Faux Affably Evil / Live-Action Films

"Howdy. I'm gonna separate your head from your shoulders. Hope you don't mind none."

— Severen, Near Dark

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• The Evil Phone in 1408. In addition to being yet another fixture of the eponymous hotel room, it cheerfully tells the protagonist that he can experience the past hellish hour once again, or he can take advantage of the room's express checkout. To illustrate its point, a noose suddenly appears in the room, following the protagonist as he looks at each part of it.
• Despite his massive ego, God king Xerxes of 300 fancies himself as "kind". To this end, he tries to be genuinely Affably Evil. Xerxes even congratulates king Leonidas for his efforts and offers to let him keep his rule over Greece as long as he works for him. However, his act starts to slip when he has half his generals executed for a minor failure. The act is broken for good after his Villainous Breakdown when Leonidas manages to make him bleed.
• The Butcher in Alex Cross is very polite in his phone conversations with Cross, even addressing him as Dr. Cross. He never raises his voice, and he expresses admiration for one of his victims' ability to withstand pain under the torture he inflicted on her.
• Reno Smith is nice to Macreedy at the beginning of Bad Day at Black Rock. He also is a racist bastard who is responsible for killing Macreedy's old Nisei comrade from his Army days and who tries to kill Macreedy both to prevent him from finding out and later to prevent him from calling more competent authorities once he discovers the murder.
• Creepily hinted from time to time with Beth in Basic Instinct. Nick suggests this with the phrase, "You manipulate people too, Beth. You're even better than she [Catherine] is." It should be noted that she behaves very strangely for a woman who's innocent, whereas Catherine Tramell behaves like a cold-hearted killer at least, showing who she is.
• In Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, aspiring slasher Leslie comes off as a friendly, likeable and endearingly awkward guy who quickly charms the film students documenting him, and by extension the audience. However, every so often his true nature shines through, whether it be a creepy smile or a sudden burst of anger. The Nice Guy persona is shown to be a facade in the final act when he ruthlessly hunts down and kills his “new friends” the film crew. As he’s choking one to death, the guy manages to knock his mask off and he is absolutely silent and expressionless rather than the happy, smiling Leslie shown before.
• In Big Game, Hazar acts very friendly and professional when explaining to a hapless tour guide that he's about to shoot down a passenger plane, that he's going to kill the guide and that the man better start running. He retains the disposition throughout the film.
• BlacKkKlansman:
  • David Duke is a Grand Wizard who frequently talks of committing genocide against black and Jewish people to preserve the purity of Western civilization. Despite his polite exterior, there are hints that Duke is not that different from the more openly malicious Felix. When (unknowingly) interacting directly with Ron he is much less friendly than he is with the other characters, and when Ron tricks him into taking a picture with him, Duke is visibly angered and is clearly moments away from showing his true, hateful colours.
  • Walter Breachway is notably more welcoming and friendly than one would typically expect from a Klan leader and is openly critical of Felix's more Ax-Crazy behavior. However, it is clear that he and Felix share the same beliefs and goals for an all-white America, but Walter is simply more concerned with keeping up a more appealing appearance for the organisation.
  • Connie is very nice to her husband but is a racist bitch.
• In Black Zoo, Michael Conrad is pleasant and charming to the zoo visitors, but behind closed doors, he has a Hair-Trigger Temper and abuses his wife and son if they question his authority. He will also ruthlessly murder anyone who crosses him.
• The Boogeyman (2023): The Boogeyman uses its Voice Changeling abilities to mimic the voices of its victims' loved ones to reassure them, and even mockingly does so as it tries to murder them out of sadism.
• Brute Force (1947): Though he tries to pretend otherwise, Munsey is a sadist who is prone to physical and emotional manipulation to keep all the prisoners in line. Explicitly lampshaded by Dr. Walters.
• Bumblebee:
  • Unlike her partner, Shatter puts on a friendly facade to trick Sector 7 into aiding them in their mission to capture Bumblebee. Underneath it's clear she is just as bloodthirsty as her partner, she is just content to let him have his fun doing the killing.
  • Though she isn't exactly a villain, Tina does have shades of this, particularly her brief interactions with Charlie. During the cliff-diving scene, she stops her from leaving to ask what happened, barely pretending to be concerned for her, and calls her 'Sweetie' with fake affection, but it's clear she's just trying to get a rise out of her.
• In Cabin by the Lake, Stanley is a reclusive but popular member of the community and acts like a good-humored horror fan at the local film club's movie screenings. It's a mask, as he's actually an emotionless psychopath who murders women for his own amusement.
• Cape Fear: Max Cady attempts to convince the police that they're just harassing an ex-con for no reason, and puts on this friendly veneer to make threats under. All of this comes crashing down in the final act when he becomes more animal than man and goes after Bowden's wife and child.
• Child's Play: Chucky has his moments, what with the Laughably Evil Large Ham nature of his character. This is also justified in the case with children he tries to possess since he plays a False Friend role to earn their trust before trying to take over their body. In the first film, he greets his voodoo mentor like they're friends before killing him. Unlike Tiffany, however, he has no redeeming qualities.
• In Chinatown, this is the facade that Noah Cross hides behind. Beneath, Cross is a living example of what a man is capable of doing if he had no moral scruples and no law to stop him.
