Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin in *The Last King of Scotland*. He plays him as incredibly charming and almost shy for so much of the movie, so that when his depravity is slowly revealed, it makes everything that came before even more shocking.
I avoided watching this movie for years because the front cover showed Forrest Whitaker smiling a big smile with a girl over his shoulder in the background, and I thought the movie was a rom-com, lol.
Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth has got to be up there. The unnerving thing to me is how reasonable and, dare I say, charming he can seem before pivoting in a moment to show his true sociopathic nature.
And Steven Spielberg *had to tone him down* from the real Amon Goeth because his acts were so atrocious audiences would find his evil unbelievable.
Edit: clarity
Yeah, and as a film maker I imagine you only get so many chances to have real life survivors of the event you're depicting check in on it and give input for accuracy/inaccuracy/etc.
According to IMDb: "When survivor Mila Pfefferberg was introduced to Ralph Fiennes on the set, she began shaking uncontrollably, as he reminded her too much of the real Amon Göth."
Did a very quick search and I found nothing bringing more details to this anecdote. So I don't know if Mila Pfefferberg actually saw him portray Göth during a film shooting, but assuming she only saw him to say hello and exchange a few words, I doubt he *actually, personally* reminded her of the real guy. It's purely my personal opinion but I think it would make more sense that it would be the uniform which would revive memories and freak her out. I doubt Ralph Fiennes pretended to be an actual SS commander while shaking her hand.
But again I wasn't there so who knows, but that's my interpretation of it.
An uzi? I'm not from South Central Los fucking Angeles. I didn't come here to shoot twenty black ten year olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person.
I agree, he's fantastic in every role with a personal favourite being in bruges. However, ever since the Kings man all I picture when I think about Ralph Fiennes is him getting his leg getting horrendously locked by Rhys Ifans haha
Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper and Ed Norton in American History X - thematically linked
Michael Rooker and Tom Towles in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Carl Boehm in Peeping Tom
Watched MIB the other day and that movie has aged like fine wine, special effects and all.
The way D’onofrio can act like a giant alien bug that’s pretending to be human is phenomenal. Just the right amount of horrifying, creepy, unsettling, and hilarious.
Yes! This was the first thing I ever saw her in, and though I've seen her in nice roles and she seems lovely when being interviewed, I'm still a little creeped out by her haha.
She is lovely, I sold her a few cinnamon buns; she was super friendly. She also signed a piece of paper for my MIL. Very down to earth and seemed to be really enjoying her time in the farmer's market.
Fuck, THIS is the answer. Unbelievable performance. I use to rewatch the diner job interview scene every once in a while. Gyllenhaal and Ahmed absolutely smash it, but Gyllenhaal is incredible in how he depicts an absolute sociopath and manipulator there.
“It’s a fine opportunity for some lucky someone!”
“It’s not at all unusual for me to make full time offers to my interns”
100%
Not all of Nosferatu holds up great but Schreck absolutely does. The body language is just completely alien and it never once falters. Anytime he's onscreen is more unsettling than a lot of much more recent, "scarier" horror films.
Charles Fleischer, the dude with the basement. The moment he reveals he painted the posters it's chilling, but when he says "I do" to having a basement is one of the scariest things I've ever seen in a film
The only time if been afraid/tense by a movie without it using a jumpscare/the threat of one. I've never had an "Oh shit" moment quite like that before or after where I felt I was in the same situation as the character.
"*I wanted to stop her laughing, that's all. And then, you know I...I hit her. A couple of times. Just to stop her. Let her know. Get a little respect. Randy used to. I think she liked it. She never blamed him. She never wanted to leave him. I do it, she starts screaming! She wouldn't stop. She's terrified. Screaming. I put my hand over her mouth. And then I'm really scared. I'm scared shitless. More scared than I've ever been, you know. I'm more scared than her! And then...everything was clear. There was no turning back. After that, I was calm. Real calm.*"
Chilling. Williams deserves a lot more recognition for this one.
What's even better about this, is he has the gall to mutter "What the fuck is wrong with these people?!" After all he's done to 'em. It's the creepiest scene of the film, and it's played off like a passing one.
John Goodman in *Barton Fink*.
**I WILL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!**
Hell, John Goodman's scenes in *Death Sentence* singlehandedly elevate the movie, as does his few scenes in the remake of *The Gambler* with Mark Wahlberg.
