The 1990s were a fantastic time for fantasy films, and not just because that decade is currently at the height of its nostalgic appeal. The 90s saw controversial films of all genres repeatedly attempt to break the molds created by the era before. While they didn’t always succeed, they did result in a decade packed with fantastic movies, some going against the grain, and others making clear homages to what came before.
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With fantasy films in particular, a good villain can make or break a movie, because without the villain acting in contrast with the hero, a film has no stakes. While plenty of great fantasy films, such as several by Studio Ghibli, don’t have villains, those are the rare exceptions. In a genre defined by a heightened interpretation of reality, it’s all the more important to feature villains backed up by perfect performances, and none of these will disappoint.
You are watching: 10 Best Fantasy Movie Villains From The 1990s
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Miss Trunchbull – Matilda (1996)
Played By Pam Ferris
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While Matilda‘s villains are also Matilda’s abusive, spiteful, and neglectful parents, they combined (despite some of Danny DeVito’s best acting) don’t make half of the impression as the imposing and fascistic Miss Trunchbull. With her idiosyncratic approach to discipline, uncontrollable ego, and a physique that puts Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame, the headmistress of Crunchem Hall is the apotheosis of every cruel and unfair school administrator to ever taint an academic institution.
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Matilda
Release Date
June 28, 1996
Runtime
98minutes
Director
Danny DeVito
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The scenes in which Trunchbull punishes students, such as when she throws Amanda Thripp out a window by her pigtails, or forces Bruce Bogtrotter to eat the entire chocolate cake that he so audaciously ate a slice of, set up the payoff that comes from her eventual downfall at Matilda’s telekinetic hands. Trunchbull’s almost cartoonish cruelty makes her disgraced flight from Crunchem Hall into the perfect moment of catharsis for any child who fantasizes about getting even with an unfair teacher.
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King Einon – Dragonheart (1996)
Played By David Thewlis
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Younger audiences may remember David Thewlis fondly as Remus Lupin, the werewolf professor from the Harry Potter films, but fantasy-loving theatergoers in the 1990s knew him as the cruel, sniveling King Einon, who was given a second chance at life when the dragon Draco gave Einon a piece of his own heart. Yet instead of growing up and fulfilling the promise he made to Draco — that he would be a just and kind ruler, worthy of the gift of life — Einon becomes a selfish and callous king.
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Dragonheart
Release Date
May 31, 1996
Director
Rob Cohen
Writers
Patrick Read Johnson, Charles Edward Pogue
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Einon is the kind of royalty audiences love to hate, and Thewlis’ acting leans into that beautifully, embracing the camp nature of the film and showing that in a world with dragons and magic, people are still capable of being the worst monsters of all. It’s all the more tragic when Sir Bowen is forced to kill Einon, knowing that it will also kill Draco through the link between their hearts. In the end, though, as Draco’s soul ascends to the heavens where all the other dragons have gone, it’s clear that at least someone who deserved it found redemption.
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Captain Hook – Hook (1991)
Played By Dustin Hoffman
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Dustin Hoffman’s storied career as an actor has mostly involved subtle, dramatic roles. His turn as Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 cult classic was a major change of type for him. Yet he took to the role with aplomb and gusto; Hoffman owns every scene he appears in, an impressive feat considering he shares many of those scenes with the equally legendary Robin Williams.
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Hoffman’s Hook is a toxic authority figure, and a codependent one at that. Directionless in life without his beloved nemesis, Hook kidnaps Peter’s kids and then works to undermine Peter’s position of paternal authority, taking young Jack under his wing and seeming to be a better father than Peter ever was. Yet at the film’s climactic confrontation, the mask comes off, and Hook’s black heart is left beating for all to see, so the audience can’t help but cheer as he meets his ironic death by a taxidermied crocodile.
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Lestat de Lioncourt – Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Played By Tom Cruise
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While Lestat would be the first to call himself a villain, he wouldn’t ever really mean it; whether in this film, its not-quite-sequel Queen of the Damned, or any of Anne Rice’s numerous books, Lestat de Lioncourt is the kind of egomaniacal murderer who thinks he’s the greatest person to ever walk the face of the Earth. Unlike later portrayals of the character, such as Sam Ried in AMC’s ongoing adaptation of the books, Tom Cruise’s Lestat is a wild dog who thinks he is a king.
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It’s the dichotomy between Lestat’s feral hunger and his almost foppish attempts at appearing genteel that make him such a compelling villain. His aristocratic trappings and blood-smeared mouth make it clear that anything he says about vampiric superiority is just a delusion, and his willingness to turn on his supposedly beloved Louis and Claudia shows that he knows that every word he says about family is a lie. While Rice’s later books try to give Lestat a conscience, the film version of the character remains a perfect sort of monster.
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The Sanderson Sisters – Hocus Pocus (1993)
Played By Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, & Kathy Najimy
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The only thing better than a cackling, child-eating witch is a trio of cackling, child-eating witches. Hocus Pocus, one of the best Halloween movies ever, is a delightful, family-friendly romp through Salem, Massachusetts, as the vicious Sanderson Sisters, brought back from the grave by naive young Max, rush to ensure their resurrection is permanent. Along the way, the three witches bicker delightfully, like a magical Three Stooges.