  Cross: See, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time, and the right place, they're capable of anything.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022):
  • Sweet Pete. When he introduces himself to Chip and Dale, he is initially polite and respectful to the two. However, when they dare ask to pay off Monty's debt, he shows his true colors and decides to force the two to join their costar in his mockbuster empire.
  • Bjornson the Cheesemonger will act happy and jolly in front of unsuspecting customers, but immediately drops it when his cover gets blown.
    Bjornson: (in Scandinavian accent) Oh, do I have cheese? (laughs) Let's see. We got Muenster, the Gouda, the Brie.
    Chip: Do you have any "stinky cheese"?
    Bjornson: (instantly drops the accent and glares menacingly) You cops?
• The Clovehitch Killer: Don is a serial killer who is otherwise a very cordial man and goofy father. Even when he's murdering people, he maintains a fairly inoffensive personality. At heart, though, he's an utterly cold-blooded killer, who tries to murder his own son without hesitation when he deems it necessary
• Peter Stormare as Lucifer, in what's easily the best scene of Constantine (2005). Lucifer manages to be hilarious and genuinely creepy at the same time.
• Creepshow: Richard (played by Leslie Nielsen) from "Something to Tide You Over" puts on a friendly facade as he's exacting his revenge. He talks to Harry almost like he's meeting an old friend he hasn't seen in some time while arranging to bury him alive and drown him and gloating about how he already murdered his wife.
• Kathryn Merteuil of Cruel Intentions. She's like the Lady Macbeth of the Upper East Side. Makes smug little pronouncements that make you want to strangle her in the most demure, ladylike tones imaginable. Her act does break down occasionally when she's particularly angry, allowing the Psychopathic Womanchild in her to emerge.
• A pretty blonde Southern woman in C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (which is based on the premise that the South won the Civil War and slavery has survived into the 21st century) hosts a slave auction on the Internet and delightfully coos over some cute "pickaninnies" — black children being placed on the auction block. Probably intended to be Affably Evil — or, come to think of it, just plain affable — in-universe, but due to Values Dissonance, it's more this trope for us.
• In Cube Zero, Jax behaves like a jolly enforcer of the sinister government and maintains a pleasant but scornful demeanor while he murders people and hunts down his human lab rats.
• The Dark Crystal has the Skeksis Chamberlain. For a while he appears to be Ambiguously Evil, feigning sympathy and friendship towards Jen and Kira to try to gain their trust but comes off as creepy and unnerving due to his monstrous appearance being a representation of his true nature. He quickly shows his true colours, trying to murder Jen once they soundly reject him.
• In Day of the Evil Gun, Bandito leader Jose Luis Gomez de la Tierra y Cordoba DeLeon likes to play the Spanish grandee. While he is always impeccably dressed and unfailingly polite, he is also utterly ruthless and has no issues with dealing in slaves or leaving someone staked out in the desert to die a slow agonizing death.
• Death Proof. While stalking his victims, Stuntman Mike takes the guise of a cheesy but occasionally charming guy to hide being a murderous pervert. After getting run off the road, he tries to give his second batch of would-be victims a cheery salute for surviving, but they're not playing around.
• Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man seems like a real fun guy to be around. Too bad he's a psychopath who'd probably maim you twice for shits and giggles. Think the Joker in the body of Ruby Rhod.
• Die Hard: Hans Gruber puts on a friendly persona, but it's all an act. While he does get a couch for a pregnant woman to recline on, it's simply so he and his men do not have to deal with her screaming. He later forces the woman up to the rooftop with the other hostages to kill them, all for some money.
  Gruber: Mr. Takagi. I could talk about industrialization and men's fashions all day, but I'm afraid work must intrude, and my associate here has some questions for you.
• Dracula (1931): Dracula is very polite and cordial, but he's still a literal and figurative monster. Out of all the Universal monsters, he's the only one with no redeeming features.
• Calvin Candie of Django Unchained. Charming, cheerful, and an all-around Southern Gentleman...and his Establishing Character Moment has him gleefully watching a pair of slaves beat each other to death. He's also freaking horrifying when he loses his cool. Comparing Candie from when he is happy to when he isn't illustrates the difference between Affably Evil and Faux Affably Evil; the latter is possibly best exemplified when, after Steven exposes Django and Schultz's scheme he maintains his demeanour in a rather more sinister tone to put them on edge, before flipping into Chewing the Scenery-level anger and threat-making, and then alternating between the two states to scare everyone, during all of which he is never actually rude, and he never fails to use "mister" or "doctor" when addressing his fellow white men, and even tosses in a compliment to Schultz's beard. His Evil Gloating after his victory also takes this form, as he offers Schultz dessert and cites Southern courtesy as the reason for his insisting that Schultz shake his hand, but here his courtesy is clearly for the purpose of rubbing Schultz' defeat in his face.
• Jason Lee as Azrael in Dogma. "I'll have a... Holy Bartender."
• Downfall (2004) depicts Adolf Hitler like this. Hitler is initially polite and affectionate to the people in his Führerbunker as well as all the poor souls fighting and dying outside for his doomed philosophy. As the film progresses, and his situation gets progressively worse, the psychotic, petty, and cruel mass-murdering monster becomes more apparent, as does the fact that his friendly persona is a calculated ruse designed to seduce his subordinates into joining him in death out of guilt or a tragically misplaced sense of loyalty. It did backfire somewhat as some Moral Guardians did criticize the film for depicting Hitler as "too sympathetic".
