Scream and Fright Night are two of my favourite ever horror movies. They are actually fairly similar films overall. Both are set in then modern day, both feature teenagers who are fans of horror movies as the main characters who have to deal with a threat exactly like something in the movies they watch, both mix comedy with scenes of genuine horror and both also satirize the tropes and cliches of classic horror movies albeit in affectionate ways.

The key difference between them is that they satirize different types of horror movies. With Fright Night its obviously Vampire movies, specifically the old Hammer classics whilst with Scream its obviously slasher films.

In this article I am going to compare the films side by side to see which I find to be superior. I think that this is an interesting comparison only because I feel that you can explore a lot of the key differences between the two sub genres of horror that both Scream and Fright Night satirize. In many ways this article will be exploring what I prefer Vampire and monster films or Slasher movies as much as what I prefer between Scream and Fright Night.

As always all opinions are my own and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Overview of Both Films

Before we compare both films to one another I am first of all going to give a brief overview of both films just in case any of you reading are maybe unfamiliar with one of them.

Fright Night was released in 1985. It was both written and directed by Tom Holland.

Its plot sees a Vampire named Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) move next door to young horror movie fan Charley Brewster. (William Ragsdale) Brewster comes to suspect he is a Vampire and later tries to expose him unsuccessfully to the police. After this Jerry knowing Charley is on to him attacks Charley. He offers Charley a chance to forget about him, but Charley refuses knowing that Jerry would keep going on killing more young women.

After barely escaping Jerry one night Charley soon goes to Peter Vincent for help. Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) is an actor famous for having appeared in horror movies as a Vampire killer though he is now washed up and hosts a horror themed show called Fright Night.

Peter dismisses Charley as a lunatic and ignores him. Charley now without any options decides to face Jerry himself and begins to fashion stakes and crosses. His girlfriend Amy and friend “Evil” Ed begin to worry about him and bring in Peter Vincent (who only comes in after Amy pays him) to conduct a Vampire test on Jerry. Here Peter actually discovers that Jerry is a Vampire when he sees he has no reflection. Jerry knowing his cover is blown tracks down and makes Ed into a Vampire. He also captures Amy whom he falls in love with as she is seemingly the reincarnation of his long lost love. Peter though scared agrees to help Charley face the Vampire at his house. There they not only face Charley but also Ed and Amy both of whom he has turned into Vampires. Ultimately Peter and Charley manage to slay Jerry and Ed. Following Jerry’s death Amy returns to normal, though the ending hints that “Evil” Ed has survived.

Fright Night proved to be a surprise hit and it led to a small resurgence in Vampire movies. Near Dark and The Lost Boys followed in its wake and all three films would prove to be a big influence on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fright Night has also been cited as an influence on My Name Is Bruce, with My Name Is Bruce also revolving around a washed up horror actor, a fictionalized version of Bruce Campbell helping a fan battle a real monster. Like Peter Vincent, Bruce chickens out at first before battling the monster in the end to help his fan.

Scream was a 1996 slasher film directed by the late great Wes Craven. It revolved around a serial killer who assumes the costumed identity of Ghostface. Ghostface after carrying out two gruesome murders targets a teenager named Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). Ghostface reveals that he has knowledge of her mothers murder from many years ago which was blamed on her boyfriend Cotton.

Many people are suspected of being Ghostface including Sidney’s own father as well as her boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich). Eventually after more killings it is discovered that there are in fact two killers who are working together. One of them is Billy Loomis and the other is his friend Stu. Billy has been planning to kill Sidney because Billy’s father had had an affair with Sidney’s mother causing Billy’s mother to abandon him. It was Billy and Stu (Matthew Lilliard) that murdered Sidney’s mother and now plan to complete their revenge by murdering her. Ultimately however Sidney with the aid of reporter Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox) is able to turn the tables on and murder the two killers.

Scream proved to be a massive success and it would lead to a revival in the popularity of slasher films with the likes of I Know What You Did Last Summer following in its wake.

Both movies led to franchises. There were three sequels to Scream and a tv series whilst Fright Night had one sequel and two remakes.

Both movies maintain a loyal cult following and are highly respected to this day by fans of the genre. But which do I like better? Well lets find out by looking at the pro’s and cons of both movies and again by extension the horror subgenre’s they were meant to satirize

Scream is far more frightening

I think most women would rather be seduced by a young Chris Sarandon.

One thing I will say right away is that Scream is far more terrifying than Fright Night.

Again I think this can be seen as a result of the subgenre of horror movies that they represent.

Slasher movies or indeed movies about evil human beings have always terrified me more than movies about monsters. Obviously when its a Vampire or a Demon or an Alien that does something horrible its completely divorced from reality. It almost feels safe in a way in that you know nothing like that could ever happen to anyone, being eaten by Zombies, abducted by aliens etc.

However when its a human being killing someone, its far more disturbing not only because the idea that an ordinary person could do something so evil is in itself disturbing, but also there is a certain real terror to it. People have actually died like Drew Barrymore’s character Casey.

Also I feel that the scenes of people being killed in Scream are more drawn out and protracted than in Fright Night. Really not counting the Vampires themselves only one main character is killed on screen in Fright Night, “Evil” Ed whose death is over in a second. Jerry’s other victims in the night club similarly are quickly dispatched. He just slashes their throats with his long nails and tosses them across the room and that’s that.

The only death that is drawn out in Fright Night is Amy’s when Jerry turns her into a Vampire, but that’s not exactly a horrific death.

Like a lot of classic monsters Jerry just wanted to be loved.

Ghostface on the other hand he’s just an asshole.