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Hocus Pocus
Release Date
July 16, 1993
Runtime
96 minutes
Director
Kenny Ortega
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While it may seem that family-friendly films are restricted from having good villains, Hocus Pocus proves that good villainy isn’t a matter of evil or competence, but panache. Few cinematic villains in any genre or decade could pull off the spontaneous swagger of the Sandersons’ “I Put a Spell on You” musical number, as they render a pop twist on Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ 1956 R&B classic. Hopefully, Bette Midler and the others will get a chance to return if the in-production Hocus Pocus 3 manages to manifest itself.
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Rasputin – Anastasia (1997)
Voiced By Christopher Lloyd
20th Century Fox Animation’s Anastasia has been considered a bit of an also-ran for years: Upon its theatrical release, it had to compete with multiple Disney films, including the seasonal re-release of The Little Mermaid. Since then, Anastasia has struggled against the misconception that it was a Disney film. At least, until Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019, finally making Anastasia the Disney Princess she was meant to be, and also finally putting Rasputin where he belongs in the ranks of Disney’s best scenery-chewing villains.
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Anastasia
Release Date
November 21, 1997
Runtime
94 minutes
Director
Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
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One of the only singing roles Christopher Lloyd has done in his long and storied career, his portrayal of the scheming undead Grigori Rasputin is a villainous delight, despite its complete lack of basis in the historical record of the fall of the Romanov family. In fact, Rasputin had been dead for two years by the time the Romanovs were murdered. Yet historical accuracy isn’t the reason anyone loves Anastasia — it’s the music, the spectacle, and the truly unhinged rants of Rasputin and his adorable lackey, the spineless bat Bartok.
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Hexxus – FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
Voiced By Tim Curry
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Over the decades of his career, Tim Curry has played some truly incredible and flamboyant characters, from his unforgettable turn as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show to his genuinely unsettling two-episode arc as the serial killer known as the Prince of Darkness on Criminal Minds. Yet few of his roles have had the same impact on audiences as his voicing the corrupt spirit Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest.
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FernGully: The Last Rainforest
Release Date
April 10, 1992
Runtime
76 minutes
Director
Bill Kroyer
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Hexxus, as a character, was the perfect chance for Curry to flex his talent as a voice actor. From the oddly seductive performance of the song “Toxic Love” to the maniacal cackling at every technological device he corrupts, Hexxus is easily one of the two best things about FernGully (the other, of course, being Robin Williams’ first-ever voice-acting role as escaped experimental subject Batty).
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Imhotep – The Mummy (1999)
Played By Arnold Vosloo
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Few films so deftly balance hilarity, violence, special effects, and a downright gorgeous cast as 1999’s The Mummy. While many pixels have been spilled singing the praises of cast members Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and Oded Fehr, it’s worth noting that none of them would have been such impressive protagonists without Arnold Vosloo’s portrayal of Imhotep, the titular undead mummy. Vosloo’s portrayal is wonderfully compelling, not only because of his natural gravitas as an actor, but because of the choices he made behind the camera.
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In a 1999 interview with Cinefantasique, he detailed how he worked to embody some of cinema’s first Imhotep — the immortal Boris Karloff in Universal’s 1932 original — in his acting. He also discussed how he insisted that instead of just portraying Imhotep as a villain, his focus was something more emotionally subtle, saying: “I was not interested in playing him as the bad guy; I wanted to play the romance aspect.”
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Bartleby & Loki – Dogma (1999)
Played By Ben Affleck & Matt Damon
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Kevin Smith’s oddly touching Dogma will finally debut on streaming this year, as well as possibly get a theatrical revival. The controversy-ridden film, which has been out of print since approximately 2010 after the 2008 Blu-ray release was discontinued, is one of the best pairings of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon together onscreen, aside perhaps from the critically acclaimed Good Will Hunting. Unlike Good Will Hunting, Dogma sees them commit mass murder.
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At the start of Dogma, Affleck and Damon’s characters, the angels Bartleby and Loki, are stuck in Wisconsin after being cast out of Heaven. An opportunistic priest in New Jersey presents them with a loophole that will let them back into Paradise, yet they discover that exploiting said loophole will actually unmake all existence by proving that God isn’t actually omnipotent. While Loki begins to falter, Bartleby doubles down on his resentment towards God, proving that poignant theological commentary can be delivered with a straight face while wearing slightly hokey prosthetic angel wings.
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Lady Eboshi – Princess Mononoke (1997)
Played By Yūko Tanaka/Minnie Driver
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Hayao Miyazaki’s films with Studio Ghibli often have very interesting definitions of villainy: Some, like Ponyo or My Neighbor Totoro, don’t even have antagonists at all, while others are more like Castle in the Sky and Howl’s Moving Castle, where the villains are selfish humans out of balance with the needs of the world around them. Princess Mononoke follows in the latter tradition but with a further twist: Unlike other Ghibli films, where the villains are clearly power-hungry from the outset, Princess Mononoke‘s antagonist Lady Eboshi is something unique.
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Princess Mononoke
Release Date
July 12, 1997
Runtime
133 Minutes
Director
Hayao Miyazaki
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Throughout the film, Eboshi makes it clear that she has no care for the needs of the natural world, but it’s equally clear that she cares deeply for the people under her protection. She stood up for society’s forgotten and gave them a home worth fighting for. Eboshi’s steely resolve and determination to not let the forest beat her is laudable and only comes across as villainous because of this fantasy film’s perspective. In Eboshi’s story, she’s the hero, and that makes her callous treatment of the Forest Spirit all the more delightfully villainous.
Source: Cinefantasique
Source: https://dinhtienhoang.edu.vn
Category: Entertainment