With movie fans everywhere buzzing about Heath Ledger's Joker, I decided it was time to name the ten greatest villains in movie history. This list is based on three criteria: quality of the portrayal, depth of the villainous character and the impact the villain had on the film. There is also a list of honorable mentions below. These were villains that were worth recognition, but weren't quite villainous enough to make the top ten.

10. Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance (1980, "The Shining")

Nicholson's performance was absolutely chilling. If not for him, "The Shining" would have been just another haunted house movie. Jack Torrance is a man slowly reaching the brink of insanity throughout the film. After nearly two and a half hours, we see him make the transformation from a loving father and husband to a maniac hell bent on destroying everything he loves.

9. Robert DeNiro as Max Cady (1991, "Cape Fear")

One word describes DeNiro's portrayal: creepy. In fact, it was so creepy that DeNiro was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. Max Cady is a convict who was imprisoned for 14 years on charges of rape and battery. However, Cady could have been acquitted if his lawyer did not hide a key report from him. After serving his time, Cady seeks revenge on his former lawyer's family including his teenage daughter. Max Cady is a relentless and sinister man, which deservedly earns a #9 spot on this list.

8. Jeremy Irons as the voice of Scar (1994, "The Lion King")

I know what you're thinking. How in sam heck did a Disney cartoon character make this list? Well, he did everything in his power to earn and keep the throne of Pride Rock. That included killing his brother, banishing his nephew, sending hyenas to kill his nephew, and starving his fellow lions. There was even a scene where Scar, standing high in a cave with hyenas marching below, conjures images of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army. Does this selection really need any more justification?

7. Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes (1990, "Misery")

Annie Wilkes is a great villain because she could definitely be a real woman somewhere in this world. Kathy Bates was outstanding in the role as she won an Academy Award. She saves the life of novelist Paul Sheldon after he has a car accident in a severe blizzard. She claims she is his biggest fan, and will help him get back to health before she lets him go...if she ever lets him go. She violently and creepily holds him captive with no intention of ever having him leave. And that scene where she crushes his ankle with a sledgehammer is one of the most brutal in cinematic history.

6. Linda Blair as Pazuzu/Regan MacNeil (1973, "The Exorcist")

I still get nightmares thinking of this character. "The Exorcist" is still thought to be one of the scariest movies of all-time because of disgusting and Satanic scenes featuring Regan MacNeil, a girl who has been possessed by a demon called Pazuzu. It might have been the head-spinning, the spider walk, the split pea soup green vomit, or the fact that she tells Father Karras about the activities in which his mother participates in the afterlife. This is the villain I would least like to encounter on this list.

5. Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge (1971, "A Clockwork Orange")

Alex DeLarge has three interests: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, brutal violence and rape. DeLarge and his droogs beat men senseless and in an extremely disturbing scene, he rapes a woman while singing and dancing to "Singin' in the Rain." Society eventually had to stop DeLarge and did so by exposing him to the Ludovico technique (look it up). In the end, however, he is still an evil person and his "goodness" was forced and mechanical.

4. Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates (1960, "Psycho")

Norman Bates is the original psychopathic villain. In fact, the character is based off the horrifying real life of serial killer Ed Gein. Bates suffered severe emotional abuse as a child at the hands of his mother, Norma, who preached to him that women and sex were evil. The two of them lived alone together until his father died. When he was a teenager, however, his mother found a new boyfriend and made him insanely jealous. Bates then kills both of them and preserves his mother's corpse. Throughout the film, he struggles with dissociative personality disorder and at times thinks he is his own mother...when he kills. Combine that with the classic shower stabbing and you have your #4 greatest villain.

3. Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter (1991, "Silence of the Lambs")

Never has a villain been as smart, suave, or chilling as Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. No villain plays mind games as well as the brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. He's essentially a classy, sophisticated barbarian who eats human flesh while listening to Mozart. Hopkins won an Oscar for Best Actor for the role.

2. James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader (1980, "The Empire Strikes Back")

The only thing he feels is hatred. Darth Vader may not be as gruesome or disturbed as other villains on this list, but he represents the epitome of what a villain is about: being dark, cold, destructive and basically inhuman. His voice sends chills down your spine. His appearance is black and intimidating. And worst of all, he chose the dark side after being a good guy. He wasn't born a villain, he chose to be a villain. He's at his most villainous in "The Empire Strikes Back."

1. Heath Ledger as The Joker (2008, "The Dark Knight")

If you're disappointed with this selection, then you probably haven't seen "The Dark Knight." I have never in my life been so captivated by an actor's portrayal. The Joker was, by far, the most interesting character in the film or any superhero film ever made for that matter. He is a grungy, remorseless, mass-murdering, psychopathic clown whose only interest in life is mayhem. In "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger modernized what was already the most interesting villain in comic book history with a punk look, an evil demeanor, and a smile carved into his face. I sat in the theater hanging on every word, movement, blink and breath he took. From the moment the Joker did his "disappearing pencil trick," he was the new top dog of Villain World.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Robert Englund as Freddie Krueger (1984, "A Nightmare on Elm Street")

Denzel Washington as Detective Alonzo Harris (2001, "Training Day")

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko (1987, "Wall Street")

Daveigh Chase as Samara Morgan (2002, "The Ring")

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (1931, "Dracula")

Max Schreck as Graf Orlok (1922, "Nosferatu")

Mike Myers as Dr. Evil (1997, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery")

Eihi Shiina as Asami Yamazaki (1999, "Audition")

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh (2007, "No Country For Old Men")

Douglas Rain as the voice of HAL 9000 (1968, "2001: A Space Odyssey")

Kevin Spacey as John Doe (1995, "Se7en")

Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus (2000, "Gladiator")

Gert Frobe as Auric Goldfinger (1964, "Goldfinger")

Margaret Hamilton as The Wicked Witch of the West (1939, "The Wizard of Oz")

Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto (2000, "X-Men")