In Scream meanwhile we see people get tortured, struggle to get free, be brought to the very limit of their terror and get killed in some very creatively gruesome ways.

The opening scene of course features the most famous killing in the movie.

So much has been written about this scene over the years. Its arguably the most sensational opening to any horror film. Again what makes it so effective is how real it seems. We get to know Drew Barrymore’s character somewhat before she is slaughtered, she’s not just slasher victim 1. Also whilst her death is drawn out, its not just simply for the sake of it. There are so many moments where it looks as though she might escape right until the very end. The most effective moment for me is when she is a mere 6 feet away from her parents and tries to call for help, but can’t because she is so weak after having been stabbed and strangled.

Also this scene shows us the effect her death has on her parents which again makes it seem more than just a scene designed to shock. In some ways the parents reaction is actually the most horrifying moment for me. Imagine being in their position. You come home from a night out, see your daughter isn’t home, hear her scream for mercy and then see her hung from a tree. Losing a child is the most horrible thing that can happen to anyone but to lose them like that doesn’t even bare thinking about. Seeing some one go through that even in a film is just absolutely heart breaking.

Nothing in Fright Night even approaches this sequence alone in terms of sheer horror and again the fact that it is a Vampire that carries out the killings in Fright Night means that it never could for me even if its killings were more explicit like this. If it were a Vampire that bit Drew Barrymore just to feed then it would automatically be taken a level of fantasy that would make it seem somewhat more safe, more like a fairy tale for me. However the fact that it is just an ordinary human telling her that he wants “to see what your insides look like” just makes it immeasurably more disturbing for me personally.

Fright Night Has A Better Villain

On the flip side of things whilst Ghostface may be more terrifying in the way he or rather they butcher their victims ultimately I found Jerry to be the more compelling villain and character overall.

The thing about Jerry was we got to see more sides to his personality. At certain moments he seemed vicious and sadistic such as when he locks Charley in a room with a Vampirized Amy and even smiles when Charley cries at what has happened to her.

Still at the same time there are moments that portray him as a more conflicted character too. When he first confronts Charley he doesn’t kill him he actually offers to let him go provided he keeps quiet about what he is. He also expresses regret and even guilt over what he is telling Charley that he doesn’t have a choice but to kill.

Added to that he does genuinely love Amy too. The last thing he cries out before he perishes is her name.

All of these different sides to Jerry’s personality leave the viewer guessing what his true nature is. Is he a reluctant Vampire crying on the inside? Possibly. After all throughout the film most of the time he never kills unless he has too. He only kills those women so that he can survive and he gives Charley a choice to go and even later tells him that he was the one who started their fight. Also unlike the main villains in Scream Jerry only targets the main characters in this film to protect himself. Even then he decides to turn them into Vampires which is in his mind is a good thing. He tells Ed that he knows how he is a reject and picked on and he will finally give him somewhere he belongs and give him power so he’ll never have to suffer or feel lonely again.

Many fans see Jerry as a result of all this as a very sympathetic character, despite his status as a villain and again like in many great monster movies his death is even seen as a tear jerker by some viewers.

I personally however have a different interpretation of Jerry. I actually see him as a very unsympathetic character. I think that Jerry probably does feel some small measure of guilt over what he does but ultimately I don’t think he cares that much. Whilst its true that he may say he doesn’t have a choice at the end of the day he does. He could end his life if he really didn’t want to hurt anyone yet he has gone on killing people for 1000’s of years. Also its not like we see him constantly conflicted over his killings. Other than one line to Charley he seems quite chipper. He’s not skulking in the dark never meeting anyone feeling angsty. He lives in a big nice house, cracking jokes, laughing at people’s attempts to threaten him. Doesn’t seem like a guy who hates being a Vampire. He strikes me as the kind of guy that LOVES all the perks of being a Vampire, staying young and sexy forever, super powers, killing anyone that pisses you off etc.

I think the fact that he demonstrates some self awareness makes him worse as it shows that he is aware of how evil he is and how wrong it is, but simply doesn’t care. He ultimately places his own life above those of his victims. Yes he may not go out of his way to torture and kill people but he has no quams about doing it either.

Of course that’s just my interpretation and I am sure plenty of people will disagree, but that’s further proof of what a great character Jerry is that people can have all of these different interpretations of what his true motives are.

For instance when he hunts Ed is he in his mind freeing a young, lonely, bullied boy from his life of torment and giving the gift of eternal life? Or is he just simply manipulating him, turning him into a Vampire so that he can use him to track down Peter and Charley and will discard him after he is done with him?

Sadly the main villains in Scream Billy Loomis and Stu Macher are simply not as interesting to me.

They’re not bad characters. Obviously they are terrifying and the actors who play them do a great job as you can see just from the picture above in really capturing the bitter, twisted almost childlike lunacy of the characters.

Still the thing about Billy and Stu that makes them less interesting than Jerry is that they are just psychopath’s. That’s it. There is really very little else about their characters. Billy’s motive “mommy issues” I always felt was a bit weak whilst Stu has no motive whatsoever. Thus where as with Jerry we have a character who can seem genuinely conflicted and openly sadistic and menacing, with these two villains we just have two psychopath’s and I don’t think anyone feels bad when either one of them suffers their violent and painful deaths.

In Vampire and monster movies the villains ironically tend to be more fleshed out and even more sympathetic. Look at the classic monster movies like the Karloff Frankenstein, the Karloff Mummy and The Wolf Man. The monsters in all of those films is someone we sympathize with even though they kill people. The Frankenstein monster murders an entire family yet audiences still cry when he dies or when he is with the blind old man the only person that could be his friend because he can’t see him.

