#a movie for the utterly deranged

[nozomimi01]

"sanji is so babygirl, what the fuck" - @damedanedameyodamenanoyo

[storybookprincess]

the fact that this website hasn’t yet gotten ahold of “the talented mr ripley” & gone literally insane with it is incomprehensible to me. i’m convinced it’s only a matter of time

i’m about a third of the way through reading it & i keep going “why is no one talking about this book on the obsessive toxic violent intimate deranged gay yearning website????????”

[gaykamenriderdreams]

Shin Kamen Rider inflicted psychic damage to my psyche so I'm going to make that everyone else's problem as well.

Woe, playlist be upon ye

This Is in chronological order so expect spoilers (even if you uh. Don't really have any context for them.)

Anyway I hope yinz enjoy it

[tamaharu]

i know singing in the rain facts and i get SO annoying about it

[charmcoindied]

i should watch tron again

[sassy-cass-16]

ripped trash bags on the front stoop of the scary Beholding-aligned movie theatre in MAGP 5

when MAG 5 was about the trash collectors finding stuff related to a bunch of different fears

this sounds utterly deranged but considering TMAGP is marked as "Season 7" of TMA on the rusty quill website i feel like it has to be somewhat intentional

[partywithponies]

I hate when a piece of media means so much to you that you can't even communicate it properly.

You'll be like "that movie/show/book is so important to me" and they'll be like "yeah lol I thought it was really good too!" and you'll be like "no you don’t understand"

But there's no real way to say to someone "that movie/show/book made me feel emotions I haven't felt before or since. I don’t think I'm quite the same person I was before I first watched it. That feels like a different person. It shifted me on a molecular level. Just thinking about it gives me a physical ache in my chest. Like a physical pain. Just at the thought. Everything makes me think of it. I sit awake at night just thinking about it. Everything about it is perfect and if you don't agree then you just Don't Get It. You could never get it. Not like I do. It's not just a show/movie/book. Not to me." without sounding utterly deranged.

So instead you just say "it's my favourite and I like it a lot :)"

[zannolin]

one utterly deranged choice they made that i FULLY support in the votdt movie is caspian going to the edge of the world with them. in the books he got left on the ship while everyone else went on and that was that but in the movie, he didn't. and my god. my god, i can't stop thinking about that. he went on, but not all the way. he went to the very edge of the world and he came back alone. reepicheep went on. the pevensies went home. caspian watched the closest he had left to family leave FOREVER and then he rowed back to the ship. alone. what the FUCK.

[kaurwreck]

It is intensely relevant to this au that Verlaine hasn't had any closure or catharsis nor an ego death. He is just as fervently governed by his passions as in Stormbringer, without any outlet. But Rimbaud has experienced his own and is wiser and more aware of what Verlaine needs than before. More to the point, the person who taught Verlaine to care for humanity at all is still there and alive, and with the person Verlaine understands as his own salvation too, the same person Verlaine was willing to kill Rimbaud to save.

So, his passions are just as fierce but less desperate, not as grief stricken. He's hungry, not starving.

they don't know. they don't know about the elaborate rimbaud lives canon divergence au that lives rent-free in my head.

[bogleech]

I don’t count TV and movie stars as shitty spoiled rich people because their job isn’t actually cushy or easy, most of it consists of being treated like a prop by richer and actually spoiled assholes and even if an actor is a decent human being they get subjected to utterly deranged levels of criticism and stalker-obsession from the rest of the media world. This isn’t even getting into what they’re pressured into doing to themselves to stay attractive enough for Hollywood. If you offered me the same pay to be either a famous movie actor or a sewer worker I’d strongly prefer sewer worker, at least there’s rats

[sparklygraves]

fan fiction got me to finish watching The Talented Mr. Ripley.

I think I stopped around the second murder. I was just like ehhhh I can't handle this & also I miss Dickie.

I think I was also frustrated with Tom Ripley containing so much sweet gayness & also sociopathic violence. I think I just imagined my mom or someone who's still kind of homophobic seeing the movie & going "Yup. I knew it! Gayness corrupts! Poor straight Jude Law. Ugh Tom Ripley is such a deranged gay."

