn't have been caught.
He's not on-screen for long, but even in his brief appearance he's unforgettable. Both chillingly calm and simmering with barely-hidden rage, he's an extremely sinister and hauntingly evil murderer. Worst of all, he's always in control and ultimately wins.
Kevin Spacey is a terrible human being who never deserves to make a comeback, but he was a fine performer and this was arguably his single greatest performance.