5 Faces of Evil Starring Richard Lynch

In what could be one of the best series of articles, Scary Film is proud to present to you another voice from the world of horror movie fans. So now, you can't blame me for a crappy website, not that Jason will bring to you crap articles. No pressure Jason. Below you will find a post that highlights 5 faces of evil from actor Richard Lynch. A very  underrated villain, and someone that could easily replace Erik Roberts half the time. How does that guy keep getting hired? Seriously. Unfortunately Richard Lynch passed, which means Roberts will continue to suck up screen time. But then again, age, differences in casting directors, opinions and other crap. What do I know? Obviously not enough. So without further input from me, here's 5 faces of evil starring Richard Lynch. If you want to support the blog and help get Jason a paycheck click the links buy the dvd and please leave us a comment, what do you think about all this? Your pal, Sir J. 

 I've always thought Richard Lynch was one of the greatest movie villains of all time. Why he never faced James Bond I'll never know. Richard Lynch appeared in over 100 film and television projects from 1967 up until his death in 2012 at 72. He list of television appearances alone boggles my mind, Baywatch, Fall Guy, Highlander, ST:TNG, A-Team, Buck Rodgers, Battlestar Galactica etc, etc, need I say more? Below are five of his most fiendish rolls.

1. Invasion U.S.A (1985)

Cannon Films(you know it has to be 80's cheese)

Richard Lynch plays Mikhail Rostov a Soviet agent leading a group of Latin American Communists bent on destroying the fabric of America. I saw this movie for the first time on HBO when I was only six years old. Mr. Lynch's crazed snarling performance left and indelible mark on me forever. Lynch is the perfect foil for the quiet, denim and uzi rocking Hunter (Chuck Norris) who is bent on ending Rostov's terror. I'll be honest I'm writing this whole article just because I saw this movie last night! Let's not forget that director Joseph Zito also directed Red Scorpion, Missing in Action, The Prowler & Friday the 13th 4 (you know the last good one)!

2. Sword and The Sorcerer (1982)



Richard Lynch neither plays the Sword or the Sorcerer in this amazing early 80's fantasy film. He instead plays the mad King Cromwell who revives evil Sorcerer Xusia (Night Court's Richard Moll) so he can conquer another kingdom. Unfortunately the King's rival Talon has a three bladed, projectile shooting sword that ends his evil reign. Richard Lynch won a Saturn Award for best supporting actor on this film. This is my favorite Sword & Sandal epic of the 80's, hands down classic.

3. Bad Dreams (1988)

This time around Richard plays insane cult leader Franklin Harris. Franklin has decided that a mass suicide by fire is just what the group needs to move on to the next plane of existence. A younger member of the group Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin) survives and finds herself haunted by visions of Franklin 12 years later as people around her start to die mysteriously. Growing up I always felt that Bad Dreams was just a bad Freddy knock off. I give it some points though since it's produced by hall of famer Gale Ann Hurd, who's responsible for many of my favorite films. Great film though for Lynch fans, lots of him showing up out of nowhere saying weird scary stuff.

4. Scanner Cop (1994)

Original Scanners producer Pierre David made his directorial debut with the fourth entry in the Scanners series. This is one of those films where the camera gets really, really close to everybody for dramatic effect. He's thinking hard lets look up his nose!! So Richard Lynch is the baddie again and I hope this doesn't ruin anything for you but at the end of the film his head explodes. This even happens after it's revealed that Lynch's character had a steel plate installed over his brain to protect against this sort of attack. Probably too late to get his money back, sheesh that goes for both of us.

5. Vampire (1979)

As the sun sets on the wild streets of late 70's San Francisco something awakens at the base of soon to be built church. Making a guttural noise similar to Mason Verger's boars, Richard Lynch lunges from the dirt a shirtless vampire who has been asleep since the 40's. A Retired cop E.G. Marshall and architect Jason Miller (The Exorcist) are the only two who stand in the way of Lynch. This made for TV movie was suppose to be a pilot, but things never went any farther than the movie. Richard Lynch had often said that this was his favorite roll.

A sad fact about Mr. Lynch; his distinctive look was due to an experience he had in 1967 on LSD. While on the bad trip Mr. Lynch lit himself on fire in Central Park.

5 Faces of Evil Starring Richard Lynch by
Jason Parker

Bio: Alaska ex-pat who has dreams of the fashion industry while working in the film industry. When I'm not writing about food or movies you can either find me at the prop rental house I manage or on set doing production design. I try to write about everything I love. Check out my food and film industry blog. sharingmylifewithfood.blogspot.com, http://jasonisinthefilmbusiness.blogspot.com/