I think it was my fear of someone thinking that the gayness & the derangedness/wrongness of Ripley went together that upset me.

so anyway! I stopped watching the movie & didn't think I would finish.

but then I couldn't sleep so was like "Hey I'll see if there's any good Ripley fanfic."

I expected lots of Tom/Dickie, but there was practically none of that! instead it was Peter Peter Peter.... "Who the heck is Peter???" I thought.

so I went back to the movie for Peter. & shit. I love him so so so much. just like. look at him in that last scene when he still thinks he's safe.

he's in his pyjamas so sweet & cozy looking over his music scores or whatev. & he's like softly heartbroken because he just saw Tom kissing a girl. & he's calling him out on it but he's more sad than angry. he thought they had something. legit 5 min ago Tom was telling him this is the happiest he's ever been....

anyway! the ending. fuck. fuck. fuck.

Tom kills his chance at happiness. he's alone in the dark place he hides all his secrets in. that scene is the most horrible thing ever. the way Peter never even gets angry-- just confused. even as it's happening he cannot conceive that Tom is doing it on purpose.

& the way Tom is crying! oh my god.

so. what do I think of this movie?

I don't even know anymore.

part of me is like Ahh this is potentially harmful for how people see gay people.

& another part of me is like Holy shit this shows how hiding yourself/your queerness/trying not to take up space as your true self is actually slowly killing you/disappearing you/destroying your love & all that is good in you... the magic needs fresh air or it curdles...

& also this story is so weird!! queer stories shouldn't have to be all happy & shiny & good....

so. ambivalent?

& for some reason-- utterly obsessed.

[my-shoes-too-big-ugh]

If you weren’t aware of Paint Your Wagon the movie, you should know it is certifiably insane — a nearly three-hour musical exclusively about polyamory in the Old West, where they drove themselves into bankruptcy and the director into alcoholism building a full scale Western town only to blow it all up in camera at the end.

It ballooned to a budget equivalent today to $167 million dollars.

It stars three people who cannot sing — Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin, and Jean Seberg.

It’s only good song is racist.

Its biggest musical number is The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band singing "Hand Me Down That Can O'Beans," as several hundred filthy old men hop around in the mud.

Alan Jay Lerner's behavior on this movie, as producer, is one of the primary inspirations for the soulless dirtbag composer-turned-movie-producer hero of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.

It is inexplicably written by Paddy Chayefsky, who threw out the stage show to make a new plot that is, again, almost exclusively about Marvin, Eastwood, and Seberg being a throuple.

All in all, the most cocaine energy.

Clint Eastwood? That guy from Paint Your Wagon?

[saintsenara]

So I found your blog a while back and I last night I finally found the time to browse through pretty much all your HP meta and ship takes (i slept way later than I should've yesterday, thanks to you ^^) and I'm astonished at how you manage to weave in well founded analysis even into your answers to even the most deranged ship-asks

That being said, I scrolled through a lot of your blog and I couldn't find your opinion on grindeldore as a ship. Since i really like your takes on ol dumbles (even though I don't agree with all of them. For example I don't think his whimsical traits are entirely a lie. I think they are a part of him he over-exaggerates as a coping mechanism and a comfort to himself and others) I was wondering how you think this relationship-dynamic worked, how it shaped him and how large a role it played in his later life

(This is not a reaction to the ask game obviously, since the ship has no gone rather mainstream. I sometimes miss its days of obscurity before the fb movies but that's another ask)

thank you very much for the ask, anon - and especially for the very kind message at the start.

my opinion on grindeldore is coloured by the fact that i've never seen any of the fantastic beasts films - and that i've also gone out of my way to forget anything i've ever accidentally learned about any of them. i just don't find the idea of them interesting in the slightest.

but i love the little flashes of grindeldore we get in the seven-book canon - the image of the owls flying back and forth at all hours of the night because they can’t bear not to be talking to each other has a good claim to be the most romantic thing which happens in the series - and i also love the way that grindelwald becomes another example of a narrative tool the series uses to great effect with many other main characters besides dumbledore: the figure, only ever fragmentarily known [both by the reader and by the character who loved them], who causes such immense grief that it dictates the entire course of that character's life.