• Agent Kruger from Elysium can act pretty playful and chatty while stalking and brutally maiming his prey. That and when he interrogates Frey, he tells her to cover the eyes of her daughter, because he doesn't like to commit violence in front of the kids.
• Exam: White, who seems like a charming Lovable Rogue, but quickly turns out to be a psychopath willing to kill for the job.
• In Ex Machina, Nathan often affects false sympathy or concern to torment his robots, although he does it to Caleb too on a less frequent basis.
• Fantastic Beasts:
  • Grindelwald uses his good looks and charms to let people think he's more on the "well-intentioned" end of the Well-Intentioned Extremist spectrum than he actually is. While he does truly believe in his cause of tearing down the International Statue of Secrecy so wizards can come out of hiding, he's a quick-tempered terrorist who can be quite cruel and violent as soon as he drops the act.
  • In the second film, his henchwoman, Vinda Rosier, acts very kindly to Queenie when she finds her having a nervous breakdown on the streets of Paris. She takes her to “her” apartment to get her out of the rain and gives her a snack and something to drink. However, she doesn’t let Queenie leave once she gets a hold of herself because she actually did it to recruit her to their cause.
• In Firestorm (1998), Big Bad Randall Alexander Shaye spends time becoming quite chummy with each of his co-conspirators, before killing each one without a moment's hesitation as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
• Foolproof: Leo acts like a soft-spoken Gentleman Thief who respects his blackmail victims and abhors violence. It's all an act, as he has a sadistic streak, doesn't believe in Honor Among Thieves, and is completely callous about the apparent death of a seemingly loyal accomplice.
• El Indio, the Big Bad of For a Few Dollars More, may seem friendly and likable at first, but he's a cold-hearted killer who thinks nothing of betraying his comrades or ordering the death of a baby.
• Ford v Ferrari: Leo Beebe keeps up appearances as part of his position at Ford, but does what he can to prevent Miles from racing for them.
• Ghostbusters (2016): Rowan North is this. He acts very polite, speaking formally and addressing Patty as "Patricia", and he continues to maintain this veneer of politeness even as his Evil Plan unfolds. That said, he makes it clear he hates humanity and oozes sadism in each of his polite scenes. For instance, he implores Holtzmann, one of the Ghostbusters, to take a look at the view outside....right before trying to fling her out the window while sadistically adding, "This is fun, right?! Goodbye."
• In Goldstone, Maureen paints herself as a harmless old lady who likes baking pies. However, she is actually a heartless bitch who cares for nobody but herself and even admits as much to Jay.
• GoodFellas: After the Lufthansa heist, Jimmy loses his genuine Affably Evil nature and becomes a remorseless sociopath who kills anyone who gets in his way while acting polite to lull them into a false sense of security. One of the biggest signs of the change is that he stops being generous.
• Both the Bad and the Ugly from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
  • Angel Eyes (the Bad) acts like a gentleman, but he's a greedy assassin who will kill people, torture others, and beat up women to get money.
  • Tuco (the Ugly) is a bandit who has shades of a Loveable Rogue, however, he's also a murderer, rapist, pedophile, and arsonist according to his List of Transgressions. He speaks in a reserved, cool manner, and he's very Laughably Evil, but he's still a greedy Opportunistic Bastard.
• Lloyd Hansen from The Gray Man (2022) is perfectly cordial and jokey even as he's torturing his captives and sanctioning the death of innocent civilians.
• The Great White Hype: Sultan. But then he is a Don King Expy
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch: Conal Cochran is the owner of a mask company and seems nice at first, but it turns out he wants to kill millions of children. He leaves the hero in a Death Trap to die, telling him "Happy Halloween". When he's defeated, he slowly claps his hands, hinting at being a Graceful Loser, however, it's revealed he left a little present for the main character.
• The Hangover III: Marshall acts like a gentleman, but he's a very demeaning and threatening mastermind, always killing other people to get what he wants.
• The Hobbit:
  • The Goblin King in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, while thoroughly unpleasant and evil, is rather jolly and articulate. Gollum is another example because no matter how cheerful and enthusiastic and adorable he is, he still intends to eat Bilbo.
  • And of course, Smaug himself in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, true to his portrayal in the book: eloquent, intelligent, and actually rather polite, yet he still makes it clear that you're only going to stay alive for as long as you remain an interesting conversationalist. Though whatever you do, do not insult his vanity, because he is downright terrifying when angered.
• Rutuganda in Hotel Rwanda is shown as superficially friendly with Paul in their dealings, and is usually seen with a big grin plastered over his face. But he is still a political extremist plotting the genocide of his countrymen. For example, he jovially offers Paul a free crate of soft drink for his kids shortly before directing Paul down a road that is littered with slashed and mutilated corpses, to gloat about how he and his fellow Interahamwe extremists are succeeding in their mass murder of the Tutsi people.
• Eddie Quist, werewolf serial killer of The Howling. "Go on, bright boy. Call it a gift."
• Snow's previous interactions with Katniss were those of an extremely ruthless, but ultimately pragmatic man who really was trying to minimize bloodshed for everyone and had some level of respect for her. In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, in his video conversation with Katniss, he drops the façade, gloating and mocking her motivations while sneering and grinning, yet remains polite and formal.
• Inglourious Basterds has Col. Hans Landa who personifies this trope. "Oooh! That's a Bingo! Is that how you say it? That's a Bingo?"
