Hannibal Lechter Is The Best Of The Bad Guys, Says Survey

Posted Friday, August 17, 2001 at 9:45 AM Central

by Tim Briscoe

That cannibalistic killer Hannibal Lechter from The Silence Of The Lambs has been voted the best villain in online survey. Web site only-movies.com tallied the ballots from over 17,000 voters for the poll. The character made famous by Anthony Hopkins edged out the man in black, Star Wars' Darth Vader, and Norman Bates from Psycho.

Here are the top 15 vote-getters. For the 30 top baddies, visit only-movies.com.

1. Hannibal Lechter, The Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal
2. Darth Vader, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi
3. Norman Bates, Psycho and its sequels
4. Sheriff Of Nottingham, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves
5. Annie Wilkes, Misery
6. John Doe, Seven
7. Freddy Krueger, A Nightmare On Elm Street
8. Cyrus The Virus, Con Air
9. Scorpio, Dirty Harry
10. Count Dracula, Horror Of Dracula
11. Hans Gruber, Die Hard
12. Cruella De Vil, 101 Dalmatians
13. Terminator, The Terminator
14. Commodus, Gladiator
15. Jaws, The Spy Who Loved Me

Glaring omissions from the list were Jason Voorhies from the Friday The 13th series and the Wicked Witch Of The West from 1939's The Wizard Of Oz.

You can see Hannibal's latest exploits in his latest, self-titled movie. It will be available on video and DVD Aug. 21.