MY FAVORITE BAD MOVIE DADS OF ALL TIME

Father’s Day is right around the corner, and while most people are picking out cards, firing up the grill, and celebrating the wholesome, dependable, hard-working dads of the world… I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach. In true Nick D fashion, I’m here to pay tribute not to the best movie dads—but to the worst.

Yes, the terrible. The twisted. The criminally incompetent. The dangerous. The dads who never should’ve had kids in the first place, and somehow managed to make parenthood look like a full-blown horror movie—or a pitch-black comedy.

These aren’t your Atticus Finches. These aren’t your Clark Griswolds. And they’re definitely not your throat-punching, rescue-mission-running Liam Neeson in Taken types, who’ll kill a small country to get their daughter back. No, these dads? These are the Bad Movie Dads—and I love every messed-up minute of them.

Now, let’s be clear: there are tons of great dads in movie history. From warm-hearted classics like Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch to hilarious goofballs like Steve Martin in Father of the Bride—cinema is filled with great paternal role models.

But this list? This list isn’t for them.

This is a celebration of the Dads from Hell. The dads who traumatize instead of teach. Who kill instead of care. Who abandon, gaslight, manipulate, scream, and destroy everything in their path—including their own families.

These are the ones who stuck with me—not because they made me feel warm and fuzzy, but because they made me laugh, gasp, or shake my head in total disbelief. And as a movie fan who loves the strange, the dark, and the just plain wrong, these are the dads I’m putting on the Father’s Day pedestal this year.

So, while you're giving your real-life dad a hug or treating him to a steak dinner, take a moment to be thankful he’s not one of these guys. And now, I present to you:

MY TOP 10 FAVORITE BAD MOVIE DADS OF ALL TIME:

1. NOAH CROSS – CHINATOWN (1974)

“You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't.”

There’s bad, and then there’s Noah Cross. This guy is the gold standard for cinematic evil wrapped in wealth and power. Played by the legendary John Huston, Noah Cross is a business tycoon, land baron, and crime boss who manipulates everyone around him—including his own daughter, in the most horrific way possible.

He’s not just a corrupt father—he’s an incestuous predator, a murderer, and the puppet master behind the film’s dark, nihilistic conspiracy. Everything he touches turns to rot, and yet he carries himself with genteel charm and terrifying conviction. Noah Cross is the worst kind of father: the one who smiles while ruining lives. A brilliant performance in a near-perfect movie.

2. DAD MEIKS – FRAILTY (2002)

“God will send me a list of the names.”

Bill Paxton directed and starred in this terrifying little gem, and his character—known only as Dad—is the kind of religious zealot that’ll haunt your dreams. He believes God has tasked him and his two sons with finding and destroying demons. Problem is, those “demons” look a lot like innocent people.

What makes Dad Meiks so scary is that he’s calm, certain, and loving… while brainwashing his kids into becoming accomplices to murder. He raises them on a steady diet of theology and axes. Paxton’s performance is chilling in its sincerity, and Frailty remains one of the most underrated horror-thrillers of the 2000s. This dad is pure, biblical-level bad.

3. JACK TORRENCE – THE SHINING (1980)

“Here’s Johnny!”

This version of Jack Torrance, as played by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s cold and clinical adaptation of The Shining, skips the slow descent into madness and jumps straight to “murderous maniac.” He’s crazy from the jump—and that’s part of what makes him such a relentlessly terrifying presence.

The character is a failed writer, a recovering alcoholic, and a man who agrees to watch over a haunted hotel… and then promptly loses his mind, tries to kill his wife and son with an ax, and makes snowbound winter hell for everyone involved. There’s child abuse, gaslighting, domestic violence—it’s all here. Nicholson is electric, but as a father, Jack is a complete and utter horror show.

4. RANDY "THE RAM" ROBINSON – THE WRESTLER (2008)

“I just don’t want you to hate me.”

Mickey Rourke gives the performance of his life in Darren Aronofsky’s deeply affecting portrait of a broken man trying to put himself back together. But Randy the Ram, for all his pathos and pain, is an awful father. He spent years chasing wrestling glory while neglecting his daughter, only trying to reconnect when his body and life are falling apart.

And even then, he blows it. He disappears again, lies, makes promises he can’t keep, and causes more pain than healing. It’s tragic, it’s real, and it’s devastating. He’s not evil, just wildly irresponsible, selfish, and lost—a heartbreaking portrait of a man who waited too long to be a dad.

5. LELAND PALMER – TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)

“That’s your father’s voice.”

This is one of the most chilling portrayals of paternal evil in screen history. Leland Palmer, played with eerie brilliance by Ray Wise, is an outwardly respectable man, a family man… and a murderer. In Fire Walk with Me, the prequel to Twin Peaks, we see just how horrifying Leland’s abuse truly was.