grindelwald plays the role in dumbledore's narrative arc that james plays in harry's - he considers grindelwald perfect, wonderful, brilliant... until he can't pretend this is the case anymore, just as harry hero-worships his father until he is confronted by the proof that he was a bully. but while harry then begins to understand james with more nuance, dumbledore retreats - hides himself from grindelwald until he's literally forced to duel him, and then hides grindelwald away and never sees him again.

grindelwald is dumbledore's lily - his grief over losing him [and, specifically, his grief over losing the imagined version of him, when who he really was could no longer be ignored - which is exactly how snape thinks of lily] drives him towards a life which encapsulates what the series understands as "love": the willingness to steadfastly endure and suffer and sacrifice in silence.

and he's also dumbledore's merope - the person who didn't even try to stay alive be better for him, who irreparably ripped his chance at a happy family apart, and who abandoned him when things got hard - and, just as voldemort's entire life becomes about creating a place for himself in the world which soothes that grief, so too does dumbledore's. his public persona becomes unwaveringly noble for exactly the same reason that voldemort's becomes unassailably villainous - so that the fragility of the grieving man beneath the mask is never known.

these parallels are why i back the concepts of snumbledore and riddledore [and the triad - snumblemort] so utterly [i am not quite brave enough for harrydore, i fear], and so they certainly mean that i should find grindeldore compelling...

but i find - i think - that i like grindelwald better as a background character whose ghost haunts dumbledore's later relationships - romantic or otherwise. his shadow looming over the two dumbledore brothers, and the way that the memory of him rears up when the eleven-year-old tom riddle calls himself "special", and the way that dumbledore still loathes himself so strongly - a century later - for being taken in by his smile that he spits "you disgust me" at snape are canon moments which always stand out for me, and i love how these can be expanded in fanfiction - what happens when voldemort and/or snape find out about grindeldore obsesses me, for example.

and i am similarly interested in how dumbledore can't be written as a fully-rounded character unless the impact of his relationship with grindelwald [and how this drives his public performance of careful eccentricity, causes his obvious ivory-tower-ishness, and informs his thinking on love and desire and so on] is taken into account.

but i just am less interested in grindeldore as the central relationship in a piece [although there are definitely exceptions to this rule] - and i think being so stubborn about fantastic beasts is probably why. grindelwald works so well in the books as a shadow that i end up finding that more compelling than seeing him as a main character [which i also feel about james - i really like the ghost of unrequited prongsfoot, which is canon, haunting sirius in his adult life, but i care about it less as the main ship of a fic], but i'm sure that i would feel otherwise if i ever bothered to get into how he's written for the films, where he serves such a different narrative purpose that he gets more substance.

and i should also say that i don't find that grindeldore interests me to write myself because i think that filling grindelwald out into a main character on the basis of book-canon detail alone would mean confronting just how explicit an analogy for hitler he is in the text [my impression is that fantastic beasts changes this a lot], which is something i don't really have the energy for.

[although - since it's always worth reiterating this - the grindeldore girlies are perfectly entitled to ship the pairing in any way they like, and to write the characters and their motivations in any way they choose, without getting any grief about it. this is fiction.]

but who knows - maybe i'll change my mind the more grindeldore crosses my path. stranger things have happened.

because there is a little idea which continues to needle at me... that dumbledore's loathing of horcruxes, even in the 1940s, is because grindelwald had made one. and that this is why, when he meets harry at king's cross, he is so determined to believe that the rumours of his repentance were true...

[anxiousnerdwritings]

Sooo, kind of like in the Lego Batman movie with Joker insisting him and Bats are each other's number 1? It would be funny if the reader also denied it like Batman saying their like every other villain to them and the yandere villain taking or so personally they're determined to become their number 1 threat even if it means destroying the hero and everything they love for it to happen

I just love the idea of a yandere!villain doing everything in their power to take everything their hero has ever loved for cared for, just overall stripping everything away from them so that the villain is all they have left to put any attention into. Even if said attention is completely and utterly rage fueled.

Like, I just imagine hero!darling and yandere!villain finally going head to head after everything, neither one is holding back anymore and it’s pretty obvious neither of them are going to make it out of this alive but at least in yandere!villain’s deranged mind this is the most beautiful moment in their entire life. This is how it was always meant to be, just them and their hero fighting to the death, inevitably dying together. All it took was taking away every shred of happiness and normalcy that the hero ever had or built for themself to get the villain what they wanted but in the end it was all worth it.

[pantalaiimon]

I've seen dune part 2 twice now (both within a 24 hours interval lol)

the expectations were humongous, the hype was real

and at first, I was a bit thrown off by how much it veered away from the book compared to part 1 - so much so that I was thrown off the pacing of the movie and had trouble getting into its rhythm (because i kept thinking back to changes from 5 minutes before), anyway that first viewing experience was a mess for me

now that I've had more time with it, I can safely say I love the movie. I think I prefer part 1 in some ways (I prefer contemplative & moody to action-packed & drama), but I also love how part 2 leans even more unapologetically into the utter weirdness of the source material, and how cinematic it is

it looks gorgeous (even moreso than part 1), the acting is good to superb, but the dialogue could be better (compared to the books and to part 1), and hans zimmer recycled the first score which I found to be a real disappointment: even though it's still good, it's too repetitive

now unto specifics (incl. potential spoilers):

I am 100% harkonnen trash (which could mean anything, as paul states quite clearly he's harkonnen too, so...) (but yeah i'm harkonnen trash as in I absolutely loved the whole giedi prime sequence, and have soul-binding devotion to & utterly unhinged sexual desire for Feyd-Rautha (yes, even bald and less scheming than in the book), because boy is he twisted in interesting ways

Alia was robbed of a lot, BUT I love the fucked up deranged codependant mother-daughter relationship she and Jessica have got going. actually i live for it, for the abomination. bring it on. Also Jessica, who was the most OOC character to me in part 1, switched to being the most IC in part 2 and i couldn't be happier?

more desert lore, from details like wind traps, to weather & travel conditions, to hints of the sandtrouts, and the whole ecological system linking spice, worms, desert & water. yay for fascinating and immersive worldbuilding (that movie makes you feel the desert, unlike the first one)

more charlotte rampling is always a good move. also sets up dune messiah beautifully. on that note, irulan was well paced, that is, she's allowed to stay muted and observant rather than front and center, again, setting her up nicely for dune messiah. however, stilgar's arc was pushed way ahead and it displeased me, because I feel it lessens the mourning and regret I remember feeling reading the books as he evolved, and how tragic his changing was (highlighting through him, that of his whole people, and their downfall into fanaticism). if the movie rushes to the end result, I care less about that change, for i can't realise and mourn for what was lost along the way. on a similar note, as they played paul as more moral at the beginning of his journey (to make him more likeable), the switch to his mahdi era was a bit jarring. so yay to mohiam & irulan character arc pacing, nay to stilgar & paul.

chani was also allowed more breathing room and dimensions/depth/inner life than in the books, and as I remember finding the book lacking in that respect, can't fault the movie for fixing this.

the ruthlessness of the politics of the landsraad and the intricacies of the manipulations by the bene gesserit were perfectly show-cased. The commentary on the dangers of messianic religions and its melding to politics was too overt for my liking. especially at this stage of the story, it's less of a warning to the insidiousness of fundamentalism if there are glaring neon signs at the onset of that path telling you "do not go, there be dragons"... I know villeneuve wanted to set up herbert's course-correction from dune messiah earlier, but it's too much too early imo

anyway, to conclude, i'd like to lick feyd-rautha's abs

[twistedtummies2]