  • In his first scene, he actively does his best to be the perfect guest to Monsieur LaPadite asking for permission to smoke, sit, ask questions of LaPadite, speak in English and also compliments the flavor of the milk he's given. Hans even shows his viewpoint on the Jews saying he doesn't like the propaganda against them.
    "If the Jews were compared to an animal it would be the rat. I, however, don't see it as an insult. (brief pause) Consider the environment of a rat. It is undoubtedly dangerous and unfriendly yet they survive, which I find rather inspiring."
  • In every situation where he showcases his (extremely exaggerated) politeness and cheerful disposition, both he and his counterpart are perfectly aware that Landa is a clear and present danger. Landa is a master interrogator, and his prime technique is to put his victim in a number of the most uncomfortable situations possible, all the while blocking their "escape" by behaving as if his companion is thoroughly enjoying the conversation. He pointedly ignores any non-verbal signs of distress from his victim, while forcing him or her to respond in kind — thus preventing any form of retreat, either polite or defiant. Should the victim try to break off the conversation, it would be the victim who transgressed — and that would sink him/her even deeper. Landa even pushes his method to the limits for his own enjoyment — such as when he laughs hysterically, mocking the explanation of von Hammersmark's broken leg (only to apologize a second later), or pours a round of wine, perfectly amiably and as a gesture of peace... to his handcuffed charges. In the latter case, he doesn't even have to savor the wine — quite the opposite, that would make him a petty villain; the fact he didn't even touch his glass makes the gesture even more disconcerting. Not only does his affable manner let him drive the knife as deep as he wants — it allows him to utterly confuse his victim and make every new strike a complete surprise. In the end, the only characteristic of his that makes him seem Affably Evil is his very insincere Heel–Face Turn, wherein he is willing to help assassinate Hitler himself (and succeeds, too) in exchange for amnesty and American citizenship, including a nice house in New England.. He has a few Even Evil Has Standards qualities, however. While he does slowly put La Padite into a corner and force him to give up the Dreyfuses, he offers him the opportunity to give them up even though he already knew that La Padite was hiding them, when he could have simply had both families killed instead. It's also implied that he keeps his end of the bargain and leaves the Padites alone after killing the Dreyfuses, and he is genuinely horrified and enraged when Raine callously kills Hermann the radio operator.
• Mitch Leary In the Line of Fire, who slyly pretends that Agent Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) is his friend in their phone conversations, but is really sneering at him most of the time.
• In the Name of the Father: Inspector Robert Dixon may come across as polite and acts as the "good" cop in contrast to the brutal detectives who are mercilessly interrogating the Guildford Four. However, Dixon is a slimy liar who knowingly holds back crucial evidence from the defense. This also goes for Joe McAndrew, the real bomber of the Guildford pubs, who slowly charms Gerry at first but then reveals his true colors when he brutally has chief warder Barker burned over taking back the wing from the inmates.
• In the movie version of Into the Woods, The Wolf. It's even lampshaded by Little Red Riding Hood's song later: "Nice is not the same as good!"
• It's a Wonderful Knife (2023): Henry Waters always acts cheerful and friendly, but it's only very thin, since even aside from being a Serial Killer he's a ruthless land developer who's pushing to buy everything in town.
• Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life acts all friendly in a Smug Snake kind of a way, especially when he tries to get George arrested for fraud.
• A lot of the James Bond villains are this. They have an outwardly cheerful, friendly, and/or suave personality, even to the point of having idle banter with 007 and dining with him, but when things go south, their true colors are revealed — be it Goldfinger having Jill Matherson killed by painting her gold^note "epidermal suffocation" after Bond catches him cheating at cards, Franz Sanchez beating his girlfriend and ruthlessly killing those he thinks have betrayed him, and Le Chiffre becoming a desperate wreck and torturing Bond in order to get his money back.
  • Max Zorin in A View to a Kill. He gives a knowing wink to his Femme Fatale when she's killed someone. Completely coldly guns down her associates later. Laughs when he realizes he's about to die. He's played by Christopher Walken, with all the hamminess it brings. Zorin might have been played by none other than David Bowie.
  • Ernst Stavro Blofeld, James Bond's biggest Arch-Enemy. In all of his appearances (From Russia with Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only, and Spectre), he hardly raises his voice, and seems to engage in idle banter with Bond at times. But it's clearly obvious that despite his composure, he's an absolutely ruthless megalomaniac perfectly willing to put the whole world at his mercy if it suits him. He runs SPECTRE with an iron fist, showing a willingness to kill incompetent minions even for minor reasons.
  • From Russia with Love: Red Grant gregariously refers to Bond as "old man" even after outing himself as an agent of SPECTRE.
  • Thunderball:
    • Largo keeps his socialite manners for most of the film, but when things go south, he tortures Domino and tries to kill Bond for foiling his schemes.
    • Fiona Volpe plays the part of a charming Bond Girl to Bond, but once her cover as a SPECTRE agent is blown, she quickly turns spiteful toward him.
  • Moonraker: For all of his talk of wanting Bond's death to be "amusing", Hugo Drax is probably the grimmest villain of the Roger Moore era.
  • GoldenEye:
    • Ex-00 agent Alec Trevelyan is pretty polite, being one of Bond's old friends, but his true demeanor is revealed when 007 finds out Trevelyan not only survived the explosion at Arkhangelsk, but his hidden contempt for Bond is made via cutting remarks — his loyalty to England and MI6, his womanizing (007 does it to mask his grief over Tracy's death), and even his skills as an agent. Trevelyan even tries to kill 007 near the climax.
