Dr. Christian Szell (Marathon Man)
For scientific agents of terror, one of the most popular figures is the Nazi scientist, for admittedly obvious reasons. While some films have featured historical individuals—most frequently Josef Mengele—many more have invented their own, though often modeled after particular real-world individuals (again, usually Mengele). Interestingly, more often than not, Nazi mad scientists show up in films set after the end of World War II, depicting Nazi science as an extant underground threat ready to strike at any moment.
A rare example of an Oscar-nominated mad scientist performance, Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) uses his training as a dentist to torture Auschwitz prisoners, amassing a fortune in gold through collecting dental fillings from his victims. After the war, Szell evades capture and becomes an international terrorist and major player in illegal diamond trading. The film, as one would imagine, features the (ultimately successful) quest to stop him. How he is stopped is of special note, as Szell meets an amazingly pathetic end, accidentally impaling himself on his own knife diving after diamonds.
R. E. Walgate (Fiend Without a Face)
Professor R. E. Walgate (Kynaston Reeves) may be retired, but that doesn’t mean he’s spending any less time working on science. He’s using this free time to pursue his passion project: a book on telekinesis. Because this is a film from 1958, Walgate lives near an atomic-powered radar base, which combines with his research into thought projection towards horrific ends: “fiends”—creatures that appear to be human brains and spinal cords that inch across the ground like caterpillars. The combination is no accident; Walgate intentionally taps into the base’s atomic energy to “devise a being into which [a] thought, once released, could enter and preserve itself for all humanity.” He envisions “something akin to the human brain, with life and mobility, but without the limitations of man’s body.” How disembodied brains are supposed to have fewer limitations than an entire human body is unclear. Regardless, turns out these fiends don’t just look like human brains, but feast on them, which of course is a major problem. Walgate ends up sacrificing himself as a diversion, murdered by his own creations because as you have probably realized by now, that’s how this whole mad scientist story usually goes.
André Delambre/Seth Brundle (The Fly 1958/1986)
What could be more emblematic of the Promethean hubris of the scientist who thinks to manipulate the awesome powers of nature than such a figure managing to merge himself with a lowly fly on accident? Perhaps the most compellingly tragic mad scientist figures are found at the center of these two films which also make up one of the most impressive original/remake pairs in science fiction cinema. While they differ in narrative structure and tone, the nature of their doomed protagonists is the same in that both fundamentally characterize their scientists as addicts. Both even go as far as to visually link the object of the protagonist’s scientific obsessions—a teleportation device—with alcohol: family man André (David Hedison) transports a bottle of champagne to celebrate the “success” of his invention shortly before his ill-fated trial run while Seth (Jeff Goldblum) tests his own machine on a drunken whim after trying to binge-drink away his relationship insecurities. They are depicted as fundamentally normal men in the sense that they seek things such as human companionship and intimate relationships (which more traditional mad scientists generally flat-out scorn), only their all-consuming scientific ambitions directly interfere with the pursuit of these other goals, driving wedges between them and those they care about, much like substance addiction. And, ultimately, both, in seeking to help humanity reach new heights, they themselves end up something less than human and on a one-way path to total self-destruction. If there is one key distinction, it is in that Seth eventually dies one gruesome death while André really suffers three—via hydraulic press, in the jaws of a spider, and crushed under a rock—highlighting that while David Cronenberg’s 1986 version empathizes with Seth, what Kurt Neumann’s 1958 rendition feels towards its main character is ultimately best described as pity tempered by more than a little harsh judgement.
Charles Luther (Runaway)
In this incredibly ’80s take on the future directed by Michael Crichton, Dr. Charles Luther (Gene Simmons) develops a new robotic programming method that he instantly realizes has huge profit potential. With no desire to share these profits, Luther promptly murders all his research colleagues in order to sell the program on the black market. Of course, the film’s hero Sgt. Jack R. Ramsay (Tom Selleck) is hot on his trail, and Luther is ultimately killed by his own spider robots.
Gerald Deemer (Tarantula)
Dr. Gerald Deemer’s (Leo G. Carroll’s) goal—developing a super-nutrient capable of ending world hunger—is admirable. His methods somewhat less so, but it’s the reality of the findings he considers promising that’s flat-out concerning. First of all, the nutrient doesn’t merely provide nourishment, but functions as a super-steroid that causes test subjects to not just grow at accelerated rates, but exceed normal size. Second of all, human exposure to this nutrient consistently leads to physical and mental deterioration culminating in death, as evidenced by the fates of Deemer’s research partner Dr. Eric Jacobs, their former research assistant Paul Lund (somewhat confusingly, both are played by Ed Parker), and ultimately, Deemer himself. Last and most damningly, even with the super-growth consideration in mind, Deemer tests this nutrient on a tarantula. Sure, the spider is kept in a terrarium and only gets out after Deemer’s lab is destroyed in a fight between Deemer and deformed half-mad research assistant Paul, but the whole situation could have been avoided if Deemer just used fruit flies or rabbits or literally any other herbivore—which is exactly what any sane person would do, thus Deemer’s inclusion here.