Top 10 Appearances of Cruella De Vil

Last year, to the date, was the 100th Anniversary of the Walt Disney Company. That makes today their 101st Anniversary. I’d say that means there’s no better time - given this is also the spooky season - to talk about one of their greatest villains: Cruella De Vil, the nasty “devil woman” from “101 Dalmatians.” Cruella is one of the most interesting villains in the Disney canon, because of how…well…ordinary she is. In the original film, at least, she’s not someone who has massive amounts of magical, political, or warrior-savvy power; she’s a very normal, mortal woman. What makes Cruella such a great villain is her wild personality: she is utterly despicable, downright repulsive, in her goals and desires, but she’s so entertainingly bizarre in her mannerisms and appearance, it’s hard not to be entertained by her. She’s both glamorous and wretched at the same time, and you find yourself laughing both with her AND at her throughout her time onscreen; she’s thoroughly insane, thoroughly over-the-top, and it’s hard not to say she’s memorable. Top it off with a catchy song all about her vile ways, and it’s not surprising she’s stuck in the popular consciousness as long as she has. Over time, Cruella’s star has only grown, for a lot of reasons. She’s widely regarded as one of Disney’s finest baddies, and hardly any gathering of Disney Villains feels complete without at least REFERENCING Cruella in some way. So - much as I’ve done in the past with three other great Disney Villains (the Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Scar) - I felt today we should pay homage to everyone’s (least) favorite fur fanatic, and talk about some of her greatest appearances BEYOND her initial movie. Park attractions, spin-off films and TV appearances, books, video games…if Cruella has appeared, it can count. So, let’s not waste anytime, daaahlings! Here are My Top 10 Favorite Cruella De Vil Appearances!

10. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

You’ll be seeing this entry pop up a lot of times, whenever I talk about the appearances of great Disney Villains. (Not always, but a lot.) I mentioned it before on my list for Maleficent, but for those who don’t remember or just haven’t heard of it: “Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom” is an interactive attraction at Walt Disney World, wherein guests are sent on missions by Merlin around the Magic Kingdom. Hades, it seems, has come up with a new scheme to try and - of course - take over the world, and he’s summoning various other great villains to help him with his scheme. The players must battle these villains and retrieve pieces of a magic crystal to stop Hades and his evil allies. Among the villains featured in the experience is Cruella, who makes a deal with Hades to help him find part of the crystal; in return, he will make sure she gets all of the dalmatians. The pair arrange to work under cover of the fireworks spectacular that evening, so must race against time to help the Dalmatians and Merlin before Cruella and Hades can enact their devilish plot. This results in a boss battle against Cruella, where she uses the most logical method of defense against the players: GIANT FREAKING CARTOON BOMBS. Yeesh, I know Cruella can have an explosive temper, but this is ridiculous!

9. April Winchell, from 101 Dalmatians: The Animated Series.

Also kudos to Tress MacNeille, who took the reins for Cruella in two episodes when Winchell was presumably unavailable. Influenced by the success of the live-action films with Glenn Close, but set in their own universe unique from both the animated feature and the aforementioned live-action ones, this cartoon show softened up Cruella in a lot of ways. While her personality remained as flamboyant and deranged as ever, her obsession with furs and desire to kill the titular dalmatians was removed. Presumably, this was because it was considered too “politically incorrect” for a children’s show, aired in the mornings, on the Disney Channel, at the time. The series also changed the location from England to America. In the series, Cruella - much like in the Glenn Close movies - is depicted as the head of a fashion design company, “House of DeVil,” and her goal was to try and find a way to get the land where the Dearly family now live with their one-hundred-plus dogs, presumably for business purposes. This Cruella was a more comical villainess than ever before; a sort of female Dick Dastardly whose schemes were constantly loused up by a combo of her minions’ bungling, and various slapstick shenanigans. She was also given a somewhat sympathetic side, the first time I think anyone attempted this with Cruella; there’s even an episode that parodies “A Christmas Carol,” revealing a tragic past behind Miss DeVil’s diabolical nature. While this version of Cruella was and is a lot of fun, I personally prefer other versions - both from before and after it - a bit more, so it gets a lower ranking.