Even monsters who aren’t sympathetic at all I still find often have a better motivation than the villains in slasher movies.

Take a look at Deacon Frost in the Blade film series. Frost is a vicious, sadistic monster who wants to destroy humanity, but you can still understand why he is doing what he is doing. He wants Vampires to rule the earth as he believes it is their right as they are higher up the food chain.

He thinks that if the Vampires continue to just simply blend in with humanity then eventually they will be found out and exterminated as they are predators of humans and thus the humans wouldn’t ever accept them. In a way you can understand where he is coming from.

The villains in slasher movies however like Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason Vorhee’s, Leatherface and the Fishermen are often just psychopath’s who kill people for seemingly no reason.

Nobody cries when the villain in a slasher movie dies. At the same time no one knows why these guys even do what they do. I suppose its ironic in a way as a lot of the time the villains in slashers movies are human. Some of them do have supernatural powers like Freddy and Jason and Michael, but most like the Fisherman, Ghostface and Leatherface are just ordinary people, whilst even Myers, Vorhees, and Kruger all start out as human beings too when they begin their murders.

In horror movies that if a villain is a monster then chances are they will be more three dimensional and perhaps sympathetic than if they are just an insane human being. I guess that old cliche of human beings are the greatest monsters is true after all.

With this in mind it makes sense that Jerry would be more fleshed out than either Billy or Stu. I will say that Ghostface is more iconic than Jerry. Pretty much everyone knows that iconic mask.

The mask is an absolute tour de force, but in all fairness I think this is more a case of the design being iconic than the character. Whilst everyone may recognize the mask I doubt anyone other than horror movie fans would remember the people underneath the mask. Jerry meanwhile I’d say is far more famous among horror movie fans than either Billy or Stu.

Overall I’d say that Jerry is stronger than any of the villains in any of the Scream films.

Scream Has Stronger Roles For Woman

Scream’s main protagonist is Sidney Prescott played by Neve Campbell. She is a strong, resourceful, brave intelligent character. Her backstory is fully fleshed out involving the death of her mother and as time goes on we see her develop into a very different character in both Scream and its sequels.

Sadly the main female character Amy in Fright Night is really nothing more than just a bland damsel. She really has no function except to get seduced and bitten by Jerry. Though she does get some good scenes when she becomes a Vampire later, by large she is really just the stereotypical wimpy girl that is helpless in the throes of the Vampire. She can’t possibly compare to Sidney.

I actually really like the actress who plays Amy, Amanda Bearse. You should check her out in Married With Children as Marcy, a character who couldn’t be more different to Amy!

Still I think its safe to say that Sidney is just a better character and Neve Campbell was absolutely spectacular in the role.

Once again I think that this can be seen as reflective of the subgenres they parody.

In monster and Vampire films before Fright Night the female characters were often not quite as strong apart from a few exceptions such as the Alien film series. Look at the old Universal and Hammer movies are there any strong roles for women in them? I’m not knocking them. They’re of their time and also not having strong roles for women does NOT make something sexist by any stretch of the imagination. Still in Slasher movies not only were women giving much stronger roles, but in fact the main hero was often a woman.

In fact I honestly can’t think of a single classic slasher movie where a woman isn’t the main hero. Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and I Know What you Did Last Summer, the last survivor who ultimately outwits and even dispatches the killer is a woman every time.

Many people criticise the slasher movie genre for being misogynistic because we often see women being killed, but I think that’s unfair as men get killed just as often women in these films. Drew Barrymore’s boyfriend for instance gets gutted just like she does.

Ultimately however a woman is always the last survivor and indeed as a boy when I used to watch slasher movies they were among the first places I ever got to see a female character save the day. It certainly wasn’t in the old Hammer movies or Universal flicks where women would cower at the sight of the monster and be victimized.

You can see the huge difference there.

Fright Night is More Fun

One thing that can be said for Fright Night is that it is much easier viewing than Scream.

As much as I like Scream I must admit I’d probably only watch it very occassionally because its pretty heavy viewing. The opening scene alone is pretty harrowing and intense.

Fright Night on the other hand I feel is more feel good escapism. If its been a long day at work and or  I’m just in the mood for a fun, enjoyable horror flick well then its always going to be Fright Night I pop on before Scream. I really have to be in the mood for Scream.

Again I think this is reflective somewhat of the differences between monster and Slasher movies.  Slasher movies like the Texas Chainsaw massacre are obviously much more brutal when compared to an old Hammer or Universal movie. Of course you might just say that’s because they are more tame, but I think its more than that. I think monster movies create their own unique world. A world where the most impossible creatures exist that’s completely divorced from reality. Slashers movies like Scream however that are just about psycho humans obviously don’t do that. If anything they just remind us of how crappy human beings and the world can be.

Thus once again I think that by the simple fact of being a monster movie Fright Night for me at least is more rewatchable.

Conclusion

In many ways Randy and Evil Ed are similar characters. Both horror movie fans who comment on the cliche’s of horror movies within the film. Both are not surprisingly very popular with fans as in many ways they represent us horror movie geeks. Too bad they both get horrribly killed. Though Randy at least survives the first film, whilst Evil at least becomes a Vampire. 

In conclusion I can’t really say which I prefer. In some ways Scream is better, in some Fright Night is better. I think that both movies do a good job of summing up the sub genres of horror movies that they satirize. I will say one final thing I think Scream has over Fright Night is that Scream’s first sequel was better than Fright Night 2.

I do like Fright Night 2 and in yet a further similarity between the two franchises both of their sequels revolve around a relative of the villain from the first movie trying to kill the heroes to avenge their loved one.

