The Creepiest Villain in TV History: Killer BOB

In a previous article I nominated Miles Drentell of Thirtysomething as the greatest TV villain of all time. This time around I want to do away with all the philosophical trappings of ambiguity and focus only on the creepiest villain in television history. American television history, I should add. Actually, there does not exist any tremendously deep well of truly frightening and nightmare-inducing villains in the history of American episodic television so while it may seem to be a very easy choice, I must confess that it actually was a tremendously easy choice. The creepiest villain in American TV history was Killer BOB from Twin Peaks.

Because I don’t want to give everything away, I will focus not so much on BOB’s actual role in the mythology of the series as much as on those features that make him so uniquely scary. Most fans of Twin Peaks when they think of Killer BOB tend to bring forth to the consciousness that iconic image of the long, straggly-haired man hiding beside the unfortunate Laura Palmer’s bed. Or else it is that extraordinary shot-due to the devilment of my own psyche the shot I consider to be the single most frightening image ever to appear in an American television series-of BOB slowly climbing over the Palmer’s sofa. What most people don’t know is that BOB was an accident of David Lynch’s own twisted psyche.

Apparently, or so the story goes, Lynch one day had a sudden image of Frank Silva-the show’s set decorator-crouching in a sinister manner in Laura Palmer’s bedroom. He actually went ahead and filmed that infamous scene without really knowing how he could use it. Later on, as these synchronic happenstances often occur, Lynch noticed that when he shot the scene of Laura’s mother screaming in her own bed that a reflection of Silva could be noticed. In an instant the vitally important element of Killer BOB was created. Ain’t art grand?

Killer BOB is, of course, so imaginatively essential to the puzzle of not just who killed Laura Palmer, but the future course of Agent Dale Cooper that it is almost too difficult to believe he was created by accident. Of course, that is not to say that Killer BOB is a major character. His appearances on screen were preciously few and that serves to heighten the effect of his creepiness. Not to take a hit at Mr. Silva, but the man had a physical appearance that readily engendered the latter part of the fight-or-flight rationale when dealing with our darkest fears. Like Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, however, it was not such much a great performance as great directing that brought out the intensity of fear provoked by BOB. He was almost always seen in a slightly off-kilter, out of whack kind of way. There were usually subtle sound effects that accompanied his character’s appearance. And then there was Frank Silva’s disturbing smile.

If you weren’t scared by Killer BOB, then I think there might be something mentally unbalanced about you. BOB was, essentially, the return of what is repressed. In this way he follows in the long tradition of Dracula, the wolfman, and even King Kong. Human beings have learned to repress those dangerous desires that lead to a multitude of problems. Dracula represents the return of certain repressed sexual desires; the wolfman represents the return of repressed animal instinct. Killer BOB is a Freudian “Other” who combines, in a way, all the repressed dangerous desires we ever feel. His unleavened sense of emotional acting-out results in consequences that can only be described as pure evil and can turn a decent man into the most monstrous character ever put into an American television show.

Be afraid of Killer BOB. Be very afraid.