Who is the creepiest bad guy in the movies?

Since your including a discussion of 'Dune' I think other David Lynch movies are worth their creep. As a minimum there's Dennis Hopper as Frank in 'Blue Velvet' or Willam Defoe as Bobby Peru in 'Wild at Heart.'

I had forgotten about Blue Velvet . . . yeah, Hopper was seriously creepy in that . . .

Probably that Col. Latta in Tarantino's recent WW-II what-if movie.

I always though Tarantino's creep factor has been toned down since
'Reservoir Dogs.' To me one of the creepiest movie scenes ever is Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde in the torture scene. Still makes my skin crawl when the phrase "Can you hear me?" is used.

Of all Tarantino's movies, Reservoir Dogs is the one which I can easily picture happening, all he's talking about is two or three of Mr. Murphy's laws kicking in during a normal day at the office for a bunch of gangsters.

In fact if I were a highschool principal I'd insist on the kids seeing that one in the ninth grade with the instructions:

Reservoir Dogs doesn't have anything over that scene at the beginning of Inglorious Bastards featuring Col. Latta, Latta is as serious a villain as you'd ever see or want.

Boris Badenov

Patrick Bateman, American Psycho

The problem with 'Inglorious Bastards' is that it is, in effect, a cartoon. 'Reservoir Dogs' doesn't carry that stigma. To me cartoons aren't as creepy as reality. That is why I don't consider 'Kill Bill' as high on the creep factor as 'Jackie Brown."

The same goes for Micky and Mallorie in 'Natural Born Killers' as Tom Berringer in 'Platoon.'

That's what I said more or less about wanting kids to see it. Really hard trying to picture somebody watching that and still wanting to consider any sort of a life of crime...

Spy vs Spy

Heath Ledger's take on the Joker was pretty good.

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood creeped me out.

As a child, this guy scared the popcorn out of me. Looking back I realize it was partly because I had heard stories from a Holocaust survivor in my family who described being hidden in a basement for two years until being found and taken away in such a paddy wagon...

Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang: The Child Catcher

This is an excellent list of creeps!

I have to confess that I haven't seen very many of these movies but I know I'll be adding some to my "see someday" list. I like movies where the scares are more psychological than physical.

Denzel Washington's character in "Training Day" was creepy!

The clip of "The Hitcher" that Swimpy posted had very much the same feel as the creep in the movie bit I saw the other day. I guess it's about someone having all the power in the situation that really creeps me out. Which brings us to the villians in "Funny Games".....

.... who were really more sickening than creepy, but still they were very, very creepy.

And he is so civil about it. That is the creepy part - just eating people isn't creepy enough.

I still get nightmares about the child catcher. Funny thing is years ago at work we had a Temp working in another group that resembled very closely the child catcher.

I thought Jeremy Irons was pretty creepy in "Reversal of Fortune".

James Mason as Richard Straker in Salem's Lot

The Creeper in the first half of Jeepers Creepers (The movie lurched from nightmarish to laughable midway through)

Anyone possessed by Azazel in the movie The Fallen

You know, Johnny Depp can be creepy in about anything - but it isn't a horror creepy. Especially as Willy Wonka!