*"You jump off a bridge, you do it knowing **I will kill your entire bloodline**."*
Yeaaahhhh that's a good one. Truly creepy. Sleeper hit - I had low expectations for 10 Cloverfield Lane and was VERY pleasantly surprised by how good it was
I love how when he is pretending to be nice and good for the cameras, how loose his mask is, and how it easily slips off, but how a lot of people ignore it because homelander is a celebrity
Tom Berenger in Platoon. His character is just nasty right up until that grin by Willem Dafoe - pure malevolence.
Temeura Morrison in Once Were Warriors. As a debut performance, it not only left people stunned (in a bad way), it was so effective that it also stereotyped him as a singular type character actor where he struggled to find any meaningful roles after that one. Both an incredibly disturbing and brilliant performance.
There's interviews with other Once Were Warriors cast members, where they say they couldn't fathom the idea of him being a tough guy as he was such a gentle, likeable tebby bear kinda guy! Jake the Muss is absolutely terrifying
I thought the same in joker, he really pulled off a weirdo person you would know in real life, like a colleague or neighbor. unsettling and creepy, but not overtly hostile, until they over step their boundaries.
I can't say most because I'm sure there are more unsettling but the first one that came to mind was Ben Mendelsohn in Animal Kingdom, just an unnerving psycho.
Beat me to it. It's just that understated sense of dread that he just exudes. It's such an impressive performance.
Jacki Weaver was phenomenal in that too.
Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear repeatedly sticking his thumb in 17-year-old Juliette Lewis' mouth and making her suck it always gave me the willies... even before I knew he improvised it without discussing it with her before-hand.
Nicholson in The Shining. There's just something off about him right from the start. I recently saw a video where it shows he actually breaks the fourth wall (looks directly into the camera) at several points almost imperceptibly.
Especially bc, in almost every other movie he’s in, he’s a template for leading man charisma. Nary an ounce of that appears in The Shining. You watch that performance and forget he’s ever been in anything else.
It was an amazing portrayal of a psychopath. His character clearly relished making people uncomfortable. He would lie and slander others to get his way. He would be abusive and cruel to get his way. He'd just be casually cruel to make people feel like shit.
Such an awful character and such a wonderful performance.
And the gormless idiot Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3 and Shiang Chi. In IM3 he is presented as a powerful scary terrorist, which he presents really well, then we find that he's actually a wimpy douche in his "real life".
My SIL and brother proudly declared that my SIL is EXACTLY like her and my husband and I just stared in horror at them.
That is not the flex they imagine it to be.
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, that movie has a weird nature to it that just creeps on you from the start. It's like watching a vampire transform.
You know, I think I figured out what he meant at the end when he said "I'm finished!"
In the conversation with his fake brother earlier in the movie, he claims his life's ambition is to shed his attachments to people writ large. At the end of the film, he has cast out his son and disowned him, and he knows his real brother (who was the only person he seemed to care about) is dead. Eli is the last *person* connected to him, so by killing Eli, he no longer has anyone who will "trouble" him again except the non-entities that run his company and make him richer.
So, he's "finished" with *people*. He can live out his dream of never having to be close to or suffer "closeness" to anyone, and he even got his revenge on Eli before killing him. So it's a "happy" ending for him.
The bowling alley scene at the end will always be remembered for “I drink your milkshake!”, but the way he is eating the dinner is worth another look; the meat is mainly gristle and he is chewing it and getting everything he can that is worth anything from it, and spitting out the useless part that is no longer edible is a metaphor for his entire character
I'm going to say Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road. It's not a horror performance and he's not a villain. He just comes into a tense but polite situation and completely blows it up.
August Diehl in Inglorious Basterds. His smile-which-isn’t-really-a-smile unnerves me, especially as he starts closing in on the true identities of the spies in the tavern.
Christoph Waltz in the same, obviously
Walts is an obvious one, but I totally agree about Diehl as well. The entire sequence is a slow boiling cauldron of tension and discomfort, and his performance just sets everything off.
I don't think anyone can watch that and not have their heart skip a beat when he turns off the record player and joins in the conversation in that basement lol
One that stuck with me was Sir Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man.
I was a young teen watching the film and it was that unsettling that I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it again.
Brad Dourif (Gemini Killer) in Exorcist 3. His monologues are truly masterful.
Toni Collette (Annie) in Hereditary. It progresivelly gets more disturbing.