    • Xenia may have exquisite tastes and seems to enjoy flirty jousting with Bond (and is the subject of a Moneypenny double-entendre), but she's a straight-up killer Bond won't be able to sway into pulling a Heel–Face Turn. Or even safely interact with, really.
  • Tomorrow Never Dies:
    • Mr. Stamper, The Dragon to Big Bad Elliot Carver. While his mentor, Dr. Kaufman, is unfailingly polite and professional to Bond, whom he was sent to kill, Stamper is a first-rate sociopath, quiet and polite under social circumstances while taking glee in causing pain and eagerly looking forward to his chance to do so to Bond. While he would like to have you think he's just doing it to take revenge, he clearly does enjoy hurting people.
    • Elliot Carver himself maintains a childish attitude even when he's orchestrating disastrous events just to jack up his newspaper company's ratings.
  • Raoul Silva in Skyfall maintains a jovial, childish attitude even when he's torturing captives and offing minions, hacking into MI6's servers, or when he invades on Bond's ancestral home in an effort to kill M.
  • Spectre:
    • Mr. Hinx's general attitude to the events around him and Bond. Almost nothing fazes him and the creators have confirmed that he finds Bond "amusing," believing that not even 007 can take him on.
    • It's quite clear that despite his calm manner, C/Max Denbigh really wants to have M killed for interfering in his fiendish scheme to let SPECTRE have back-door access to a collective intelligence-sharing network he created without letting others know he's a high-ranking member of the titular criminal organization.
• John Wick: Chapter 2: Santino seems amiable at first and even admits to being reluctant to push John back into service. However, any politeness is quickly proven to be false and delivered with a smarmy backhandedness after it's revealed that Santino wants John to kill his own sister. After the job's complete he takes a hit out on John jokingly saying: "What kind of man would I be if I didn't avenge my sister's murder?"
• The Jungle Book (2016): These two:
  • Shere Khan, just like in the animated version, is a soft-speaking tiger with a mock gentleman personality who has no qualms about murdering animals. Best shown when he kills Akela and then chats casually with the wolf pups.
  • King Louie is this due to Adaptational Villainy. While he starts off friendly with Mowgli like his animated counterpart, that soon changes when Mowgli tells him he can't help him make fire.
• The Villain Protagonist in The Killer Inside Me never loses his puppy-dog eyes, southern drawl, and gentlemanly ways, even when he's beating someone to death.
• Richie in Killshot. Unlike the more calm and reserved Blackbird, Richie is playful and generally puts on a humorously cheerful front. This is all because he's an utterly perverted sadist with no sense of nobility who sees killing as fun and games.
• Timothy in The Long Kiss Goodnight is always polite to the heroes. He's also a complete psychopath who is willing to kill anyone, even his own daughter, to accomplish his mission. Even his own henchmen aren't safe from his malice, as shown in this darkly comic exchange.
  Mook: [over the radio] I'm hurt real bad, I think I'm dying...
  Timothy: [annoyed] Continue dying. Out.
• Reynauld de Chatillion (the leader of the Templars) from Kingdom of Heaven is always polite, even with a bloody sword in his hand, which doesn't keep him from being both a Jerkass and The Fundamentalist.
• In The Last King of Scotland, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin behaves like this after the protagonist impresses him. Over the course of the film, he acts friendly to the man because he likes his Scottish ancestry (Amin is a bit of an Anglophobe) and generally seems like a visionary modernizer if also a boisterous fellow. However, his friendliness turns out to be a mask that gradually unravels, as he's slowly revealed to be a paranoid, psychopathic despot. Whatever affection he does show Garrigan is mixed with a godawful amount of emotional manipulation, and Garrigan eventually realizes that he's simply a pet to which Amin has momentarily taken a liking, not a friend. Amin tries to torture him to death when Garrigan betrays him for his atrocities.
• Marathon Man: Dr Christian Szell is a greedy, sadistic Nazi who speaks like a grandfather telling his son stories about the war. He even maintains this tone while torturing Babe in the infamous "is it safe?" scene.
• Mars Attacks!: The Martians continue to claim that they want to make peace with Earth, but they are really just there to kill everyone For the Evulz. They can put on an act of being friendly, but they are pure evil.
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie: Ivan Ooze acts friendly toward Rita and Zedd when they free him, but he later imprisons them in a snow globe and takes over their palace. He also acts very friendly toward children while passing out his ooze, but his friendliness is just a cover for his true sadistic self. He really has no redeeming qualities at all. Comes with being Laughably Evil.
• MonsterVerse: The human Big Bad Wannabes have a trend of displaying at least some shades of this.
  • Kong: Skull Island: Colonel Packard presents himself as a charismatic Father to His Men who never leaves a man behind, which disguises how inherently selfish he really is; putting his vendetta against Kong before everything and everyone else including the lives of his own men, and using refusal to ever leave a man behind as an excuse to simply head out and retrieve a weapons cache for his vendetta.
  • It doesn't really show much in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) beyond a couple Pet the Dog moments and clearly being an eloquent man with some refined taste in regards to alcohol, but the tie-in prequel graphic novel Godzilla Aftershock portrays Alan Jonah politely "suggest[ing]" that Emma come with him while he's pointing a gun at her and her friends, and once he's arrested he bids her safe travels whilst saying he expects they'll see each other again soon.