Dr. Alexander Isaacs (Resident Evil)
While a number of action, horror, and science-fiction films still require a mad scientist of some description to explain the monster that must be stopped or the super-weapon that must be recovered before it can be put to use—someone has to make these things, after all—these scientists are becoming more and more ancillary to the actual narratives. Their crazy is not in doubt, just deemed unworthy of screen time. Which is what makes virologist Dr. Alexander Isaacs (Iain Glen) actually quite intriguing—as the Resident Evil series has progressed, his role in the Umbrella Corporation and the end of human civilization spawned by the zombie-making T-virus is revealed to be larger and larger until Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ultimately names him the mastermind behind the whole apocalypse.
Dr. Dan Keloid (Rabid)
I know, David Cronenberg again? The thing is, while plenty of horror and sci-fi filmmakers like the idea of mad scientists as convenient plot devices, Cronenberg’s genuine fascination with science (he originally intended to pursue the sciences in college before later switching to English) is evident in how he has not merely populated so many of his films with scientific figures, but also crafted such a wide and intriguing range of (horrific) science fiction conceits. While so many mad scientists are basically the same five caricatures recycled over and over with only the slightest changes, Cronenberg’s tend to be alarming in ways that still feel fresh and new.
In Rabid, Dr. Dan Keloid (Howard Ryshpan)—a fantastic name for a plastic surgeon, which Dr. Keloid indeed is—performs an experimental surgery on motorcycle accident victim Rose (Marilyn Chambers) involving pluripotent grafts. The basic idea is that the grafts, once in place, should differentiate according to location, successfully replacing the damaged tissues. Only, somehow the experimental procedure ends up causing a mutation that leaves Rose a vampire, requiring human blood for sustenance that must be sucked using a stinger-like protrusion that has grown under her armpit. Keloid further discovers that contact with Rose’s stinger infects the other party with rabies, and himself succumbs to the disease not long after.
Julius Kelp/Sherman Klump (The Nutty Professor 1963/1996)
It really should not come as a surprise that the protagonist of a film called The Nutty Professor is, at very least, slightly unhinged. Julius Kelp (Jerry Lewis) manages to blow up his chemistry classroom less than two minutes into the film, while in the same amount of time a veritable plague of guinea pigs escapes from Sherman Klump’s (Eddie Murphy’s) lab to terrorize the unsuspecting college campus. While the 1996 version switches in fat jokes for nerd jokes, these two spoofs on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde share one important trait with the original story: the scientist at the center of the action is crazy.
Dr. Browning (Scream and Scream Again)
The thing about truly twisty endings is that they tend to be polarizing. While some viewers appreciate being taken on an unexpected ride, others very much do not. Critics were pretty even-split along this divide when Scream and Scream Again was released in 1970, and between that and an unfortunately bland title, the film quickly faded into obscurity, which is a shame. Scream and Scream Again should be remembered on the merits of its weirdness alone. As basically every single review ever written of the film mentions, you have no idea what is going on until the last fifteen minutes. Between that and all the carnage and general genre content, the film could be considered, as Roger Ebert put it, “Godard for the masses,” which is a truly fantastic oxymoron. This is one that should really be seen without spoilers, so the only thing I’m going to say about the ultimate reveal is that it is mad science, courtesy of Vincent Price’s Dr. Browning, that brings everything together in the end. A vat of acid may or may not be involved.
Also, the blog Silver Screen Suppers put together a suggested dinner menu to accompany Scream and Scream Again from recipes crafted by Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, who has a cameo role in the film, which is too amazing not to share.
Arthur Carrington (The Thing from Another World)
Arguably even more than the eponymous alien, Antarctic expedition chief scientist Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) is the real antagonist of The Thing. Hostile to the opinions of everyone around him and prone to insulting people on the basis of intelligence, the film takes great pleasure in proving Carrington absolutely wrong at every turn. Not only does Carrington insist on thawing out the frozen alien for dissection on the grounds of it being an unprecedented scientific opportunity, but he absolutely fails to see any potential threat in a vegetable life-form the size of a large man. In fact, considering the vegetal Things reproduce asexually, Carrington is quite certain the alien must be our intellectual superior, considering that without having to deal with wooing and romance and whatnot, they must instead devote all their brain power towards higher pursuits (i.e. science). He remains entirely convinced that the “intellectual carrot” will be both rational and willing to communicate. In fact, he is so certain of this that he goes up to the Thing to offer his friendship and understanding. He is rejected. Very thoroughly.
While this makes up one half of a great original/reboot sci-fi pair along with John Carpenter’s 1982 The Thing, Carpenter’s equivalent of Dr. Carrington, Dr. Blair (Wilford Brimley), is not particularly crazy—at least, until he is impersonated by the Thing—and so does not merit inclusion on this list.