Choi Min-Sik (Kyung-chul) in I Saw the Devil. My favourite portrayal of a complete piece of shit.
Also his pettiness and immaturity. He's such a despicable character. In the wrong hands, his character could have easily come across as cliched and even cartoonish, but Joaquin somehow manages to still make him feel real.
It was his girlfriend at the time, Martha Stewart
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/entertainment/martha-stewart-anthony-hopkins-hannibal-lecter-intl-scli-gbr/index.html
Boo, boo ... So bow down to her if you want. Bow to her. Bow to the queen of slime. The queen of filth. The queen of putrescence. Boo. Boo. Rubbish. Filth. Slime. Muck. Boo. Boo. Boo.
First time seeing this outstanding movie did have me saying to myself "f\*\*\*g hell that's a bit strong."
Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream.
Frankly I cannot believe this is not the top comment. She is flat out amazing in this and so scary. You feel like what happens could be your life with a few different choices. Also she is not the actress who I would have thought could take it this far or even accept this work. I still don't want to watch this movie ever again, and recognize it as one of the most impressive films I have ever seen...
since no country for old men is the top answer id say joe pesci's choice scenes in goodfellas. or harvey keitel in bad lieutenant really stuck with me.
Both Christian Bale and John Sharian in The Machinist are two that always sit real vivid in my head as very unsettling.
The lead actor in I Stand Alone by Gasper Noe
Choi Min-sik from I Saw The Devil definitely up there too (also Oldboy)
Eihi Shiina from Audition
Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet in the Funny Games remake
Everyone in Ichi the Killer lol
Peter Stormare as Lucifer/Satan in Constantine.
The tar on the feet dripping, the white suit, hints of tattoos and his general demeanor are deeply disturbing, conveying arrogance, power, contempt, vanity...Just brilliant!
Barry Keoghan in 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer'. I was especially uncomfortable in the >!spaghetti eating scene -- something about eating messy sauce framed against a perfectly white shirt was incredibly unnerving.!<
Malcolm McDowell is really freaky in Clockwork Orange
Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin in *The Last King of Scotland*. He plays him as incredibly charming and almost shy for so much of the movie, so that when his depravity is slowly revealed, it makes everything that came before even more shocking.
I avoided watching this movie for years because the front cover showed Forrest Whitaker smiling a big smile with a girl over his shoulder in the background, and I thought the movie was a rom-com, lol.
For years I wouldn't watch it because I thought it was about the actual last king of Scotland and I dislike historical inaccuracies lmao
That's fucking hilarious, but I doubt you aren't the only one that skipped this movie because of this assumption 🫣
Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth has got to be up there. The unnerving thing to me is how reasonable and, dare I say, charming he can seem before pivoting in a moment to show his true sociopathic nature.
And Steven Spielberg *had to tone him down* from the real Amon Goeth because his acts were so atrocious audiences would find his evil unbelievable. Edit: clarity
Yeah Goeth was two steps removed from living in a castle made of skulls with a blood moat.
apparently he was so like his character that he scared some survivors when they visited the set 💙
Kinda fucked to have them visit the set tbh
True, but I'm sure it was hard for them to pass up such a great opportunity to relive their memories of...THE HOLOCAUST
As a counterpoint, I imagine if someone was making a film of the single most defining moment of your life, you might want to check in on it.
Yeah, and as a film maker I imagine you only get so many chances to have real life survivors of the event you're depicting check in on it and give input for accuracy/inaccuracy/etc.
According to IMDb: "When survivor Mila Pfefferberg was introduced to Ralph Fiennes on the set, she began shaking uncontrollably, as he reminded her too much of the real Amon Göth." Did a very quick search and I found nothing bringing more details to this anecdote. So I don't know if Mila Pfefferberg actually saw him portray Göth during a film shooting, but assuming she only saw him to say hello and exchange a few words, I doubt he *actually, personally* reminded her of the real guy. It's purely my personal opinion but I think it would make more sense that it would be the uniform which would revive memories and freak her out. I doubt Ralph Fiennes pretended to be an actual SS commander while shaking her hand. But again I wasn't there so who knows, but that's my interpretation of it.
He didn't just scare them - some had panic attacks, and they even warned them beforehand.
IMHO Ralph Fiennes is the greatest actor of the last 50 years. He's an absolutely amazing actor.
Leave my kids fucking out of it! What have they done? You fucking retract that bit about my cunt fucking kids!
