Jump to content

Soap Villains Who Were Truly Scary


Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

The way they shot the Clown Puppet Murders on EON was also genuinely terrifying. Likely moreso than the latest spate of evil doll movies.

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

  • Replies 98
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members
Posted

At its' peak, EON must have been one of the most clever and most adult shows on TV.

  • Members
Posted

 

Most of that era of EON puts any soap in the last 25 years to shame. Henry Slesar was very ahead of his time, especially in regards to female characters. I'm just sorry that so much of his work as headwriter is gone. 

  • Members
Posted

Christine L. Tudor’s Gwyneth Alden as the serial killer toward the last months of ABC’s Loving. She was deliciously down-right creepy.

Please register in order to view this content

  • Members
Posted

Less of a character, but more a story line, but the Salem Stalker was scary due to some of the methods used. When Marlena was revealed it was creepy how she admitted to it under the truth serum and just didn't care. Of course the rest of the story line was absolutely ridiculous.

  • Members
Posted

Sheila goes without saying.

 

Ryan Chamberlain was definitely creepy and scary the first time around, at least right up until he had the bomb at Mac and Felicia's wedding. Like most villains, the subsequent returns (the time he kidnapped Georgie, this recent return) really diluted the impact, but that original year or so was good stuff. Faison is another one who got less scary as time went on, but he was legit scary up until the Ron years.

 

His original stint was before my time, but the beginning of Billy Clyde's stint in the 90s when he was originally after Donna and Emily Ann was frightening to me. It did get silly once the Dixie stuff started though.

 

I only remember the romance with Rachel years, but from old episodes and clips, Carl on Another World was another one that could be incredibly scary. Vivian on Days and Gwyn on Loving had their creepy moments too.

 

I agree that people like Stefano and Helena were always more entertaining than actually scary.

 

The worst are obviously unfrozen Stavros from GH and Justine on AW.

  • Members
Posted

 

Doug: "We're back!"

Julie: "And we brought a tiger!"

 

 

It's a testament to Charles Keating, Victoria Wyndham and then-HW Peggy Sloane that AW was able to sell viewers on a Carl/Rachel romance considering the history between those two characters.  At one point, in fact, they were AW's most popular couple, which made Richard Culliton's decision to kill off Carl (after having him revert to his former self) all the more puzzling.

  • Members
Posted

Did not watch it when it originally aired but just the snippet of what I've seen of Jingles the Clown on Somerset sends shivers down my spine. This was another story penned by the incredible Henry Slesar! It starts at 24:55 

Please register in order to view this content

 

 

  • Members
Posted

For me...

 

GH

 

FAISON. I had always heard so much from my Mom who was a big Luke and Laura fan (I still remember them coming back and seeing the Cassindine promo with the ring and asking my Mom what was that about and her giving me that Mom look) so when he showed up and started playing cat and mouse with Luke and Felicia...I didn't understand, but his presence...his vibe...was something truly scary. You knew when he was on the scene...something dangerous was coming. 

 

And I liked the first RC return. We got Lisel and I like her and other than that diva toss when she came to PC and her first NB with the Cabaret number and 'is that all there is?' I liked her menace back then.

 

DAYS

 

STEFANO. As a kid, he had his moments. And you knew...if  you crossed him...you WOULD REGRET it. But maybe it was just Joseph Mosolo's presence.

 

Y&R.

 

That 2005 Sheila promo gets me. Every time.

 

 

  • Members
Posted

Wikipedia describes Lilith as "...often envisioned as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness." 

 

Anyone who remembers the character of Lilith McKechnie on ATWT knew that this description almost suits her to a T.  As a kid whenever I'd see her caressing that ultra-sharp stainless steel letter opener with her long, blood-red nails accompanied by that creepy stringed-music, it would send chills up my spine.

 

This episode is really worth a look from the opening scene, then skip to 8:04-11:50 then skip to 20:52.  Sarah Botsford is so cold, calculating and menacing as the music cues grow increasingly creepy.  There are other scenes where she seems on the verge of committing murder but this one is a good snippet of why anyone could find the character more than a little unsettling.

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


  • Recent Posts

    • Well, you are the most ill-informed, condescending person on this board so I am glad you enjoy mocking me? Or whatever you are trying to do lol.  You literally can't comprehend the simplest things about the show and don't watch, but are literally shaming me for being a women?
    • Please register in order to view this content

      One other side note, because now I've re-read 1993-1994.  I think that I found a ret-con issue. In 1993 after John finds out that Stefano is Kristen's father. It is not like I am claiming to have found nuclear fission, clearly mistakes happen.  But, I found this to be amusing. In 1993, Stefano becomes deadly ill, so Kristen tells John that she needs to be by her father's side, but not to worry about the deadly disease, because she's adopted.  Given, that I've always thought of Kristen as being adopted, until the more recent cannon that she is Stefano's biological child, it is interesting that in 1993, the week before Tony comes to town to announce that he is Kristen's fiancée.  Kristen is saying that she can't give blood to her dying father, because she was adopted.  So, the current reverse in cannon, neglects that detail. It is so funny to read this and then see Kristen and Tony in the crypt this week, 32 years later.  That's more than half the show's history at this point, amazing.
    • It was shuffled off the stove way before that. Think of the early summer stuff with Gio, Emma, and Dalton, which they basically dropped for weeks at a time, and then also put them on the back burner until recently.
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • After the slap it does feel inevitable - being arrested and thrown out right after her big win.
    • Yesterday it was Theo and Jada.  Today it's Chad and Belle.  What a mess.  
    • I asked my soap historian GPT to help pull together the best available sources on Daniel Pilon’s run, and here’s what the research confirms: * Pilon played Max Dubujak on *Ryan’s Hope* from 1983–88. * He began appearing as Alan Spaulding on *Guiding Light* in 1988. * An academic source notes that he appeared as **Max and Alan simultaneously in November 1988 * His later-life interviews mention major upheavals, including losing his home in the Northridge earthquake and declaring bankruptcy in 1994.  That’s the factual foundation. Now for the human side of it. I’ll admit Pilon was never my favorite Alan. The Spauldings are supposed to have that patrician, Midwestern money vibe, and suddenly here comes this very European-sounding gentleman sweeping into Springfield like he wandered in from a different soap entirely. It created a strange tonal shift, at least in my memory. Whether he was intended to be temporary is hard to pin down, but honestly, looking at what he was dealing with in his real life, I don’t know that the show ever had a truly stable window to figure it out. He was going through marital strife, while being talked about as the "next James Bond" back in Canada, and juggling work on two soaps at once is a lot. Under those circumstances, the question of whether he was the “right” type for Alan becomes almost secondary to the fact that he was working through multiple emergencies while stepping into one of GL’s biggest roles. So for me, the story of his Alan isn’t just about casting fit. It’s about an actor navigating chaos and the show adapting on the fly. Also, the proverbial soap hill that I would defend its honor, is that Ron Raines in the final week was so amazing, that for me, it erases all prior memories of his performance.  
    • I wish Nicole had swallowed but it is what it is lol 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy