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Friday, May 6, 2011

Friday's Top 5... Campy Anthony Hopkins Performances

#5: The Rite


I'm including this based solely on the trailers, which make the film look like horror-camp central. Hopkins is a master of recognizing and playing to the tone of a piece even as his presence gives it an air of gravity.

#4: Hannibal


A character like Hannibal Lecter always exists on the fine edge between scarily serious and over-the-top ridiculous. The Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs is the former, the Hannibal Lecter of Hannibal is the latter (which may have something to do with SotL being the former kind of film and Hannibal being the latter).

#3: The Mask of Zorro


Do I even need to say anything about this one? His character is a former masked avenger and he's an English actor playing at being a hispanic. It's a recipe for camp.

#2: The Wolfman


I'm one of the 8 people who saw this movie and, believe me, Hopkins' totally over-the-top performance almost makes it worth it. If only Benicio Del Torro had followed his lead, the movie might have been worth it.

#1: Bram Stoker's Dracula


Everything about this movie is total camp, but even here Hopkins manages to stand out. My favourite line of his: "Ja, she was in a great deal of pain, but then we cut off her head and drove a stake through her heart and burned it and then she found peace."

1 comment:

Vanessa, Take only Memories said...

I love Anthony Hopkins! Great list!