Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "evil-lead-character"
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1. The Terminator (1984)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield
Votes: 927,757 | Gross: $38.40M
2. Falling Down (1993)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 207,858 | Gross: $40.90M
3. The Guest (I) (2014)
R | 100 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.
Director: Adam Wingard | Stars: Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, Maika Monroe, Joel David Moore
Votes: 107,505 | Gross: $0.32M
4. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney
Votes: 321,136 | Gross: $73.34M
5. Collateral (2004)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
Votes: 434,560 | Gross: $101.01M
6. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 169,044 | Gross: $0.03M
7. I Care a Lot (2020)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A crooked legal guardian who drains the savings of her elderly wards meets her match when a woman she tries to swindle turns out to be more than she first appears.
Director: J Blakeson | Stars: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest
Votes: 146,864
8. The Public Enemy (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Votes: 23,134 | Gross: $1.01M
9. Funny Games (1997)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Arno Frisch, Frank Giering
Votes: 84,640
10. Unhinged (I) (2020)
R | 90 min | Action, Thriller
After a confrontation with an unstable man at an intersection, a woman becomes the target of his rage.
Director: Derrick Borte | Stars: Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Gabriel Bateman, Jimmi Simpson
Votes: 77,198 | Gross: $20.83M
11. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Director: Charles Laughton | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason
Votes: 97,897 | Gross: $0.65M
12. Cop Car (2015)
R | 88 min | Crime, Thriller
A small-town sheriff sets out to find the two kids who have taken his car on a joy ride.
Director: Jon Watts | Stars: Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford, Shea Whigham
Votes: 35,315 | Gross: $0.13M
13. Flesh+Blood (1985)
R | 126 min | Adventure, Drama
In medieval Europe, a young girl from a noble family is obsessed with her captors - commoners.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Rutger Hauer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Burlinson, Jack Thompson
Votes: 20,122 | Gross: $0.10M
14. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
PG | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel
Votes: 45,106 | Gross: $16.06M
15. Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both as well as everyone around them.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price
Votes: 14,838
16. The Jackal (1997)
R | 124 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An imprisoned I.R.A. fighter is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora
Votes: 124,498 | Gross: $54.93M
17. Eye of the Needle (1981)
R | 112 min | Romance, Thriller, War
A ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan, Stephen MacKenna, Philip Martin Brown
Votes: 11,954 | Gross: $17.58M
18. A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, Music
A female radio reporter turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau
Votes: 17,251
19. Wolf Creek 2 (2013)
Not Rated | 106 min | Horror, Thriller
The outback once more becomes a place of horror as another unwitting tourist becomes the prey for crazed, serial-killing pig-hunter Mick Taylor.
Director: Greg McLean | Stars: John Jarratt, Ryan Corr, Shannon Ashlyn, Philippe Klaus
Votes: 22,848
20. Deadfall (2012)
R | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Two siblings decide to fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist and their unlikely reunion during another family's Thanksgiving celebration.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Charlie Hunnam, Sissy Spacek
Votes: 41,136 | Gross: $0.07M
21. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Horror
Doctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar Anton Phibes seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for the death of his wife.
Director: Robert Fuest | Stars: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Virginia North, Terry-Thomas
Votes: 16,740 | Gross: $0.55M
22. Man Bites Dog (1992)
NC-17 | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A film crew follows a ruthless thief and heartless killer as he goes about his daily routine. But complications set in when the film crew lose their objectivity and begin lending a hand.
Directors: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde | Stars: Benoît Poelvoorde, Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert, Nelly Pappaert, Hector Pappaert
Votes: 43,835 | Gross: $0.21M
23. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, Horror
A European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, David Weston
Votes: 16,365
24. Witchfinder General (1968)
Unrated | 86 min | Drama, Horror
During the English Civil War, a young Roundhead seeks vengeance against a vicious witch-hunter and his henchman, who have terrorized the soldier's fiancée and wrongfully executed her uncle.
Director: Michael Reeves | Stars: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Rupert Davies, Patrick Wymark
Votes: 12,303
25. The Last Son (2021)
R | 96 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
An outlaw attempts to end his evil family line.
Director: Tim Sutton | Stars: Sam Worthington, Colson Baker, Thomas Jane, Emily Marie Palmer
Votes: 2,128
26. There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
R | 126 min | Comedy, Western
A charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates
Votes: 5,258 | Gross: $0.64M
27. Mother's Boys (1993)
R | 96 min | Drama, Thriller
Jude Madigan abandons her husband Robert and her three sons without any explanation. Three years later Jude inexplicably returns to reunite her family. However Robert and his new lover ... See full summary »
Director: Yves Simoneau | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Peter Gallagher, Joanne Whalley, Vanessa Redgrave
Votes: 3,615 | Gross: $0.87M
28. Fatale (II) (2020)
R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
After a one-night stand, a successful married man finds himself entangled in a cunning police detective's latest investigation.
