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Harry Potter's Draco Malfoy is hardly an admirable character. Descended from a Pureblood family, Draco harbors prejudice against Muggle-borns and deems anyone who associates with them, such as the Weasleys, as blood traitors. Additionally, he holds a snobbish mentality toward anyone with less money than he has.
However, Draco struggles with the pressure of his family and fears characters such as Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, and other members of Voldemort's army. As a taunting and cowardly school bully, Draco is more of an annoying obstacle than a respectably fearsome villain. Many other movie villains are scarier than Draco Malfoy.
10 The Joker Is Violently Unpredictable (The Dark Knight)
Appearing mysteriously in Gotham with no known past, The Dark Knight's Joker embodies the darkest and most chaotic parts of human nature. Once the criminal organizations hire him to get rid of Batman, the Joker reveals his actual plan. He turns on the people who hired him, and his true purpose is revealed to be his own game for Gotham's soul.
He successfully corrupts Harvey Dent into betraying the ideals he strove to uphold, kills and mutilates strategically, and manipulates constantly so that it is difficult to tell when he is lying or what his goals are.
9 J.D. Is Worse Than The Bullies He Fights (Heathers)
Heathers' James Dean (J.D.) is at first introduced as a cool rebel who falls in love with Veronica. He initially seems like a breath of fresh air in contrast to the snobby titular clique. J.D. poisons Heather with a cup of drain cleaner and, suddenly, clique leader Heather Chandler lies dead. Although Draco tried killing his classmates at Hogwarts, he was never successful.
J.D. plots against the other bullies at their school with similar deadly means and drags Veronica with him. When she objects and tries to end the relationship, he grows aggressive and possessive, intends to kill her too, and tries to blow up the entire school.
8 Frollo Seeks To Exterminate An Ethnic Group Out Of Religious Extremism (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame)
What makes Judge Claude Frollo of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame so frightening is his blind belief that his hatred is justified. Detesting the Romani people who live in Paris, Frollo plots to get rid of all of them, seeing them as less than human.
He murders the mother of one and reluctantly adopts her child. Frollo also fixates on Esmeralda, a member of the community that he is persecuting. He blames his lust on her even while he harasses her and pursues her against her will, still maintaining that he's not in the wrong.
7 Annie Wilkes Captures And Physically Injures Her Favorite Author (Misery)
Misery is the film adaptation of Stephen King's psychological thriller novel of the same name. After author Paul Sheldon is injured in a car accident, he is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. However, Annie is soon shown to be deceitful as she holds Paul hostage in her secluded home. She physically tortures Paul to force him to write his next novel after discovering that he has killed off her favorite character.
To make her character even more chilling, Annie prefers to use substitutions for swear words and wears a cheerful facade that breaks whenever she is displeased. Paul even discovers proof that she has previously killed children in her nursing work.
6 Old Nick Kidnaps A Teenage Girl And Holds Her For Years (Room)
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Not much is seen of Old Nick in A24's Room, but this doesn't make him any less of a villain. Seven years prior to the story's beginning, Old Nick kidnapped a teenage girl named Joy and imprisoned her in his shed, subjecting her to sexual and physical violence. Eventually, Old Nick impregnated Joy and she gave birth to Jack in captivity.
Joy adores her son but rightfully loathes her captor and tirelessly keeps Jack away from the monster who stole her life. Eventually, Joy concocts an escape plan by faking Jack's death. Viewers are taken on a thrilling and upsetting ride as Joy and Jack, who had never seen the outside world before, experience the world they were both deprived of while their captor is incarcerated. While Draco Malfoy did some terrible things, Old Nick's crimes are far more despicable.
5 Regina George Targets Others Through Passive Aggressiveness And Gossip (Mean Girls)
As the protagonist of Mean Girls says, "all the fighting had to be sneaky." This sums up the tactics of Regina George, the Queen Bee of the Plastics at North Shore High School. Instead of being direct or physically confrontational, Regina uses psychological and emotional manipulation to control people.
When her reputation is ruined and she's replaced by Cady, Regina enacts her revenge by inciting a mass riot among the high school's female population. She does this by spreading around the Burn Book's pages to get the other Plastics blamed for it. As school bullies go, Regina was a lot worse than Draco Malfoy.
4 Lady Tremaine Abuses Her Stepdaughter And Forces Her Into Servitude (Cinderella)
Out of jealousy of the titular character's beauty, talent, and kindness, Cinderella's Lady Tremaine makes Cinderella a servant in her home after her father's death. Lady Tremaine spoils her own two daughters, Anastasia and Drizella, and neglects Cinderella.
Lady Tremaine's pettiness is truly one of the most terrifying aspects of her character because it leads her to put down and abuse Cinderella at every chance she gets. She provokes her children to tear Cinderella's first ballgown and then locks Cinderella in her room to prevent her from marrying the prince.
3 Agatha Trunchbull Manhandles Her Students (Matilda)
Possessing a great hatred of children, Agatha Trunchbull of Matilda is the feared Headmistress of Crunchem Hall Elementary School. She is immensely proud of her impressive physique and past Olympic record, but she uses this to manhandle her students. She locks them in the "Chokey" for infractions, throws one girl by her hair just for having braids, and constantly terrorizes and belittles the students.
She is no less awful in her backstory, where it is revealed that she may have murdered her stepbrother-in-law Magnus, Miss Honey's father. Furthermore, Agatha physically abused her niece and stole both the inheritance and house that rightfully belonged to her.
2 The Aliens Slaughter Anything And Anyone That Makes Noise (A Quiet Place)
On a post-invasion Earth where alien creatures hunt by sound, the Abbott family survives on their farm in A Quiet Place through judicious techniques such as sand trails, lighting signals, and the use of ASL. Human survivors are forced to live quiet lives lest they attract the aliens that will kill anything for making too much noise. Harry Potter characters would much rather stand up to Draco than these aliens.
It is not explicitly stated why the aliens even hunt, but the lack of trivia surrounding the aliens makes them even scarier. As A Quiet Place's characters also don't know much about the aliens, viewers can experience the frightening situation from the main characters' perspective.
1 Syndrome Sacrifices Countless Lives For His Self-Centered Mission (The Incredibles)
Annoyed at his idol for rejecting him as a kid and wishing he was born a super, The Incredibles' Buddy Pine develops new weapons so that he can effect a situation where supers are needed. He plans to play hero with his new resources, and names himself "Syndrome." Sickeningly, he repeatedly tests his Omnidroid robot on supers who are dissatisfied with their lives under the Superhero Relocation Program.
Syndrome then sacrifices them to the Omnidroid while making them believe that they are fighting for the greater good. Already guilty of countless murders, Syndrome attempts to kill Mr. Incredible's family and nearly gets away with kidnapping his infant son.