In Jerry’s case it is Regina his sister, in Scream’s case it is Mrs Loomis, Billy’s mother. I will say Regina is much better than Mrs Loomis.

Also at least Fright Night 2 doesn’t kill off one of the first movies best characters. It sucks in Scream 2 when Randy who was arguably the most iconic character in the series gets killed. Ask anyone to name a quote from Scream and it will be one of Randy’s. He’s the one who helped make it a movie that could satirise horror flicks.

Fortunately Fright Night 2 didn’t do anything stupid like that and kill off say Peter Vincent.

Still Scream 2 I think is a better move overall. I also prefer Mickey the supporting antagonist in Scream 2 to either Regina or Ms Loomis. Even though he is her sidekick Mickey kills far more people than Mrs Loomis.

My favourite kill of his is when he murders Derek Sidney’s boyfriend. Derek is the cheesiest guy in any horror movie. To say he and Sidney are a schmoopie couple is an understatement.

What makes his death at Mickey’s hands all the more glorious is that Mickey dupes Sidney into thinking that Derek is his accomplice first. So Derek dies knowing that Sidney didn’t truly trust him after all.

Seriously Mickey could very well be my favourite killer for this scene alone. And he killed Buffy lets not forget that either!

Still looking at just the original films then I’d say it is a tie between Scream and Fright Night. Both not only satirized but in many ways helped to change the horror genre, paving the way for other classics that were to follow and I am in no doubt that they will always remain cult classics.

The subject of this weeks cult actors Clancy Brown is the definition of a villain actor. Though he has played a few high profile hero roles, I think its safe to say that he has been somewhat typecast as badguys.

Not that that has prevented him from having a truly excellent career of course or from playing many different types of characters ranging from the thuggish Kurgen in Highlander, to the urbane and intellectual Lex Luthor in the DCAU.

Indeed unlike with some other actors we wont be able to look at every genre role he has ever played as it would take too long, so instead I will simply be looking at his most famous as well as my own personal favourites.

Like many noteworthy villain actors such as the late great Sir Christopher Lee, Brown has been described as being the sweetest guy you could ever hope to meet by all of those who have worked with him from Mark Hamill to Eliza Dushku.

Still despite this its not hard to see why he has been typecast as the badguy. With his 6 foot 3 imposing frame and his deep booming scary voice, he almost doesn’t need to act in order to be scary!

The Kurgan/Highlander

My favourite performance of Brown’s and one of my favourite villains in all of cinema history.

The Kurgan is the main villain in Highlander. He is an immortal who came from a tribe of people called the Kurgan’s who used to toss children into pits of wild dogs as a game!

The Kurgan apparently slaughtered the rest of his tribe simply so that he could become known as THE Kurgan rather than just a Kurgan.

He would spend many thousands of years raping women, pillaging villages, and taking other immortals heads. In the Highlander universe for those of you are unfamiliar with its rules an immortal can only be killed by decapitation. The goal of the Immortals is to fight and kill each other until the last one standing gains a supernatural power called the “The Prize” which will allow them to decide the fate of mankind itself.

Naturally many other immortals start to worry about what will happen if someone as evil as the Kurgan should win the prize and this leads to Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez an immortal, played by Sean Connery training other immortals around the world to make sure that no matter what the Kurgan will never win the prize.

The Kurgan is described by Ramirez as being the most powerful and evil Immortal of all time. The more heads an immortal takes the stronger he or she gets and the Kurgan has taken thousands.

The Kurgan later whist looking for his latest protege a Scots man Connor Macleod, kills Ramirez. He also goes on to rape Connors wife Heather too having believed she was with Ramirez. He later reveals this to Connor several hundred years later.

By 1985 Connor and The Kurgan are the only two immortals left. With both having arrived in New York, Connor is finally able to defeat his ancient enemy and win the prize which he intends to use to help mankind usher in a golden age. This however is later retconned by the numerous sequels which state that Connor and the Kurgan were not the last Immortals.

The thing I like the most about the Kurgan is the fact that he is really just a complete asshole. There’s no deep motivation for what he does, he certainly isn’t a I’ve had a hard life, crying on the inside type of villain like say the DCAU Mr Freeze or John Simm’s version of the Master. At the same time he isn’t like say the Joker from The Dark Knight who is depicted almost as evil incarnate, or a chaotic force of nature.

The Kurgan is really just a little hoodlum with super powers. He does the most petty and stupid things like sticking his tongue out at nuns, putting out the candles someone has lit in a church and best of all frightening old ladies just for a laugh.

Brown is able like a lot of truly great villain actors to actually get us to laugh some of the Kurgan’s more vile deeds such as when he starts randomly running people down whilst holding Brenda hostage and begins mimicking her cries and pleas.

Apparently it was Brown himself who injected a lot of the characters humour into the script. According to Brown the Kurgan was originally written as nothing more than just a boring, bland thug, so he decided to give him more of a twisted almost child like quality that ultimately allowed the character in some moments to actually be quite funny.

At the same time however whilst there are a lot of moments of black comedy involving the Kurgan he is still a very menacing character overall. Fortunately the comedy Brown injected into the character did not undermine his menace at all.

The moment where he attacks Heather is truly disturbing. Later when he taunts Connor and tells him that Heather loved being raped and longed for him to come back and do it to her again, we are taken deep into just how vile, brutal and savage the Kurgan truly is. The Kurgan isn’t merely saying this to taunt Connor. He actually thinks its true! “Perhaps she yearned for my return“.

In many ways I’d argue that Brown steals the show. All of the cast give good performances, but for me certainly the one I remembered the most was definitely Brown’s. The Kurgan would go on to be the character that Brown to this day is the most associated with. It has led to him getting other similar barbarian roles in both live action and animation.