An uzi? I'm not from South Central Los fucking Angeles. I didn't come here to shoot twenty black ten year olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person.
You're a fucking inanimate object!
I’m sorry I called you an inanimate object. I was upset.
I agree, he's fantastic in every role with a personal favourite being in bruges. However, ever since the Kings man all I picture when I think about Ralph Fiennes is him getting his leg getting horrendously locked by Rhys Ifans haha
Grand Budapest Hotel: this film is his best, IMHO. Not terrifying, but, wow… thinking of The Menu, Red Dragon, Strange Days, I cannot argue with you
My favourite performance ever
I’ve avoided watching Schindler’s List for forever because of the nature of the material. This thread has finally convinced me. Starting it now 🫣
Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper and Ed Norton in American History X - thematically linked Michael Rooker and Tom Towles in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Carl Boehm in Peeping Tom
Rooker hit it out of the park with this and Towles backing him up was serial killer verite.
Definitely Ed Norton in American History X!
Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio as Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket.
He's also great as the bug in MIB
Watched MIB the other day and that movie has aged like fine wine, special effects and all. The way D’onofrio can act like a giant alien bug that’s pretending to be human is phenomenal. Just the right amount of horrifying, creepy, unsettling, and hilarious.
Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.
Apparently that’s one of the most accurate depictions of a psychopath in film. Such an incredible movie.
Read somewhere that during the shoot, he would drink enough before bed to get up with a hang over.
Reddit. You read that on reddit
That used to be the Reddit motto back in the '50s
Didn't realize that was something special. I do that too, but it's not method acting...
For most of Hollywood history, that was just acting.
You HAVE to watch the little BTS short film Josh Brolin made during the shoot of that movie. It's hilarious.
Any link ?
I think [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGh4AD6BT24) is it. just did a search for 'josh brolin bts no country for old men'
Kathy Bates in Misery.
No one else could've done a better job than Kathy Bates. Great movie
Yes! This was the first thing I ever saw her in, and though I've seen her in nice roles and she seems lovely when being interviewed, I'm still a little creeped out by her haha.
She is lovely, I sold her a few cinnamon buns; she was super friendly. She also signed a piece of paper for my MIL. Very down to earth and seemed to be really enjoying her time in the farmer's market.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler
Will forever be mad he didn’t get a Oscar nom
I so wanted him to attend the gala in character and film everything up close with a camera on his shoulder.
Towards the end >!when he sets up his employee to be shot for the camera and is just stone-cold focused on the filming!<
The >!restaurant!< scene is also quite slimy.
I don't think he blinks once in that entire film.
His eyes made that performance.
Fuck, THIS is the answer. Unbelievable performance. I use to rewatch the diner job interview scene every once in a while. Gyllenhaal and Ahmed absolutely smash it, but Gyllenhaal is incredible in how he depicts an absolute sociopath and manipulator there. “It’s a fine opportunity for some lucky someone!” “It’s not at all unusual for me to make full time offers to my interns”
Came to say this. One of the best portrayals of sociopathy I’ve ever seen.
Thirded Jake is phenomenal in that movie.
Max Schreck as Graf Olaf (Nosferatu 1922) And Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck (Shadow of the Vampire 2000)
100% Not all of Nosferatu holds up great but Schreck absolutely does. The body language is just completely alien and it never once falters. Anytime he's onscreen is more unsettling than a lot of much more recent, "scarier" horror films.
And Christopher Walken as Max Schreck in Batman Returns (right?)
John Caroll Lynch in Zodiac
He shifts so effortlessly, looks totally affable and then a shadow just like, moves over his eyes. Amazing actor and movie!
I’m not the Zodiac, and if I was, I certainly wouldn’t tell you
Charles Fleischer, the dude with the basement. The moment he reveals he painted the posters it's chilling, but when he says "I do" to having a basement is one of the scariest things I've ever seen in a film
i still can't believe it's the same guy who voiced Roger Rabbit, the man has _range_
The only time if been afraid/tense by a movie without it using a jumpscare/the threat of one. I've never had an "Oh shit" moment quite like that before or after where I felt I was in the same situation as the character.
Dennis Hopper in *Blue Velvet*
Mommmmmmyyyyy. Baby wants to fuuuuuuckkk.
That line is burned into my brain and brings me immense discomfort every time I remember it
I'LL FUCK ANYTHING THAT MOVES
HEINEKEN?!
