In cinema, some form of villain can be found in almost every movie we watch. Some are grotesque, others are subtle, and, others, you can’t see at all. The concept of a villain that can’t be seen or never reveals their face can be a risk. After all, many times, it’s the villain that makes the movie. If that villain doesn’t strike a chord with the audience, the success of the movie is not likely.
However, when done correctly, a more anonymous villain can be a brilliant move. When a villain is seen physically, they lose the mystique that our imaginations create for them. If we never see their face or their physical body, they can appear to be larger than life and for more intimidating than they would be if they were revealed.
Here are some movies where you never see the villain’s face that were done right.
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9 The Blair Witch Project
Haxan Films
The Blair Witch Project is famous for not only making the case for found footage movies, but for also artfully building suspense throughout the film and then never showing actually showing the evil creature at its core. Released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project revolves around three student filmmakers who get lost in the woods while making a documentary about the Blair Witch. Though we never see her, we feel her presence throughout the movie, slowly building up terror in the characters and viewers.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Zodiac
Phoenix Pictures
Zodiac, released in 2007, was based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Robert Graysmith, which detailed the investigation into the “Zodiac Killer” who went on a killing spree in San Francisco during the late sixties. The murderer was notorious for taunting the police with cryptic messages and ciphers in the newspaper. However, just like in the real case, the serial killer was never caught in the movie, leaving the person who caused so many gruesome deaths to remain unknown and never seen.
7 The Lord of the Rings
New Line Cinema
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, based on the novels of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien, follow a group of hobbits, elves, and dwarves as they seek to destroy the Ring of Power to save Middle Earth. Through these three movies, their goal is to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. While the threat of him is constantly looming over the group, he is never actually seen in person, other than a brief presence in the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring where he is completely covered in black armor. For the rest of the trilogy, he is represented by a giant flaming eye, a dark reminder that he is all-seeing and all-knowing.
6 Black Christmas
Dimension Films
Black Christmas, released in 1974, is known as one of the earliest slasher horror movies and has spawned two remakes. The film follows a group of sorority girls that are being terrorized by disturbing phone calls around the holidays. These phone calls evolve into the girls of the house being killed off when they find themselves alone. The killer is seen sneaking around the house and committing the murders, but his face is never fully revealed. The police blame the killings on one of the girl’s boyfriends, but it becomes obvious that the real killer remains uncaught and unseen when he makes one last call to the only girl who survived.
5 Joy Ride
20th Century Fox
Joy Ride is a disturbing horror movie released in 2001 that’s about two brothers who pull a prank on the wrong truck driver. After the brothers communicate with a trucker named Rusty Nail and trick him into meeting an imaginary girl at a motel, the actual resident of the motel room is found dead the next morning. The brothers find themselves stalked and threatened by Rusty Nail, which culminates into a kidnapping and a fight. Throughout all of this, the main way that Rusty Nail presents himself is as an intimidating voice over a radio. When he is revealed, it’s as a menacing figure with his face never actually in full sight.
4 Bird Box
Netflix
Bird Box was the number one movie on Netflix in December 2018. The psychological thriller takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that was triggered when mass suicides started to appear around the world caused by mysterious creatures that are never revealed. These creatures drive (almost) everyone who sees them to insanity and suicide, leaving few survivors to trick others into looking at them, as well. There is a point in the movie when one of these survivors draws pictures of his perception of the creatures, but their physical appearance is never confirmed.
3 Duel
Universal Television
Duel is a unique action thriller that was directed by Steven Spielberg and released originally as a made for TV movie in 1971. It follows a middle-aged businessman who is seemingly the victim of some random road rage, but quickly finds himself in an extremely dangerous situation. A semi-truck stalks and terrorizes him on the road until, ultimately, the unknown driver of the truck attempts to kill him. The driver continues to remain faceless, even as his truck plunges off of a cliff.
2 Final Destination
The original Final Destination was released in 2000 and is one of five movies in the franchise. In it, a group of high schoolers are meant to board a plane for their senior trip. After one has a premonition that the plane will explode and kill everyone, he and a few others are kicked off. It’s then that the plane blows up, proving the premonition true. After, the high schoolers are picked off one by one in outrageous deaths that are all seemingly an accident. Soon, they realize that they are being killed off because they were meant to die in the plane explosion and ruined Death’s plan for them. With death as the villain, it does not have a physical form and is only represented by the accidents that it causes.
1 From Russia With Love
United Artists
From Russia With Love is the second James Bond film that features Sean Connery as the iconic 007. In it, SPECTRE, a criminal organization, is seeking revenge for the death of one of its members and training agents to take out Bond. The mastermind behind SPECTRE and the assassination attempts is Ernst Stavro Blofield, or Number One. While Blofield has some scenes with dialogue and shots of parts of his body (i.e. the famous stroking of the white cat on his lap), his face is never revealed.