8. House of Mouse.

For those who don’t already know, “House of Mouse” was a series that Disney used as a vehicle for various short cartoons, most notably the Mickey Mouse Works series it had going on at at the time. It was a bit like Disney’s version of “Shining Time Station,” with the actual story of each episode, and the premise of the show itself, acting as a framing device to allow the cartoons to be shown. The series took place in a Toontown nightclub, the titular House of Mouse, run by Mickey and the gang. Here, every night, various animated characters from all across the Disney pantheon would come to hang out, have dinner, and watch some shorts. Cruella was one of the most frequent guest villains to pop up in the show. Her appearances were usually accompanied by humorous gags about her obsession with furs, such as her considering turning the Beast into a coat, or jokingly threatening Pluto. One of my favorite jokes was in the episode “House of Crime,” where a mysterious villain (later revealed to be the Phantom Blot) is stealing and kidnapping anyone and anything they could get their gloves on. At one point, Pongo and Perdita accuse Cruella of stealing their puppies (again), to which Cruella huffs: “One movie, and you’re labeled for life!” Probably her most noteworthy appearance was in the Halloween special, “Mickey’s House of Villains,” where Cruella was featured as one of the leading antagonists, helping Jafar and some of the other villains take over the House of Mouse. Overall, while Cruella rarely had a ton to do, her moments were always highlights for me, and while she may not have had as big a role in this show as she did in our previous entry, it’s more than earned strong points here in my book.

7. Divus Crewel, from Twisted Wonderland.

Well, I can’t make a list related to Disney Villains without bringing up this game, can I? In fact, I bet a lot of you who know about this little number probably expected Divus Crewel to rank higher. For those who came in late, “Twisted Wonderland” is a mobile game, originally made in Japan, wherein the main POV character gets “zapped” into an alternate universe. They find themselves at Night Raven College: a School of Dark Magic, inspired by seven of Disney’s greatest villains. The place is populated by characters all inspired by (and sometimes descended from) these villains, and even other antagonists. Cruella is NOT one of the Great Seven in the game, but nevertheless, a Cruella-inspired character does appear in the form of this rather handsome fellow. Divus Crewel is the resident science expert at Night Raven College, and is the youngest and newest professor on the campus, in charge of teaching potions class. The best way to describe Crewel is a combination of a military drill sergeant and…well…Cruella DeVil! He is a strict, commanding, almost soldier-like character, but he also has a passion for fashion, loves to drive fast sports cars, and has a flair for the theatrical. A scientist with the soul of a supermodel, and the bearing of R. Lee Ermey…I don’t know HOW they got this combination out of Cruella DeVil, but the end result is probably my favorite member of the NRC staff in the game. The main reason (though not the only reason) why “daaahling” Divus doesn’t rank higher is because, like most of the staff members, he’s not really THAT major a character. Professor Crewel has very little influence on the Main Story of the game. He has, however, appeared more prominently in Events (in fact, he’s even got a boss fight in one of them), and also has a couple of noteworthy moments in Vignettes for the other characters. I would argue he’s probably the most focused-on teacher at the school…and considering how popular his inspiration is, I guess that’s not a big surprise.

6. Michelle Gomez, from 101 Dalmatian Street.

Unlike the much earlier 1990s Animated Series, this show didn’t hold back with the darker elements of Cruella’s character. In fact, if anything, this series REALLY pushed making Cruella as unsettling and scary as possible. The series takes place in the same continuity as the original animated film, but much later down the line. Cruella is a latecomer into the show: for much of it, the main antagonist was actually her nephew, Hunter, who is working for evil aunt. However, Cruella eventually enters the plot properly, deciding to take the matter of revenge against the dalmatians and their owners into her own hands. Miss DeVil is much older now - even more skeletal and emaciated than ever - but she’s just as deranged and, generally speaking, just as spry as she ever was. She’s also just as determined to get those darn dogs! Her cruel and twisted nature makes for an interesting parallel to Hunter, who eventually redeems himself and becomes a friend to the Dalmatians. While she’s framed and depicted as particularly horrifying in this show, Cruella still has a lot of humor to her, as you would expect. Top it off with the voice of Missy from Doctor Who herself, Michelle Gomez, and it’s pretty clear why this is a triumph among Cruella’s post-1961 pop-ups.