Yes, he’s possessed by the spirit of BOB. But even with that supernatural explanation, the damage is real. The trauma inflicted on Laura Palmer—his daughter, his victim—is the core of the film’s devastating emotional weight. It’s uncomfortable, disturbing, and unforgettable. Leland is the ultimate monster masquerading as a father.

6. JERRY BLAKE – THE STEPFATHER (1987)

“Who am I here?”

Terry O’Quinn is terrifying in this cult classic. Jerry Blake is a man obsessed with the idea of the perfect American family. When things don’t go exactly as he wants, he doesn’t do therapy—he commits murder. He marries into families, plays the doting dad, and then slaughters everyone the moment they disappoint him.

He’s a chameleon, a sociopath, and a classic slasher villain wearing a father’s smile. The performance is phenomenal, the film is creepy and effective, and Jerry Blake is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of introducing a new “dad” into the house too quickly. Beware the stepfather who loves perfection a little too much.

7. DWIGHT HANSEN – THIS BOY'S LIFE (1993)

“You little bastard. You think you're better than me?”

Based on the real memoir by Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life introduced us to Leonardo DiCaprio and showed us a side of Robert De Niro we hadn’t seen: pure, violent, small-minded toxicity. Dwight Hansen isn’t a flashy villain—he’s just a controlling, petty, abusive man who wants to crush the potential of the boy he claims to love.

He’s jealous of Toby’s ambition, threatened by his intelligence, and goes out of his way to humiliate and harm him. This is real-life horror, played with a nasty edge by De Niro. The movie is brilliant, and Dwight is one of cinema’s most authentically awful father figures.

8. BULL MEACHUM – THE GREAT SANTINI (1979)

“I am the great Santini!”

Robert Duvall plays Bull Meachum, a Marine pilot who brings his military mindset home and treats his wife and kids like raw recruits. He’s abusive, arrogant, emotionally unavailable, and believes discipline means bouncing basketballs off his son’s head. He’s all ego and no empathy.

The film is based on Pat Conroy’s real-life experience, and it shows. Duvall is brilliant, terrifying, and deeply human. Bull may love his family, but he has no idea how to show it—and the damage he causes is generational. He’s not the devil, but he’s an all-too-real nightmare for any kid raised by a man who thought fatherhood meant domination.

9. ROYAL TENENBAUM – THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001)

“I’m sorry, I’ve been a real asshole.”

Gene Hackman delivers one of his greatest performances as Royal Tenenbaum, a charming, scheming, selfish ex-lawyer who faked a terminal illness to worm his way back into the lives of the three genius children he once emotionally tormented.

Royal is cruel, neglectful, manipulative—and also weirdly lovable. That’s the magic of The Royal Tenenbaums. It’s a movie about emotional wreckage and attempted redemption. Hackman’s Royal is a disaster of a dad, but by the end, you feel something for him. It’s a Wes Anderson masterpiece, and Royal is the heart of its messy, melancholy charm.

10. DANIEL PLAINVIEW – THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007)

“I abandoned my boy! I abandoned my child!”

Daniel Day-Lewis’s turn as Daniel Plainview is one of the greatest performances ever committed to film. And Plainview? He’s one of the most ruthlessly evil movie fathers in history. A silver miner turned oil tycoon, he adopts a child not out of love, but for leverage. A prop to make him look respectable. A mask for greed.

Plainview is a man who sees everyone as a threat or a tool. His son becomes both. He lies, manipulates, humiliates, and eventually discards him. Their final confrontation—cold, brutal, and emotionally annihilating—is a gut-punch. Plainview is capitalism in human form: cold, calculating, and unfit for fatherhood.

So there you have it—my 10 favorite BAD movie dads. The worst of the worst. These guys range from emotionally bankrupt narcissists to full-blown murderers. Some of them are terrifying. Some are tragic. Some are hilarious in the most twisted, pitch-black way possible. But they all have one thing in common: they are absolutely awful fathers—and unforgettable characters.

This list isn’t just about villains. It’s about men who were given the responsibility of raising kids and either failed spectacularly… or never even tried. Whether it’s Jack Torrance chasing his son through a haunted hotel with an ax, or Daniel Plainview using a baby as a PR prop for his oil empire, these dads are cautionary tales wrapped in some of the greatest performances in film history.

And yeah, as we get ready to celebrate Father’s Day—maybe take a second to hug your dad and say, “Thanks for not being Noah Cross.” Because if you’re not being hunted, manipulated, or emotionally scarred by your old man, you’re already doing better than most of the characters on this list.

So here’s to the good dads. The real ones. And here’s to the bad movie dads too—because even if they make terrible parents, they make damn good cinema.

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