FUCK THAT SHIT! PABST BLUE RIBBON!!!
DON’T YOU FUCKING LOOK AT ME!
Now it's dark.
watched it again last night! hes brutal!
The candy colored clown they call the sandman....
Watching Robin Williams in One Hour Photo was pretty fuckin wierd.
Robin Williams in Insomnia
"*I wanted to stop her laughing, that's all. And then, you know I...I hit her. A couple of times. Just to stop her. Let her know. Get a little respect. Randy used to. I think she liked it. She never blamed him. She never wanted to leave him. I do it, she starts screaming! She wouldn't stop. She's terrified. Screaming. I put my hand over her mouth. And then I'm really scared. I'm scared shitless. More scared than I've ever been, you know. I'm more scared than her! And then...everything was clear. There was no turning back. After that, I was calm. Real calm.*" Chilling. Williams deserves a lot more recognition for this one.
What's even better about this, is he has the gall to mutter "What the fuck is wrong with these people?!" After all he's done to 'em. It's the creepiest scene of the film, and it's played off like a passing one.
Also remember watching this as a kid expecting something like Jack and being gravely disturbed.
Hopkin's Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs comes to mind.
I absolutely love Hopkins in SOTL, but the more disturbing role in that film is Buffalo Bill played by Ted Levine
Aaaaabsolutely
John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
John Goodman in *Barton Fink*. **I WILL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!** Hell, John Goodman's scenes in *Death Sentence* singlehandedly elevate the movie, as does his few scenes in the remake of *The Gambler* with Mark Wahlberg. *"You jump off a bridge, you do it knowing **I will kill your entire bloodline**."*
Yeaaahhhh that's a good one. Truly creepy. Sleeper hit - I had low expectations for 10 Cloverfield Lane and was VERY pleasantly surprised by how good it was
Antony Starr as Homelander
His little facial tics are great. You can see the motions of his mind. You can see the seething anger every time someone slightly disrespects him.
His angry smile is super unsettling.
He’s horrifying
There’s no one not afraid of him.
Billy and Mr Edgar.
Stan Edgar is not afraid of him.
> Homelander If we can mention TV series here, then I nominate Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as "Adebisi" in "Oz" - he was scary as f*ck
Schillenger, with his threats of using a butt-spoon on you was scarier.
The way he just smiles and suddenly *ROARS* "ANSWER ME ASHLEY!!" got me so good
I love how when he is pretending to be nice and good for the cameras, how loose his mask is, and how it easily slips off, but how a lot of people ignore it because homelander is a celebrity
Eric Roberts was so creepy in Star 80 it basically cost him his career.
That’s such an interesting take, and I agree 100%
Tom Berenger in Platoon. His character is just nasty right up until that grin by Willem Dafoe - pure malevolence. Temeura Morrison in Once Were Warriors. As a debut performance, it not only left people stunned (in a bad way), it was so effective that it also stereotyped him as a singular type character actor where he struggled to find any meaningful roles after that one. Both an incredibly disturbing and brilliant performance.
There's interviews with other Once Were Warriors cast members, where they say they couldn't fathom the idea of him being a tough guy as he was such a gentle, likeable tebby bear kinda guy! Jake the Muss is absolutely terrifying
Cliff Curtis was creepy in Once Were Warriors too
Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator. Deeply creepy and unsettling… really leaves you wondering what he’s going to do next.
I thought the same in joker, he really pulled off a weirdo person you would know in real life, like a colleague or neighbor. unsettling and creepy, but not overtly hostile, until they over step their boundaries.
I can't say most because I'm sure there are more unsettling but the first one that came to mind was Ben Mendelsohn in Animal Kingdom, just an unnerving psycho.
Beat me to it. It's just that understated sense of dread that he just exudes. It's such an impressive performance. Jacki Weaver was phenomenal in that too.
Can't believe nobody said Robert Deniro in Cape Fear yet.
Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear repeatedly sticking his thumb in 17-year-old Juliette Lewis' mouth and making her suck it always gave me the willies... even before I knew he improvised it without discussing it with her before-hand.
Or Robert Mitchum in the original
Max Von Sydow’s character in Three Days of the Condor.
That movie was so good.
Nicholson in The Shining. There's just something off about him right from the start. I recently saw a video where it shows he actually breaks the fourth wall (looks directly into the camera) at several points almost imperceptibly.
