50 Movies Where Evil Won

Plot: A mysterious, working-class Oxford undergrad named Oliver (Barry Keoghan) goes to stay at the Saltburn Estate, the lavish home of his friend and crush Felix (Jacob Elordi).

Emerald Fennell's Saltburn is one of those films that has its audience following the villain without them actually realizing it until very late in the movie. In this case, it's Oliver. 

Throughout the movie, he seems like a strange guy - especially after Saltburn's legendary bathwater scene - but he also seems harmless, and eccentric at worst. That all changes in Saltburn's third act, as his lies and manipulations are slowly uncovered. Despite what he told Felix, he actually came from a stable, middle-class home with two loving parents. 

Once Felix discovers Oliver's duplicity, he decides (not unreasonably) to send Oliver away. And so, Oliver proceeds to murder Felix, indirectly kills his sister (Alison Oliver), and also murders his mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike) years later, though not before getting her to sign all of her assets over to him.

Just before he murders Elspeth, Oliver explains to her how he orchestrated everything from the off, and he then celebrates his victory as only he would. He dances nude around the mansion to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder on the Dancefloor in an already-iconic ending. 

It's only at the end that audiences realize just how dangerous Oliver always was and how gravely everyone underestimated him. As much as he deserved a better movie than the fairly hit-or-miss Saltburn, he's one fearsome antagonist.