Director: Deon Taylor | Stars: Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy, Mike Colter, Damaris Lewis
Votes: 14,302
29. Little Caesar (1931)
Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr.
Votes: 14,599
30. Gangster No. 1 (2000)
R | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Chronicles the rise and fall of a prominent, and particularly ruthless English gangster.
Director: Paul McGuigan | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany, Saffron Burrows
Votes: 14,564 | Gross: $0.03M
31. Nightmare Alley (1947)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker
Votes: 13,451
32. A Kiss Before Dying (1991)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A determined student murders his pregnant secret girlfriend and moves onto her twin sister who gradually becomes suspicious of her new lover.
Director: James Dearden | Stars: Matt Dillon, Sean Young, James Bonfanti, Sarah Keller
Votes: 5,962 | Gross: $15.43M
33. The Offence (1973)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A burnt-out British police detective finally snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant, Ian Bannen
Votes: 8,027
34. Richard III (1955)
Not Rated | 161 min | Biography, Drama, History
Shakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed King and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Nicholas Hannen, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 5,256
35. Hell Bound (1957)
Approved | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After World War II, a Los Angeles crime ring uses a complex scheme, involving a freight ship, a junkie, and a corrupt health officer, to smuggle drugs into the USA.
Director: William J. Hole Jr. | Stars: John Russell, June Blair, Stuart Whitman, Margo Woode
Votes: 728
36. Villain (1971)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
Director: Michael Tuchner | Stars: Richard Burton, Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Donald Sinden
Votes: 2,047
37. A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Approved | 94 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
A ruthless college student resorts to murder in an attempt to marry an heiress.
Director: Gerd Oswald | Stars: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith, Joanne Woodward
Votes: 4,338
38. Tower of London (1962)
Not Rated | 79 min | Drama, History, Horror
The twisted Richard III is haunted by the ghosts of those he has murdered in his attempt to become the King of England.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Vincent Price, Michael Pate, Joan Freeman, Robert Brown
Votes: 2,596
39. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964)
84 min | Horror
A gravedigger prowls the city in search of a female to bear him a son.
Director: José Mojica Marins | Stars: José Mojica Marins, Magda Mei, Nivaldo Lima, Valéria Vasquez
Votes: 3,897
40. The Oscar (1966)
Approved | 119 min | Drama
Snotty Hollywood actor becomes even more full of himself after he's nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Director: Russell Rouse | Stars: Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer, Milton Berle, Eleanor Parker
Votes: 1,467
41. No Name on the Bullet (1959)
Passed | 77 min | Western
When hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal revenge.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Audie Murphy, Charles Drake, Joan Evans, Virginia Grey
Votes: 3,073
42. Dolan's Cadillac (2009)
R | 89 min | Crime, Thriller
A young man attempts to seek to avenge his wife's death after she is murdered by a Las Vegas mobster.
Director: Jeff Beesley | Stars: Christian Slater, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Wes Bentley, Greg Bryk
Votes: 7,625
43. Hands of the Ripper (1971)
R | 85 min | Horror
As a young child Jack the Ripper's daughter witnesses him kill her mother. As a young woman she carries on the murderous reign of her father. A psychiatrist tries to cure her with tragic consequences.
Director: Peter Sasdy | Stars: Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, Jane Merrow, Keith Bell
Votes: 3,037
44. Johnny Eager (1941)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
The step-daughter of a district attorney falls in love with a gangster on parole who her father originally imprisoned.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold, Van Heflin
Votes: 3,438
45. Tower of London (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, History
In the 15th century Richard Duke of Gloucester, aided by his club-footed executioner Mord, eliminates those ahead of him in succession to the throne, then occupied by his brother King ... See full summary »
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Barbara O'Neil, Ian Hunter
Votes: 2,241
46. The Wicked Lady (1945)
Not Rated | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
A noblewoman begins to lead a dangerous double life in order to alleviate her boredom.
Director: Leslie Arliss | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Patricia Roc, Griffith Jones
Votes: 1,647
47. Shield for Murder (1954)
Approved | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a brutal police detective Lt. murders a bookmaker's runner for $25,000 in cash, a deaf mute sees him do it and now he finds he must kill again to cover his tracks.
Directors: Howard W. Koch, Edmond O'Brien | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, John Agar, Marla English, Emile Meyer
Votes: 1,735
48. Alias Nick Beal (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Fantasy, Film-Noir
A district attorney rises to political success and the governorship but loses his sense of morality once he starts associating with the shadowy and perhaps diabolical Nick Beal.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell, George Macready
Votes: 1,288
49. Ruthless (1948)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A poor boy who saved a rich girl from drowning is adopted by her family, but he grows into a money-hungry ruthless businessman who would step on others to get to the top of the social ladder.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet
Votes: 1,417
50. The Unholy Three (1930)
Passed | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Professor Echo, a ventriloquist, forms a burglary ring. He disguises himself as an elderly pet store owner selling talking birds to the wealthy, using his skills to make the birds seem to talk while casing the homes for robberies.
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent, Harry Earles
Votes: 1,419