Luis Tosar in “Sleep Tight” (2011)
Unhappiness never looked as chillingly psychotic as it does in the stoned-faced glazed look of Luis Tosar’s doorman, Cesar. Making it his mission to make others feel as miserable as he does, Cesar infects the residents of a small apartment building in plain sight, during broad daylight, in the most courteous manner this side of Norman Bates. The mind immediately springs to his verbal incineration of an elderly tenant (Petra Martinez) as the most pulverizing example, but it’s his nightly torments of the happy-go-lucky Clara (Marta Etura) that takes the covers off “Sleep Tight” and reveals it as the home-invasion horror it is. And we experience the whole unsettling ordeal from the antagonist’s point of view, something that hinges almost completely on the performance. Tosar delivers in spades, brilliantly channeling the tension that simmers within Cesar. The film’s horrifying aspects escalate through Tosar’s subtle apathetic gestures and sociopathic tendencies, creating one of the most dreadful human monsters of 21st century cinema.
Anthony Hopkins in “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
Perhaps parodied more than any other horror character on this list, Anthony Hopkins’ iconic rendition of the devilishly intelligent sociopath Hannibal Lecter still withstands the test of time, just like a nice bottle of Chianti would. Silver-tongued, and redefining etiquette into an attribute for the insane, the cannibalistic doctor is one of the genre’s most memorable villains (No. 1 on AFI’s list, in fact) — all thanks to Hopkins’ glorious performance, who breathes every fragment of his Royal Academy of Dramatic Art thespianism into a truly malicious creature of a man. The delivery, the stance, the shocking switches in tone and elocution; Hopkins made Hannibal Lecter his own and, with no offense to Brian Cox (who played Lecter in “Manhunter”) and Mads Mikkelsen (who played Lecter in the TV show “Hannibal”), adapted a thrilling literary character into one of the most compellingly watchable screen villains of all time.
James Woods in “Videodrome” (1983)
He’s the epitome of media sleaze, the immoral compass navigating the subversive murky waters of pure David Cronenberg, and a fearful man unraveling because he’s just way, way in over his head. He’s Max Renn in “Videodrome” as embodied (grotesquely at times) by James Woods. Never mind that underneath all of Renn’s arrogance, while he tries to get his smutty cable network more viewers by seeking out something “tough,” lies Wood’s formidable instinctive talents (just the way he pronounces that word..“tough”) but the real hard part comes when Videodrome starts taking over his mind and body. The hallucinations, the open wounds, the pulsating television sets and that unforgettable flesh-gun… it’s Rick Baker’s special make up that Woods was mostly acting and reacting with in the film, which makes the strength of his performance furiously underrated and all the more brilliant.
Jodie Foster in “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
It’s so easy to get overshadowed by a showy performance from your co-lead. Just look at Mark Wahlberg in “The Fighter,” Nick Nolte in “Cape Fear,” Christian Bale in “The Dark Knight,” and so on and so forth. Jodie Foster overturns this convention with her searingly tenacious performance as Clarice Starling in Jonathan Demme’s classic serial killer horrorshow “The Silence of the Lambs.” Acting against Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter is something that should’ve been a clause in Foster’s contract, but even on her own, her Clarice is dogged, determined, fearless yet so full of clenched fear, which you can witness during her highlight moment, when she describes her childhood trauma with the eponymous lambs. It’s Foster who grounds ‘Silence’ and never lets it derail into gimmicky horror, and it’s through her that we, as the audience, got to truly experience (in every sense of this bandied-about word) one of the best horror films from the past 25 years.
Belen Rueda in “The Orphanage” (2007)
She may be something of a surprise to some on this list, but that’s only because film discussions tend to forget about Belen Rueda’s incredible turn as the grieving mother Laura in Juan Antonio Bayona’s ‘The Orphanage.’ As a complete unknown stateside and more of a TV star in Spain at the time, Rueda’s performance is a quiet storm of bottled emotions, easily camouflaged amidst the film’s gorgeous cinematography and legitimate scares but no less potent. Indeed, the lasting power of ‘The Orphanage’ doesn’t owe as much to its ace aesthetics and controlled direction as it does to Rueda. Her Laura goes through the greatest pain no parent wants, and she handles the immense challenge with real gravitas and enduring strength. Bayona thought she was perfect because of her “mix of fragility and strength,” which is exactly what she brings to the table, making the most on the biggest stage in her career. She rightly won a slew of awards but has been criminally underused ever since… Guillermo del Toro? Are you reading this?