The Kurgan never appeared in any of the sequels, though there were plans for him to appear in Highlander 2 in brief flashback scene, Brown ultimately declined which was definitely for the best considering Highlander 2 is often regarded as one of the worst films ever made.

One of the reasons Highlander 2 is so badly thought of is because it reveals that the Immortals are in fact aliens sent down from the planet Zeist to do battle with one another until only one remains with the winner gaining the ability to either return to Zeist or rule the earth. In the planned scene involving the Kurgan it would have been revealed that he was sent down by Connors enemy on Zeist General Katanna played by Michael Ironside to prevent Connor from winning the Prize.

None of the later villains would have as much of an impact as The Kurgan who remains the most recognizable villain in the entire franchise. The villain from Highlander 3 Kane was seen by many as an attempt to imitate the Kurgan. Like the Kurgan, Kane murders Connors mentor who also describes Kane as the most powerful and evil immortal of all time. Also there is even a scene where Kane captures Connor’s adopted son and goes on a joyride through the city much like the Kurgan does with Brenda in the first Highlander. Even the way Kane talks in a big deep growling voice is similar to the Kurgan.

I love the way even in the film itself they seem to go out of their way to say “yeah we know the bad guy in this is just a cheapo version of the Kurgan” by actually having a flashback to the Kurgan stabbing Connor when Kane is stabbing him.

One of the reasons the first Highlander is unquestionably the best entry in the series is because of Brown’s performance. With the Kurgan he truly creates what I feel to be one of cinema’s greatest villains. He simply dominates any scene he is in (even if he is sharing the screen with Sean Connery) and gives us a character who is both terrifying and at certain points hilarious.

Finally as if that wasn’t enough the Kurgen’s theme is even provided by Queen.

For some reason Queen (especially Freddie Mercury) hated this track. Personally I love it I think it goes brilliantly with the Kurgan. I always loved the way Clancy Brown said there can be only one! To me he delivers that line the best, which is no mean feat in the Highlander series where almost every character says that line at some point.

Lex Luthor/ DC Animated Universe

Brown’s interpretation of Superman’s archenemy Lex Luthor is arguably the most beloved version of the character outside of the comic book medium.

Much like Mark Hamil as the Joker, Brown for an entire generation of fans is Lex more so than any live action actor. Whenever I read a comic book with Lex again much like with Hamill as the Joker, or Kevin Conroy as Batman the voice I hear is always Brown’s.

The DCAU version of Lex was the most well realized overall I think. It wasn’t just Brown’s performance, but also his characterisation. This version not only managed to flesh Lex’s character out somewhat when compared with other adaptations, but also I feel managed to incorporate the two main interpretations of the character from the comic books.

Generally speaking Lex is either portrayed as a mad scientist who creates gigantic clone monsters, huge robots, space ships that can destroy a planet, power suits that give him special powers, and seeks to control the entire universe, or he is a more down to earth villain. A crooked business man who uses his wealth and power to cover up his illegal activities and generally humiliate Superman.

The DCAU managed to incorporate these two different versions by showing Lex start out as just a crime lord and gradually progress to a higher league villain. In later Justice League episodes they were even able to incorporate elements of the whole President Luthor aspect too.

Brown first played Lex Luthor in Superman the animated series. Lex was by far and away the most recurring enemy in this series and he was also shown to be behind the creation of other Superman villains such as Metallo and Bizarro.

Lex was depicted as a master manipulator. On the surface he was smooth talking, charming, witty and affable, but underneath there was an unbelievable arrogance and vicious streak. Throughout the series Superman never comes close to exposing his true nature, though at the same time there are moments where Lex greatly underestimates his allies such as the Joker, Metallo and Brainiac and it ends badly for him.

In many ways I think Brown as Lex Luthor is comparable as a villain to Roger Delgado as the Master in Doctor Who. Both are the same charming, witty, manipulative villain who often makes alliances with enemies much more powerful than they are and often get betrayed by them at the last minute too.

Visually Brown’s Luthor was apparently inspired by Telly Savalas as Blofeld.

One of Brown’s more notable performances was in Worlds Finest a three part episode that saw the Joker travel to Metropolis with a Kryptonite statue to kill Superman. This story was really in a way what marked the beginning of the DCAU. Prior to this there had only been Batman the animated series and Superman the animated series, but there was nothing to suggest that they inhabited the same universe other than the odd comment.

This however firmly established them existing within the same canon.

Brown manages to hold his own against Hamill’s Joker which is no mean feat. Overall I don’t think that Lex Luthor is quite as engaging a character as the Joker. Its not that I dislike the Luthor character but the Joker is literally a more colourful and a much more flamboyant and charismatic character. You only have to look at the two characters screen history. Lex has had far more live action appearances on both film and television and has been played by some brilliant actors, but none of them are as iconic as either Nicholson, Ledger or even Romero’s performances as the Joker.

Thus it was a difficult task appearing alongside Hamill one of the most celebrated versions of the Joker, but Brown manages to hold his own and make us not forget about Lex. The scenes of the Joker and Lex together are brilliant. Its fascinating watching these two such radically different characters appear together. Its true that in many ways Lex and the Joker are as good foils for each other as the two villains are for Superman and Batman themselves.

Apparently according to Brown he and Hamill worked very closely together and even became friends. The two would work together many more times not only as the Joker and Lex but as other characters too, such as in The Night of the Headless Horseman animated movie.

