The always lovely Isabelle Adjani for me...my second choise would be Carrie Snodgress in the Attic. Consequently i can't stand Misery nor Kathy Bates.
As good as Bates and Burstyn are, I had to go with Piper Laurie in Carrie. That is a classic, classic performance. Her portrayal of Margaret White is as humorous as it is frightening, something most actresses are unable to do (with the exception of Kathy Bates, of course).
Ellen Burstyn's performance in Requiem for a Dream gets my vote. An outstanding performance in an outstanding film. Obvious nods go to Kathy Bates and Glen Close who were great, but props to Isabelle Adjani who I thought did a wicked job in Possession which is just a great little F***ed up trippy ass film.
I picked Piper Laurie in Carrie. Is anyone besides me glad that they did not have this character for a mother?
Oh God...Piper Laurie in Carrie...Don't know how I managed to miss her on that list... Anyone happen to catch the hilarious techno-dance Carrie theme at the end of Carrie 2: The Rage? Total techno dance hall type music, and whomever did it included snippets of "They're all gonna LAUGH at yoo" courtesy of Piper Laurie...Everytime I hear that or think of it I can't help but laugh, picturing a dance floor full of mindless clubbers (either mindless from stupidity or mindless from substance/alcohol intake) boogie-ing on down to that, mouthing that line....maybe not even knowing where it's from...heeee!
Betsy Palmer in Friday the 13th. No contest. Although, 2nd place is also a no-brainer... Joan Cusack in Addams Family Values:
Lots of good work here but I went with Margot Kidder for her offbeat, layered turn. It's not exactly a horror film but Judy Dench creates a wonderfully complex heavy opposite Cate Blanchett in the thriller NOTES ON A SCANDAL.
Oh, thought of some killer honorable mentions... (though they're also pretty obvious): Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest and Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn in Death Becomes Her.
Had to go with Glenn Close - I feel she was robbed of an Oscar. Her performance in Fatal Attraction - downright scary. Kathy Bates is a close second.
I guess I didn't go with Bates because I thought the movie really pushed her character to be less nuanced than someone like Glenn Close, who I completely agree with you on. That performance was fantastic. (And, she did quite a few crazy woman performances after this movie- Cookie's Fortune, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Reilly.) She was clearly a person with deep-seeded psychiatric issues and her slow boil and seemingly rational rage / "freak"out over the way "Dan" treated her made her human. Kathy Bates' character was not very human. Which made the movie very entertaining, but less real. Which is totally okay. Originally, she was supposed to kill someone with a lawnmower and I think I heard they shot some of that scene and she wasn't happy when she heard it was cut from the movie. (I've only read this online, it was never mentioned on any of the DVD bonus features.)
The lawnmower killing is in the book. I just figured they would never go there in the film. Even now, it just seems a little over the top for me. She is was crazy, but the lawnmower killing always bothered me in the book. It just seemed "out of character" to the rest of her actions in the book.
