11. Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest)
Her ostensible passivity and non-violence makes the placement of Nurse Ratched among this list of cinemas most deranged psychopaths quite peculiar but those who question if she is really bad enough to be deemed a psychopath clearly havent seen Miloš Formans classic 1975 film. Despite her role as one of societys healers, Ratched is a tormentor. A master of psychological warfare, the nurse uses her penetrating presence and abrupt manner to mentally abuse the patients in her care. Those in the ward arent the most psychologically stable and make for easy prey for Nurse Ratched a wolf among sheep. Worse still then her tyrannical control of the ward is the psychological abuse she subjects her patients to, unravelling each and every one of their vulnerabilities. This is most evident in the scene where she launches a mental barrage on Billy. Having suffered a humiliating defeat in the battle for the ward after McMurphy and his buddies stage a hedonistic party, Ratched targets the vulnerable Billy. She tells the stammering boy that she intends to inform his mother of what he has done. This threat forces the troubled youth to start punching himself before eventually committing suicide. The nurse may not have slit his throat physically but it was her assault on his mental vulnerabilities which caused him to take his own life. The psychopathic actions of one of cinemas greatest villains dont stop here as she has McMurphy lobotomized for his continued resistance.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.