Sadly whilst Brown is able to hold his own against Hamill, Lex isn’t against the Joker. At the end of this story the Joker manages to outwit Lex and capture him. Lex has to be rescued by Batman and Superman in the end.

I think its a shame when this happens that one villain ends up getting completely undermined in favour of another one.

Obviously the most notorious example is in Doctor Who when the Daleks thrashed and trash talked the Cybermen in the episode Doomsday. Lex doesn’t fair much better here as we see the Joker completely outsmart him, capture him, taunt him and try and use his own Lexwing to destroy everything he ever built (which is all of Metropolis). Its a shame that people normally take such care not to undermine the heroes but when its a the villain the writers tend to just go for whoever is their favourite. Bruce Timm who produced this series was a much bigger Batman fan and thus obviously favoured the Joker so there was no question he was going win. Still even though I vastly prefer the Joker I wish they hadn’t done Lex down so badly.

I think that Lex’s status as Superman’s archenemy is undermined somewhat by the amount of times he is betrayed by his allies. I suppose in this respect he is once again comparable to Roger Delgado’s Master in that in both cases we have two very strong and interesting villains who sadly at times not only get undermined by being constantly overpowered, and captured by other villains and have to get rescued by the hero (the ultimate humiliation for any villain) but are also made to look flat out stupid for constantly forging alliances with people who are obviously going to stab them in the back.

Moments like these turn them from credible threats to characters that the audience laughs for being so thick as to get betrayed yet again.

Whilst I did like Lex in Superman and obviously Brown’s performance cannot be faulted I think both Brown and Luthor really got a chance to shine more in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Lex’s first appearance in Justice League sees him fall rather spectacularly. Not only are the Justice League able to expose his criminal activities, but he also contracts Kryptonite poisoning. Apparently Kryptonite can affect human beings provided they are exposed to it long enough, well it is a big chunk of radiation after all! Lex kept a piece of it in his pocket for years in case he ever had to deal with Superman face to face and it has slowly been poisoning him to the point where he now only has a few months left to live.

Its a beautiful irony that Kryptonite of all things is what brings Lex down and I just love the moment when Lex finds out he has Kryptonite poisoning he blames a sympathetic Superman who is at his bedside. Typical Luthor arrogance.

Lex soon escapes from prison and attempts to make Superman and the Justice League pay. This begins Lex’s descent into being more of a mad professor who creates giant robots and all manner of over the top gadgets type of a villain, as opposed to the slimy, corrupt business man.

I am not sure which interpretation I prefer overall. On the one hand Lex is more threatening as the mad scientist whilst at the same time I feel that you can flesh him out more when he is less of an OTT villain.

Still in the DCAU I definitely prefer the mad outlaw scientist version. Here they are able to make Lex seem much more threatening, though the trend of being betrayed by his allies does continue a bit,  with Ultra Humanite and Amazo both stabbing him in the back (literally in Humanite’s case). Still Lex definitely seems more formidable and Brown I feel is able to show us more sides to Luthor as we see Lex become more desperate and bitter during these episodes.

At the same time the makers of the series are able to incorporate elements of the President Luthor storyline in quite a clever way. We see an alternate reality where Lex becomes the president and provokes an all out war against meta humans that kills millions of people including that realities version of the Flash. Eventually Lex goes so far that Superman has to kill him. Ironically even though this isn’t the real Superman and Lex this is possibly my favourite ever moment between them.

Brown is superb here as once again we see how Luthors overwhelming arrogance causes his ultimate downfall.

I love the way that even Batman admitted it had to be done. It makes you wonder what atrocities Lex must have carried out when the Batman in the DCAU has never come close to killing the Joker! I think its good that we never find out what it was exactly Lex did in the alternate world, we are just given little hints that paint a gruesome picture.

After killing Lex, Superman and the rest of the League go on to take over the world and even find a way to cross over into our reality where the Justice League are forced to team up with Lex in order to take him down. Only Lex has the weaponry that can stop them (which he originally had wished to use against the league themselves.) Lex’s conditions for being allowed to use it are that he is pardoned for all his past crimes.

Following this Lex runs for president which terrifies the League. The Question even tries to kill Luthor to prevent this from happening, but unfortunately by this point Lex has in fact merged with Brainiac into a super being and effortlessly thrashes the Question and tosses him around. Its also revealed that he was never intending to run for president. Basically Luthor is a massive troll who wasted millions of pounds on pissing Superman off.

Lex’s plan’s with Brainiac go far beyond just pissing off a few superheroes. He plans to rebuild the entire universe itself!

I think that Lex and Brainiac’s alliance was better handled than his alliance with other villains as here we saw Lex do what he does best and actually manage to manipulate Brainiac. Brainiac at first is happy just to disregard Lex as soon as he has what he needs from him, but Lex is actually able to convince Brainiac to merge with him forever. Unlike other villain team ups this does not undermine either and really plays up to both villains strengths. Brainiac is the one with the power, whilst Lex is cunning enough to play anyone even the greatest super computer in the universe in order to get what he wants.

Lex/Brainiac proves to be one of the most powerful and dangerous enemies and thrashes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Ironically it is the Flash who the alternate Lex killed that finally manages to defeat Lex/Brainiac by literally knocking the pieces of Brainiac out of Lex using his speed.

Following this Lex would return the following year initially as a member of Gorilla Grodd’s Legion of Doom which he eventually takes over.

I think it was quite interesting the way that we saw Lex change so much over the course of the DCAU. He was arguably the most well developed character in the DCAU in fact, more so than other major villains like the Joker or even heroes like Batman and Superman.