5. Emma Stone, from Cruella.

When this movie was released, it was advertised as basically being “Disney’s Joker.” This is a lie: if anything, I would argue this is “Disney’s Moriarty the Patriot.” (And if you don’t know what THAT is, look it up; I don’t have time to be your SparkNotes here.) Many have compared this to the earlier “Maleficent” movies, starring Angelina Jolie, both of which took classic Disney Villainesses and reimagined them as more sympathetic and protagonistic figures. Between the two, I would say “Cruella” is more successful in that regard. It’s clearly not setting itself as a “true story” in the way it presents things, instead becoming its own unique thing, and therefore it’s a bit easier for me to swallow the less villainous take on the character here, in terms of story. It’s also just a very stylish sort of film (fitting for the character), and I think stands on its own two feet much better than the Maleficent movies do. In this universe, Cruella is reinvented as an anti-hero; an aspiring fashion designer who seeks vengeance against an evil Baroness, who becomes a rival of hers in the fashion world. The Baroness, Cruella believes, murdered her mother. Through various means, the black-and-white-haired mad genius tries to undermine and ruin her enemy, riding a fine line between a criminal mastermind and a heroine. Emma Stone plays the character brilliantly, and there’s a lot of good stuff in this reinterpretation. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s not a bad one, either. However, I think I prefer Cruella when she’s…well…Cruella, for lack of a better way of putting it. Still, I’d say the film is worthy of a space in Top 5, after some consideration.

4. 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure.

In my opinion, “Patch’s London Adventure” is one of the few really good Disney animated sequels. While I still prefer the first film more, I’d say this a decent follow-up: it updates the humor in some fun ways, has great voice acting, captures the artistic style of the original film in an interesting way, and takes a fresh look at things while sticking true to the continuity of the original picture. One of the most fun parts of the story, of course, is Cruella’s role. In here, Cruella is the main villain, but actually only the secondary antagonist: for much of the movie, her role in things is peripheral, but after a certain point, she re-enters the main plot, and does so with a vengeance. It’s revealed that Cruella has gotten out on parole, but for various reasons, her already unstable sanity has begun to slip further than ever. She’s denied buying new furs, her car is completely totaled, her henchmen are imprisoned, and it’s hard to tell how much of her fortune she even still has access to. In short, she’s at the lowest point of her entire life. Things change, however, when an artist named Lars (played by Martin Short) falls in love with her. This is a result of Cruella taking interest in Lars’ work, which involves - what else? - black and white spots. However, their relationship begins to tank when Cruella starts to lose interest, and to try and rekindle things - and find what it is that’s missing - Cruella once again decides to kidnap the Dalmatians, with Jasper and Horace’s help. The reveal of her evil scheme in this film is arguably even more insane and horrifyingly twisted than her plan in the first film (I won’t say what it is here), and it’s clear by the end of the picture that Cruella has completely gone off the deep end. Thankfully, I think that’s where all of us like her to be.

3. Glenn Close, from the Live-Action Dalmatians Films.

Well, I can’t do a list about Cruella DeVil and NOT rank this one highly, can I? While Cruella was always a popular rogue in the Disney canon, I think most people would agree her popularity SKYROCKETED after Glenn Close took the reins in the live-action remake of “101 Dalmatians.” This was the movie that first reimagined Cruella as the head of a fashion design firm, with Anita as her ex-employee rather than an old school chum, and it really amped the lunacy of the character. Close doesn’t just chew the scenery in the first movie, she gorges on it in huge chunks, hamming up Cruella to an utterly ludicrous degree, but also still giving her the necessary menace required. Some have argued she’s a bit TOO over-the-top, but I kind of love how far they pushed Cruella’s melodrama here, as well as her madness. The second film goes even further: in “102 Dalmatians,” Cruella is sent to an insane asylum, where experimental procedures seem to cure her, transforming her from a psychotic animal killer to a kind and charitable soul. However, a freak incident reverses the process, and Cruella returns to her old ways, plotting revenge against those she deems responsible for her earlier incarceration, as well as seeking to recreate her plans for a Dalmatian fur coat. While the second film is not very good, overall, I felt that Cruella was just as much fun there as she was in the first movie, and Close is still highly lauded and recognized for the role to this day. It’s honestly hard to tell how many people like her more or less compared to the original animated version, at this point, which is high praise when it comes to Disney’s live-action remake output. Close has always spoken highly of the part, and so respected the character that she actually helped to produce Stone’s “Cruella” movie years later. That shows you, doesn’t it?

