Is there anything more compelling than a sexy villain? Doubtful. I recently saw "Batman Begins” and determined immediately that Cillian Murphy’s performance as Scarecrow was a sexy villain for the ages. Thus inspired, I contrived to determine my top 30 hot movie villains. Mad props to the four gentlemen who made the list more than once. Some guys just have a knack for being bad (Messrs. Rickman and Isaacs, this means you!)

Yul Brynner as Ramses, "The Ten Commandments” (1956)
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, "Psycho” (1960)
Malcolm McDowell as Alex, "A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)
Malcolm McDowell as Caligula, "Caligula” (1979)
Frank Langella as Dracula, "Dracula” (1979)
Sam Neill as Damien Thorn, "Omen III: The Final Conflict” (1981)
Sting as Martin Taylor, "Brimstone and Treacle” (1982)
Sting as Feyd-Rautha, "Dune” (1984)
Davie Bowie as Jareth, "Labyrinth” (1986)
Kiefer Sutherland as David, "The Lost Boys” (1987)
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, "Die Hard” (1988)
John Malkovich as Valmont, "Dangerous Liaisons” (1988)
Colin Firth as Valmont, "Valmont” (1989)
Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham, "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves” (1991)
Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lechter, "Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
Tom Cruise as Lestat de Lioncourt, "Interview with the Vampire” (1994)
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, "The Matrix” (1999)
Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade, "Quills” (2000)
Jason Isaacs as Colonel Tavington, "The Patriot” (2000)
Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus, "Gladiator” (2000)
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, "American Psycho” (2000)
Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001)
Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002)
Guy Pearce as Fernand Mondego, "The Count of Monte Cristo” (2002)
Tom Hardy as Shinzon, "Star Trek Nemesis” (2002)
Ralph Fiennes as Francis Dolarhyde, "Red Dragon” (2002)
Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook, "Peter Pan” (2003)
Gerard Butler as the Phantom, "The Phantom of the Opera” (2004)
Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith” (2005)
Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow, "Batman Begins” (2005)

Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies published by Living Beyond Reality Press (www.livingbeyondreality.com). Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com, and read her blog at www.eroticawithsoul.blogspot.com. Download her free fiction from the LBR Press READ FREE Project at www.livingbeyondreality.com/readfree.html.