When we first see Lex he is really a small time villain. He is a crooked millionaire with dodgy deals. A lot of the time he does get himself involved with villains who are more than a match for him like the Joker. His hatred of Superman meanwhile is really based more on jealousy. Had it not been for the appearance of Superman then Lex likes to think that he would probably be remembered as the greatest man from his generation, a genius whose scientific and philanthropic achievements would be second to none. However Superman completely eclipsed him. Nothing he could ever do could match the Man of Steel and thus its his jealousy just as much as his crooked nature that drives him down a dark path.

By the time we get to Justice League however a more embittered and resentful Luthor ups his game now that he has nothing to lose, and also now that the threat is much greater from the Justice League, we see Lex become a much higher class villain. You can tell this in his dealings with the Joker alone. When he and the Joker work together a second time though the Joker is still his senior in terms of being a wanted man, you can tell that this time Lex is in more control. Before Lex always seemed scared of the Joker. Even when he was arrogantly threatening him you got the impression that underneath his arrogance he was somewhat intimidated by the Clown Prince of Crime. In Justice League however when the Joker annoys him, Lex just elbows him in the stomach.

By the time we get to the Brainiac arc Lex now sees himself as a god. He has achieved power beyond the likes of even Darkseid and he believes that it is his right to mould all of creation itself in his twisted image.

After he loses Brainiac its interesting seeing how Lex no longer cares about working with common supervillains. He almost reshaped creation itself in his very image. He possessed a power beyond even earth’s greatest heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman so to go back to just robbing banks and blood feuds with costumed vigilante’s seems like such a come down.

Lex nevertheless agrees to work for Gorilla Grodd’s Legion of Doom because Grodd has the last piece of Brainiac with him. Grodd believes he can control Lex, but ultimately he underestimates him and Lex manages to overthrow and imprison Grodd.

I like the way we see a really petty side to Lex the way he demeans Grodd this great genius by keeping him locked in a cage and feeding him banana’s which Grodd despises.

Lex soon pours all of the Legion’s efforts into trying to find a way to revive Brainiac and resume his quest to take over the entire universe. You can see how far Lex has come when he is leading the Legion of Doom. One of my favourite moments is when a Legion member refuses to help Lex find Brainiac because he says that he doesn’t want him to be more powerful than all of them combined to which Lex responds “I’m already more powerful than all of you combined”  and effortlessly disposes of him. Its hard to imagine this Lex ever being at the mercy of the likes of Metallo or even the Joker like the Lex from Superman the animated series.

A real highlight is when Grodd breaks free from his cage and challenges Lex only for Lex to outwit him, humiliate him and torture him before killing him brutally.

Lex uses Grodd’s own mind control device against him and forces him to bow down before him whilst admitting he is superior. This final little exchange between them just before Lex blasts Grodd into space is my favourite moment however

Lex Luthor/ Don’t feel bad Grodd it could have gone the other way.

Grodd/ It really could..

Lex Luthor/ No it couldn’t but why speak ill of the dead. (blasts him into space)

Again its sad to see one villain in this case Grodd to so badly undermined, but I still can’t help but love how badass Lex is here.

Lex Luthor also sacrifices his lover Talia in order to bring Brainiac back, though it was said by one of the shows creators that as a final screw you to Luthor she brings Darkseid, who perished alongside Brainiac back to life instead.

Lex and his army of supervillains are thus forced into an alliance with the Justice League in order to stop Darkseid and his army from destroying the earth completely.

The final episode of Justice League Unlimited Destroyer sees Lex fight side by side with his two greatest enemies, Superman and Batman against Darkseid. Having become obsessed with bringing Brainiac back Lex is now equally consumed with getting revenge on Darkseid who he believes ruined his chance at becoming a god. Lex even tells Superman that he is not here to save the world but simply to help him get revenge on Darkseid.

This of course makes it all the more hilarious when right in the middle of the fight after Batman and Superman have taken quite a beating Lex literally chickens out. I loved the way this scene cut Luthor down to size. After how powerful he has become Darkseid can still reduce him to the small time crook he once was.

Ultimately however in a wonderful irony it is Lex who finally defeats Darkseid not the Justice League. I love the way Lex performs the most heroic act in arguably the whole series for the wrong reasons. Darkseid is the most evil and twisted and certainly the most powerful and dangerous villain in the entire series. Before Lex vanquishes him (at seemingly the cost of his own life) he has most certainly won. The League all over the entire world are struggling to hold off his Parademons and he has beaten Superman. He has Superman on the floor at the mercy of his agony matrix, a torture device which stimulates every pain receptor in a persons body to the maximum amount of pain they can feel all at once, and he is ready to cut out his heart to keep it as a trophy with a knife made of Kryptonite.

Thus Lex actually saves Superman and the entire world and indeed the universe, but he only does it because he wants to make Darkseid pay for stopping him from killing the Justice League and taking over the universe!

In a way its fitting however as all the DCAU Lex has ever cared about is his legacy. In Superman the animated series he actually did many great things. He donated massive amounts to charities, built hospitals and shelters all over Metropilis. None of it was motivated by generosity or altruism, but purely by his own ego. Thus in one final attempt to be remembered and prove his superiority Lex once again does some great and ironically ensures that he despite his villainous nature, he will always be remembered for being the one to vanquish the greatest evil the universe has ever known.

The ending does hint that both Darkseid and Lex who are last shown to vanish in a flash may have survived. Ultimately as this was the last episode of Justice League and there is no mention of Lex and Darkseid having survived or resurfaced in the DCAU series set in the future it seems most likely that Superman’s archenemies both perished and really this is the best ending for both of those characters.