  • Godzilla vs. Kong: Walter Simmons is quite charming with a flare of brashness and bravado when meeting with Dr. Lind, a facade which hides his true colours as a selfish egotist with a massive Lack of Empathy for the millions of people he knowingly puts in harm's way to achieve his goals. Even when the mask is down and his true colors are exposed in the scenes at his Hong Kong headquarters, Simmons remains relatively charming, and he's almost chummy with Team Godzilla while Evil Gloating to them and expressing nil remorse for what he's done.
• Imohtep from the first two Mummy films occasionally seems to be a fairly polite, friendly guy. However, he is really a monster to people he needs to drain and/or who get in his way. And he even lied about sparing Rick O'Connell and his friends when they're forced to turn in Evey to him, only for him to order some brainwashed followers to go ahead and kill them.
• Freddy Krueger, the main monster of A Nightmare on Elm Street. He's good at making a sardonic joke every now and then, but he's scary, at least partially because of it. This is more apparent in the sequels — in the first film, he doesn't talk much.
• Nine Dead: Coogan. While he's not the only criminal in the room, he goes out of his way to be a passive aggressive jerkass to the other captives, mocking pleasantries, blowing Kelly kisses, and in the same cheery tone of voice bragging about being a child molester.
• No Escape (1994): Marek is this in shades. He always acts superficially friendly toward other people and is quite polite. It's clear he doesn't mean any of it however, as he's a bloodthirsty psychopath with no principle except "might makes right" which isn't hidden at all.
• Once Upon a Time in the West: Frank is able to have nice, civil conversations with people despite being an awful person. Of course, he's still a ruthless, cruel man who enjoys killing people.
• Esther Coleman or better said, Leena Klammer from Orphan. She is a skilled actress, able to convince others she is a sweet, kind little girl. She's not.
• In Paddington (2014), Millicent maintains a soothing maternal tone, even when talking about how she is going to kill and stuff Paddington, who she is conversing with.
• Parents: On the surface, Nick seems like a loving family man to his wife and son. But when Michael starts to dig deeper into the family's food source, he becomes more threatening, but continues to address Michael in a calm tone-even when trying to talk him into eating human meat It's only when he gets stabbed by Michael that he finally loses his composure.
• Phantasm: Throughout the series, the Tall Man often acts and speaks politely, particularly towards Mike in the fourth film, assuring him that his lobotomy won't hurt a bit. However, the mask ultimately slides completely away in Ravager, when he ridicules Reggie and Mike's friendship.
• Xander Drax, the Diabolical Mastermind of The Phantom. He really does seem to be Affably Evil... right up until he puts out an innocent man's eyes to teach him a lesson about not talking to reporters, then snaps the guy's glasses in half and laughingly says, "Well, won't be needing these anymore!"
• The Phantom of the Opera (1989): Erik is this in this version due to Adaptational Villainy, lacking many of the traits that made him genuinely affable in the original.
• Manfred von Karma is edged towards this in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney live-action movie. The murder trial against Edgeworth even starts out with him introducing himself to Phoenix and basically saying "May the best man win". And as anyone who played the game would know, it turns out the entire thing was one long plan to get revenge on Edgeworth.
• Prime Cut: Gene Hackman's Big Bad acts friendly and jovial at public events like the country fair, but in private he is vicious and psychopathic.
• Jules in Pulp Fiction is truly Affably Evil, being a Hitman with a Heart, but there is one part of the film where, when he's trying to get "in character" as his role of a hitman, he instead plays this trope to the hilt in the scene in which he acquires the briefcase. Jules acts chipper and polite toward a bunch of young men who are clearly terrified of him and know that he's there to do horrible things. He starts politely imposing himself, aware that they have to agree to his requests to continue his friendly facade. Even after shooting one of the men, he continues acting polite until he finally breaks into scenery-chewing villainy. After this, he returns to his genuine demeanor for the rest of the film.
• The gang leader from The Purge is this. He is extremely polite when speaking with the Sandins, and never swears. He's even listed in the credits as "Polite Leader". He also wants to kill an innocent man for fun.
• Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs happily chats along with the other members of the gang, cracks jokes, never raises his voice once or use many bad words in the same breath as he explains how he executed an unarmed 20-year-old girl for touching the alarm of the jewelry store they were robbing, and sings and dances along to a song played while he's cutting someone's ears off for the hell of it. It underlines that he is The Sociopath and doesn't really care about his fellow robbers or any of the stuff he's doing.
• In Ring of Fear, Dublin O'Malley has an easygoing charm that makes him instantly likable and an excellent ringmaster. However, it is all just an act and beneath it, he is a homicidal maniac who will kill you just as soon as he looks at you.
• The Sheriff of Nottingham, as played by Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, embodies this trope to such an extent that he more or less uses the line as a skipping rope. He makes Attempted Rape look funny!
• Clarence Boddicker of RoboCop (1987). He tries to sound polite to his opponents, even when he threatens to kill them. He likewise treats his gang members like friends, but he won't hesitate to kill them if it suits his needs.
  Clarence: (with his hand on Officer Murphy's shoulder) You probably don't think I'm a very nice guy, do you?
  Murphy: Buddy, I think you're slime.