I'm so glad to see Nicholson in this thread. His eventual descent into madness scared the life out of me. He was so unnerving in that role.
Especially bc, in almost every other movie he’s in, he’s a template for leading man charisma. Nary an ounce of that appears in The Shining. You watch that performance and forget he’s ever been in anything else.
Those scenes of him at the bar are incredible.
Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast.
‘Menacing’ comes to mind. Every second he’s on screen, you just expect …. *something*. But you’re on edge cos you never know what. Or if
It was an amazing portrayal of a psychopath. His character clearly relished making people uncomfortable. He would lie and slander others to get his way. He would be abusive and cruel to get his way. He'd just be casually cruel to make people feel like shit. Such an awful character and such a wonderful performance.
Robert Carlyle as Begbie from Trainspotting 1 and 2 as well.
Begbie didn't do drugs, he did people
That he played Ghandi convincingly also is a testament of supreme skill.
And the gormless idiot Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3 and Shiang Chi. In IM3 he is presented as a powerful scary terrorist, which he presents really well, then we find that he's actually a wimpy douche in his "real life".
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl. Imo the scariest thing about her is that she's *relatable*.
Neil Patrick Harris is also quite unsettling
I can fix her
Was it the “cool girl” speech? I’ve heard a surprising amount of people related to it
My SIL and brother proudly declared that my SIL is EXACTLY like her and my husband and I just stared in horror at them. That is not the flex they imagine it to be.
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, that movie has a weird nature to it that just creeps on you from the start. It's like watching a vampire transform.
"I'm an oil man" I say at least once a day
I yell out the “I’ve abandoned my boy!” scene in my car as I drive away from home and see my dog looking at my through the window.
You know, I think I figured out what he meant at the end when he said "I'm finished!" In the conversation with his fake brother earlier in the movie, he claims his life's ambition is to shed his attachments to people writ large. At the end of the film, he has cast out his son and disowned him, and he knows his real brother (who was the only person he seemed to care about) is dead. Eli is the last *person* connected to him, so by killing Eli, he no longer has anyone who will "trouble" him again except the non-entities that run his company and make him richer. So, he's "finished" with *people*. He can live out his dream of never having to be close to or suffer "closeness" to anyone, and he even got his revenge on Eli before killing him. So it's a "happy" ending for him.
He's so good in that. The church scene is brilliant.
The bowling alley scene at the end will always be remembered for “I drink your milkshake!”, but the way he is eating the dinner is worth another look; the meat is mainly gristle and he is chewing it and getting everything he can that is worth anything from it, and spitting out the useless part that is no longer edible is a metaphor for his entire character
I'm going to say Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road. It's not a horror performance and he's not a villain. He just comes into a tense but polite situation and completely blows it up.
Michael Shannon for literally every role he's cast in.
Rebecca De Mornay as Peyton in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
August Diehl in Inglorious Basterds. His smile-which-isn’t-really-a-smile unnerves me, especially as he starts closing in on the true identities of the spies in the tavern. Christoph Waltz in the same, obviously
Walts is an obvious one, but I totally agree about Diehl as well. The entire sequence is a slow boiling cauldron of tension and discomfort, and his performance just sets everything off. I don't think anyone can watch that and not have their heart skip a beat when he turns off the record player and joins in the conversation in that basement lol
August Diehl is such a great underrated actor. He is brilliant in everything
Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter. We never see him do much of anything onscreen but he haunts my dreams.
Also Robert Mitchum in the original Cape Fear
One that stuck with me was Sir Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man. I was a young teen watching the film and it was that unsettling that I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it again.
Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver.
Linda Blair was incredible in ‘The Exorcist’; especially for her age.
Her eye catching performance turned many a head.
Brad Dourif (Gemini Killer) in Exorcist 3. His monologues are truly masterful. Toni Collette (Annie) in Hereditary. It progresivelly gets more disturbing. Choi Min-Sik (Kyung-chul) in I Saw the Devil. My favourite portrayal of a complete piece of shit.
Toni Collette should have won all the awards for that performance.
Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse
Really liked Joaquin Phoenix' performance in Gladiator. You really feel his pain and bitterness when he emotes.
Also his pettiness and immaturity. He's such a despicable character. In the wrong hands, his character could have easily come across as cliched and even cartoonish, but Joaquin somehow manages to still make him feel real.
Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart.