Brown has continued to play Lex Luthor in numerous other animated movies and video games too since the end of the DCAU in 2006. These projects are of course not related to the DCAU continuity, despite reuniting Brown with many of his DCAU co-stars such as Kevin Conroy.

Brown has played Lex over a longer period of time than any other actor, though he has not played the character more times than anybody else. That honour belongs to Michael Rosenbaum who played him in Smallville. Rosenbaum also played Lex in one episode of Justice League Unlimited, The Great Brain Robbery where Lex and the Flash (voiced by Rosenbaum) switch bodies. Apparently the producers had hoped to use this episode to show off Rosenbaum’s talents for playing the villain, but ultimately they felt that Brown stole the show with his comedic performance as the Flash in Luthors body.

Brown is definitely my favourite Luthor and I hope he continues to play the role for many more years to come.

Kelvin Joe Inman/ Lost

Brown played this supporting character in a few episodes of Lost. Though not Brown’s most interesting role this character had his moments. My favourite was when he not only teaches the character of Sayid how to torture but forces him to torture his former boss. We don’t know what Sayid did to him but he simply says that what he did, no one should have ever have to do to another human being. Inman then coldly states to him that now no one will be able to keep secrets from him after what he has taught Sayid.

Zorbal/Star Trek Enterprise

A rare heroic role, Zorbran attempts to recruit the Enterprise to help him free his people. Though they obviously refuse stating that getting involved in the affairs of other life forms is not why they began exploring the universe, they nevertheless do still say that his cause is worth fighting for.

Whilst it isn’t the best episode of Enterprise, Brown certainly makes the most of the character. You can tell he enjoys a rare opportunity not to play an out and out monster and brings a lot of personality to the character.

Byron Hadley/ The Shawshank Redemption

Browns most famous on screen role after the Kurgan. This character is not so far removed from the Kurgan in that like him he is more of a brutish, thuggish character, though Hadley is arguably a much darker as there is no black comedy with Hadley unlike the Kurgan.

In the novel Hadley is a more minor character but his role was greatly expanded for the films. He is a vicious, prison warden who regularly beats and even tortures his inmates for his own sadistic amusement. Arguably his worst crime however is when he tortures an inmate he nick names “Fat Ass” to death.

Whilst not as interesting a character as the Kurgen this is still nevertheless without a doubt one of Brown’s most accomplished roles. As Hadley he is evil personified.

Mr Krabs/ Spongebob Squarepants

A lighter role. Krabs though technically a villain is obviously more of a comical character. I must confess I am not the biggest Sponge Bob fan. I watched a few episodes in preperation for this article, but there is’t much I can comment on with this character. I will say that it was good that Brown got a chance to showcase his more comedic side as sadly his roles don’t tend to allow him to do that as often, the Kurgan being an obvious rare example.

Sergeant Zim/ Starship Troopers/ Roughneck: Starship Troopers Chronicles

Another good guy role. Zim aids humanity in their war against the bugs. I have noticed that Brown whenever he plays good guys still tends to play authoritative, angry, even somewhat violent characters.

Brown played this character in both the original film and the subsequent animated series. There were plans for him to reprise his role in the sequel, but sadly he was unavailable. Michael Ironside appears in this film too. He and Brown would later reunite as the characters of Lex Luthor and Darkseid in the DC Animated universe.

General Wade Eiling/ The Flash

Brown recently began playing this villainous character in the latest tv adaptation of the Flash. Its the type of role Brown by this point could play in his sleep, the big growly, ruthless amoral villain. At one point he even mistreats Gorilla Grodd something that he has had plenty of experience in.

Brother Justin Crowe/ Carnivale

The main villain from Carnivale this could very well be Brown’s best performance. Crowe was unlike a lot of Brown’s usual villains. A demonic Preacher, Brown is able to bring so many different dimensions to this character, though perhaps most disturbing of all is the perverted incestuous relationship he has with his sister Iris.

Crowe was arguably somewhat more nuanced than many of Brown’s other thuggish characters. He is someone who genuinely believes he is doing gods work yet is possessed by the most unearthly, unnatural evil. At times Brown makes it appear that Justin is aware of how twisted he truly is underneath it all yet can’t help being what he is, which almost makes the character seem tragic.

Meacham/ Cowboys and Aliens

Another preacher, but this time much more sympathetic. Though Meacham is only really a minor character this is still quite an unusual part for Brown to play as a totally sympathetic character who ends up getting a heroes death when he sacrifices himself to save the character of Emmett from a savage alien monster.

Doctor Neo Cortex/ Crash Bandicoot Series

Another more comical villain, Doctor Cortex is the main antagonist in the Crash Bandicoot series and probably one of the most iconic video game characters of all time.

Brown voiced this character in a number of entries in the series beginning with Crash Bandicoot 2 Cortex Strikes Back.

Whilst obviously not Brown’s most nuanced performance Brown nevertheless gives the character a lot of personality. Radiating between being quite menacing at times and ridiculously camp and over the top at others, Brown’s performance as the character was lots of fun, and I think probably matched the character the best out of all the voice artists who have played him.

Other Roles

Among Brown’s other roles include the voice of both the villain Rhino and Captain George Stacey in the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, the Frankenstein’s Monster in The Bride at the start of his career in 1985, the X-Men villain Mr Sinister in Wolverine and The X-Men animated series, Agent Silas in Transformers Prime, Destro in Gi Joe Renegades and he can currently be heard as the voice of Red Hulk on Hulk and the Agents of Smash. Apparently during the making of this series he and Eliza Dushku became close friends.

As I said before it would take too long trying to run through cult role of Brown’s. He has had a truly exceptional career on film, television and animation and its likely he will continue to for decades to come.

Thanks for reading.