2. Evil Thing.

“Evil Thing” is part of a series of books, written by Serena Valentino, which go into the origins of many famous Disney characters (most of them villains), and show their sides of the stories they were in. Out of all of them, I think “Evil Thing” might be my favorite so far. It seems to be one of the most praised and popular, even receiving a graphic novel adaptation! The book tells us the story of how Cruella came to be the villainess we see in the original animated movie, and her story is…interesting. While Cruella is not depicted as a “bad seed” who seemed to just be evil from the start, she’s certainly not an angel; even from the very beginning of her life, Cruella is depicted as having a dark side, mostly due to her aristocratic upbringing. She seems to see other people as not only less than human, but less than REAL; she’s brought up to believe that her wealth and her status make her more valuable than any other human being without those things, and animals? Pffft. Forget it. They exist only to be food, furs, and so on. However, despite these darker aspects, Cruella doesn’t just start off as a wicked person; it’s a descent into madness and darkness that takes a while to fully germinate. The book is also told from Cruella’s POV, unlike other novels in the series, which are written in third person, creating a particularly unique perspective. It’s not only a great take on Cruella, but a good book in general, bringing us into the mind of a madwoman in a way that is frightening, fascinating, and at times wickedly funny…just the way Cruella DeVil should always be.

1. Victoria Smurfit, from Once Upon a Time.

While others may first think of Glenn Close or Emma Stone, when I ponder live-action Cruellas, this is the one I imagine and love first and most of all. In my opinion, Cruella is one of the best villains to appear in “Once Upon a Time,” and this reimagining of the character honestly rivals the original animated film for my favorite interpretation. Played by Victoria Smurfit (who, beyond this, I mostly know for playing the main villain of NBC’s “Dracula” TV show, of all things), Cruella is here has the power to control animals, emitting a green smoke that puts them under her thrall, in reference to her bad habits from the original. This power was given to her by The Author - a man with the power to control and change people’s stories - who fell in love with Cruella while traveling through the universe. In her origin story episode, we’re actually led to believe that Cruella was once a good person who somehow went bad; a sort of contemporary Cinderella or Rapunzel, kept under the firm heel of her domineering mother, who supposedly murdered her father. All of this, it turns out, is a sham: Cruella is depicted here as a truly rotten-to-the-core person. A psychopath from birth, who loves nothing more than killing. Her great goal in the series is to get back the thing she loves most, which is the ability TO kill people. That is so messed up, and I LOVE it: most of the other major antagonists in the series are depicted as sympathetic characters with tragic backstories. Several of them even eventually redeem themselves and reform. Cruella, however…she’s just bad news from day one, and LOVES her own wickedness. This version made Cruella equal parts scary and kind of hilarious, as she’s one of the most consistently funny characters in the show…yet the fact she is literally a blood-hungry psycho means there’s always a sense of danger when she’s around, and the moments where her inner steel shows can be quite startling. I don’t know how many other people would place this take on the character so high in the ranks, or what other people - fans and laypeople alike - think of this interpretation…but for me, there’s no doubt Victoria Smurfit in “Once Upon a Time” takes the cake as My Favorite Appearance of Cruella De Vil. “Cheerio, Daaahlings!”

Honorable Mentions Include…

Kingdom Keepers. (Cruella is one of the main villains in these books, first appearing in “Power Play.” She is the lieutenant of the Evil Queen, and - like in “Once Upon a Time” - has the power to control animals.)

Villains Tonight! (Cruella shows up to put on a fashion show during this now-defunct Disney Cruise Lines stage show.)

Escape from DeVil Manor. (A PC game based on the live-action films, but with the characters designed to resemble the original animated versions. I used to play this a lot as a kid. Cruella is mostly a peripheral figure in the story, but it makes the moments she shows up more special, and her specter - as it were - looms large throughout.)

“Disney Villains: Cruella De Vil” Comic Series. (One of the Dynamite/Disney crossover “Disney Villains” comics. Not as good as the others of these comics I’ve read, but still interesting.)