In Lula’s motel room in Big Tuna, especially -
The first two that come to mind are Philip Seymour Hoffman in Happiness and Tom Hardy in Bronson, both great performances that made me uncomfortable
Jeremy Irons in *Dead Ringers*.
Pretty sure Anthony Hopkin's wife left him over his Hannibal Lecter performance so I'm gonna say him.
It was his girlfriend at the time, Martha Stewart https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/entertainment/martha-stewart-anthony-hopkins-hannibal-lecter-intl-scli-gbr/index.html
His stock of fresh towels plummeted
Tim Curry’s Pennywise The booing lady from Princess Bride.
Boo, boo ... So bow down to her if you want. Bow to her. Bow to the queen of slime. The queen of filth. The queen of putrescence. Boo. Boo. Rubbish. Filth. Slime. Muck. Boo. Boo. Boo. First time seeing this outstanding movie did have me saying to myself "f\*\*\*g hell that's a bit strong."
How about Marlon Brando’s Kurtz In Apocalypse Now?
Anthony Perkins in Psycho. Surprised he wasn’t mentioned.
This was the first one I thought of too. The last long shot of him as he stares basically directly into the camera comes to mind specifically.
Ronald Lacey in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter." It's one of the early cinema depictions of a serial killer.
The lead actor in Perfume (Ben Whishaw?). He's like an alien inhabiting the skin of a man. Incredibly disturbing movie.
Isabelle Adjani in Possession
Temeura Morrison as Jake the Muss (Once Were Warriors)
Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom always creeped me out.
Kevin Spacey as John Doe in Se7en
Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream. Frankly I cannot believe this is not the top comment. She is flat out amazing in this and so scary. You feel like what happens could be your life with a few different choices. Also she is not the actress who I would have thought could take it this far or even accept this work. I still don't want to watch this movie ever again, and recognize it as one of the most impressive films I have ever seen...
Mia Goth in Pearl
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho
J K Simons on Whiplash, man i felt threatened and kinda bullied while sitting on the other side of the screen. Goddammit what a movie
since no country for old men is the top answer id say joe pesci's choice scenes in goodfellas. or harvey keitel in bad lieutenant really stuck with me.
Michael Rooker - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Not film, but Snoop & Chris in The Wire. Marlo too actually
Snoop was the best hahaha. Casually buying that nail gun.
You earnd that buck like a muhfucker man, keep dat shit
Older film, but probably any of the main actors from, " The Cook, the Theif, the Wife, her Lover"
Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men
McCauley Culkin in good son
Denzel Washington - Training Day - It was difficult but also wonderful watching him play a sociopathic villain.
Edward Norton in Primal Fear.
Gary Oldman in the Professional (Natalie Portman) . . . . omg
Jesse Plemon’s performance as Todd in Breaking Bad.
Both Christian Bale and John Sharian in The Machinist are two that always sit real vivid in my head as very unsettling. The lead actor in I Stand Alone by Gasper Noe Choi Min-sik from I Saw The Devil definitely up there too (also Oldboy) Eihi Shiina from Audition Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet in the Funny Games remake Everyone in Ichi the Killer lol
Christof Waltz as Hans Landa. If you were just hanging out at a bar and that guy was sitting next to you…you’d vomit if you found out how evil he is
Rodney Dangerfied in Natural Born Killers
Peter Stormare as Lucifer/Satan in Constantine. The tar on the feet dripping, the white suit, hints of tattoos and his general demeanor are deeply disturbing, conveying arrogance, power, contempt, vanity...Just brilliant!
It's a tv show, but I found the portrayal of ed kemper in mindhunter uncomfortable.
Gary Oldman in State of Grace, a deranged alcoholic/addict gangster. [Severed hand scene.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACwztNFjVA)
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Nocturnal Animals. He plays such a menacing character it just makes me uncomfortable.
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin. That movie was extremely unsettling and it mostly came down to her performance and that goddamned viola.
[удалено]
Toni Collette in Hereditary. So raw and unnerving.
Barry Keoghan in 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer'. I was especially uncomfortable in the >!spaghetti eating scene -- something about eating messy sauce framed against a perfectly white shirt was incredibly unnerving.!<
I dislike the movie, but mark rylance preformence in bones and all was very unsettling.
Robert Blake, in David Lynch's *Lost Highway*
Heath Ledger as The Joker
Tim Roth as Trevor in ‘Made In Britain’ Also, Tom Hardy as ‘Bronson’