• Detective Mark Hoffman in the Saw series. His affable demeanor seems genuine until you've witnessed his true colors under the Jigsaw persona which will pretty much show that his entire affable side's pretty much an act to lower suspicion.
• In The Scavengers, Captain Harris likes to play the part of a Southern Gentleman but is an unrepentant racist, who sees nothing wrong with using murder and rape as weapons to wage his unofficial war.
• Se7en: John Doe is extremely polite for a Serial Killer, but this just highlights how creepy he is.
• Sheriff Sabin, the third villain of Shark Night seems very nice before being revealed to have been Evil All Along. Even after he's revealed as a bad guy, he acts nice toward Nick, offering to play him his favorite song as he is fed to a tiger shark.
• Sholay: Gabbar Singh will often toy with his victims for fun, all the while maintaining a grandiose veneer of affability. For instance, he'll loudly laugh along with the rest of his gang before spontaneously executing a group of them for messing up their mission.
• Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) fits this to T. He's an insufferable Jerkass who spends most of his screentime lording his intellect over everyone else and gloating to everyone's faces that he's just plain better than them. He's able to act polite and civil when he wants to, but even then, it seems he can't even be in the same vicinity of another human being for long without being rude and insulting to them. Best shown when he tracks Sonic to Tom's house; he introduces himself to Tom cordially, but soon devolves into bragging about his intelligence while mocking Tom's own before casually threatening him with a drone for Sonic's location.
• Maxim Horvath from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He's polite. He's charming. He's impeccably dressed and well-mannered. He's witty, intelligent, clever, well-read, culturally literate, and erudite. And he's perfectly willing to slaughter much of the planet's population as part of his plan.
• In Sorry, Wrong Number, the gangster Morano seems very affable and chummy as he is describing to Henry how he can extract himself from the mess he is in until you realise that he is telling Henry to murder his wife.
• Howard Payne from Speed. He's witty, cheerful, and acts like Jack is an old friend all the while taunting him about the people he's murdered and how out of his depth he is.
• The main villain of The Spirit, the Octopus, has shades of this. He talks to the hero like an old friend, even while having him tied up and detailing his plans to torture him. His reactions to his own bizarre Mad Science is pretty mundane, too.
  "Now that is just plain damn weird. Don't you think that's just plain damn weird?"
• Nero from Star Trek (2009) has his share of killer lines, despite, for the most part, being a humourless Omnicidal Maniac. For example, his response after giving Starfleet a whooping:
  Pike: This is Captain Christopher Pike of the Federation Starship Enterprise.
  Nero: Hi, Christopher. I'm Nero.
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Khan becomes this due to losing many of the traits that made him genuinely Affably Evil in the original series.
• Star Wars:
  • In Revenge of the Sith, Chancellor Palpatine, until, suddenly, he isn't.
    Palpatine: Good, Anakin, good! Kill him. Kill him now.
  • And when he's tempting Luke in Return of the Jedi:
    Palpatine: Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive...
  • Darth Vader has his moments. While he's genuinely Affably Evil with Padme and Luke, he's faux with everyone else:
    Vader: (After choking Captain Needa to death) Apology accepted, Captain Needa.
    Vader: (Taking the rebels hostage) We would be honored if you would join us.
  • Also, Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope:
    Tarkin: Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life.
  • Tarkin's rival, Orson Krennic, is no slouch at this either. He puts on a show of politeness and has a surprisingly non-terrible sense of humour, but as soon as anything goes against him, his anger comes to the forefront and he starts having people killed brutally.
    Krennic: We were this close to providing peace and security for the galaxy.
    Galen Erso: You're confusing peace with terror.
    Krennic: Well, you have to start somewhere.
  • Count Dooku, at least in Attack of the Clones; he's clearly more respectful towards the Jedi than they are towards him.
  Dooku: It's a great pity that our paths have never crossed before, Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you. I wish he were still alive; I could use his help right now.
  Obi-Wan: (With quiet fury) Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you.
  • He shows it by slyly delivering the right amount of hints to Obi-Wan in order to plant the seed of division among the Jedi while painting himself as the good guy. Notice how his behavior in the scene he shares with Obi-Wan is very different to the way he behaves in any other moment of the movie or Revenge of the Sith. (Indeed, in the Sith novelization an extended section taken from his point of view has him musing, though not in such terms, that he's a sociopath.)
  • Kylo Ren acts polite and calm, but it doesn't take much for him to go into white-hot anger.
  • Solo features the crime lord Dryden Vos. In his first scene, he murders a regional governor for displeasing him, then jokes about letting himself get worked up during a party. Throughout the movie, his attempts to act like a Benevolent Boss come off as painfully insincere; any hint of him not getting his way, and the charm goes out the window.
• The Strange Door; Talon politely answers Denis's questions and amusedly says he might be open to a bribe to help him escape, but clearly relishes Denis's helplessness and is oozing with glee as he talks about how the castle used to be a torture chamber.
• M. Bison in the live-action Street Fighter film. Raul Julia is just grand; the way he talks about world domination makes it clear that he thinks it's the most natural thing in the world. He also wonders, in apparent seriousness, why people think he's a villain; he has a chandelier of human bones.
• Surrounded: Will Clay acts like a friendly man, even paternal to Mo (saying he had a daughter her age once etc). He turns out to be a very ruthless bounty hunter who will kill anyone in his way, and his kindness is just an act.
