Insane asylums, or mental wards as they’re now known, are not nice places. They are essentially used for those whose mental gears have slipped a time or two and can’t fall back on the right track without medication or some form of intensive therapy. They’re not the kind of places you want to find yourself in most times, even if they are run by professionals and keep the residents happy for the most part. If you’re in a mental ward, the chances are good that life took a definite turn for the worst.
Here are a few inmates that weren’t altogether expected when their films came out.
5. Jeffrey Goines – 12 Monkeys
He’s about as delusional as a toon. Jeffrey is manic, he’s on point when it comes to crazy, and in all likelihood he’d be more likely to make a person worse just by talking to them. If you hadn’t seen Brad Pitt in any other roles before watching this you might have thought he acted like a tweaker more often than not. The crazy eyes, the strange mannerisms and the level of nutso that he promotes is almost infectious if you listen to it long enough.
4. Lisa Rowe – Girl, Interrupted
Lisa is, for lack of a better word, troubled. A young Angelina Jolie seemed to be a lot more accustomed to roles in which outbursts and crazed behavior was easier to believe. As she’s grown older these kind of behaviors might still be believable but wouldn’t be as endearing to an audience. Plus, she’s definitely grown more refined as she’s aged and taken on a lot more adult roles as she’s shown that she has a great deal of potential for several different genres.
3. Renfield – Dracula
The man eats bugs and calls it nutritious. With many species he wouldn’t be too off the mark, but it wouldn’t make him a sane man in England during the time period. After all bugs were thought of as pestilent and something to be avoided at all costs. But when one lives in an insane asylum such as Renfield does then they tend to get very creative in their methods of dining it would seem.
2. Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow – Batman Begins
Crane is a very interesting character. He is a legitimate doctor and yet he’s a villain as well. That definitely makes him a dual threat as he has found a way to weaponize a drug that can create the hallucinogenic effect of bringing an individual’s worst fears to life. Imagine that type of chemical warfare on an enemy in the field. Unless you’re up against an enemy that has supreme mental discipline you could win a battle fairly easily.
1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter – The Silence of The Lambs
This is the granddaddy of all psycho’s, but he is so refined, so controlled, that he puts the others to shame without even trying. Dr. Lecter cannot stand rude people, he enjoys conversing with those that he finds interesting, and is always up for a good, sincere chat. But he is so, inherently, creepy. His voice is mastered to the point of being cultured by also being cold as a glacier. His eyes can penetrate a person to the very core, and before you know it, he will have mapped out your life from just a few sentences. More surprising than anything is that in this movie, he only shows up for a brief period of time overall.
An insane asylum is the last place you want to be, especially if people such as these really exist.
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