• Switchback: Bob puts on a front as a friendly, charming man, though he does show a hard side early on. He's friends with lots of people, who all can't believe he could ever be a serial killer. Yet he shows zero hesitation in killing them.
• The Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). He talks to Splinter and the turtles like old acquaintances he's happy to see again, though it's very clear he'd all the more delighted to kill them once he doesn't need them anymore.
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day: While the T-800 model from the first film was portrayed as cold and emotionless, the T-1000 is capable of imitating human emotion and can put on an air of friendliness, but if you get in the way of his mission, he will not hesitate to eliminate you.
• They/Them (2022): Owen acts like a Reasonable Authority Figure who only wants to give LGBT+ teens the option of changing assuming that's what they want, and acts very chummy toward them. It's soon revealed he's a deeply queerphobic, abusive man who holds ultra-traditional views on gender, while using brutal methods attempting to "convert" them.
• The Third Man: Harry Lime initially comes off as a charismatic Lovable Rogue engaging in relatively harmless crimes... then he steals penicillin, waters it down to the point of being useless, and sells it off, causing numerous deaths just to line his pockets with no remorse.
• This Is the End:
  • Danny McBride, after he becomes a cannibal, acts casual with the gang while at the same time threatening to eat them.
    McBride: Shit, I can't believe you guys are here! That's fucking crazy! And your timing couldn't be more perfect. It's been a long time since any of us have eaten, and you three gentlemen look delicious.
  • Jonah Hill acts like such a Nice Guy, but he reveals his true colors when he prays for God to kill Jay Baruchel.
• Trench 11: Reiner tries to cozy up to Priest, offering him wine and appealing to him not as an enemy, but as a fellow scientist. When he refuses to betray the Allies, he resorts to Cold-Blooded Torture.
• TRON: Legacy: CLU is completely affable and polite with Sam from the beginning, and his personal moments of violence always appear to be casual afterthoughts, as in when he is blowing up the End of Line Club, or yelling and slamming his hands into the table at Kevin Flynn's home, making something of a mess, or de-rezzing Jarvis after a last-straw moment of incompetence after a long string of mild-to-major failures. The rest of the time, he is cool, calm and collected, and polite. After all, his most oddly polite line to Sam is "So, you like bikes." complete with a pleasant smile.
• Even Zorin might have been creeped out by one of Walken's lesser-known but still memorably malevolent characters: James Houston, the Manipulative Bastard Villain Protagonist of the direct-to-video low-budget film Vendetta. A filthy rich New Orleans plantation owner in the 1890s who desires to become even richer, Houston has no qualms — absolutely none — about (secretly) instigating two incidents of ethnically charged street violence (namely, the assassination of the city's police chief and a mass lynching of Italians) just so he can take over the profitable immigrant businesses down on Decatur Street. Completely shameless and with about as much emotional capacity as a mannequin—and gets a literal Kick the Dog moment as he watches a staged dog fight and takes an almost scientific interest in how the weaker dog realizes it is beaten and rolls onto its back to allow its throat to be torn out. The worst part? James Houston was a real person...and never got any sort of comeuppance for his part in one of the bloodiest race wars in U.S. history, as the movie's epilogue explains.
• Vice (2015): When meeting with Roy, Julian holds up a smug facade and even when Roy points out the behaviours he allows basically amount to creating sociopaths, Julian just smiles and continues talking with his jovial tone.
• Virtuosity's Sid 6.7 is a better Joker than most portrayals of the Joker (and has a natty purple suit to match). At one point, he decides to make music from the assorted screams of his terrified hostages. Loves his work.
• Pablo Chacon from We're the Millers, who tends to banter with the Millers at gunpoint, as if he might actually spare them, only to reveal he plans on killing them no matter what.
• Whiplash: Zig-Zagged with Fletcher. He can turn on the charm when he wants to. In one of his early scenes, he's seen chatting politely with a little girl. He will affably tell his musicians to "just have fun out there" before berating them mercilessly for the slightest imperfections. Nevertheless, he has several Bait the Dog moments where it appears that he may not be so bad after all...only to then remind the viewer how cruel he really is.
• Wild River:
  • Sy Moore is very polite towards Chuck and offers to negotiate with him to make the dam project go smoother before drawing the line at paying blacks and whites the same wages.
  • RJ Bailey says that Chuck and Carol make a nice-looking couple and thanks Carol for asking about his wife even as his tone and language gets ambiguously threatening. Later, he makes a point to offer him a cigar and chat with him for a while before delivering his racist ultimatum and then beating Chuck up.
• In The Windmill Massacre, the coach driver Abe initially comes across as an extremely affable character: generous, helpful, and jovial. He even allows Jennifer to board the bus without a ticket. However, this is eventually revealed as an act designed to allow him to lure victims to their doom in the windmill and he won’t even spare those who his otherworldly ally sees as innocent or repentant.
• In most of the Wishmaster movies, the Djinn puts up a pleasant veneer towards his victims while preparing their agonizing deaths. He tends to drop the façade when he switches back into his true demonic form because then there's just no point in even pretending, especially towards the end, when he loses his patience with victory so close in his grasp.
• Mick in Wolf Creek. Don't let his welcoming Crocodile Dundeeish mannerism fool you. It's a trap. He's a Serial Killer and has got more in common with Hannibal Lector than with Crocodile Dundee.
• The Blank version of Oliver Chamberlain from The World's End.

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