Cautionary Women

Normally, Souls, the parasitic extraterrestrials in Stephenie Meyer's Invasion of the Body Snatchers   The Host , are altruistic and Zen-like creatures. They are painfully honest, so much so they have done away with cash registers on sheer trust in one another. Shedding blood is alien to them. Most humans are imbeciles in comparison; if our lives were not that special, we wouldn't think twice of relinquishing our bodies to them.  But The Seeker is an anomaly. Intent on wiping away the last pockets of human resistance, she will not dither about murder if it served the purpose. 

David Leonard as Agatha Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical , opening April 11 on Broadway. Photo via Theatre Breaks Roald Dahl's worst meanies are raging pedophobes. Headmistress Agatha Trunchbull, the hulking villain in Matilda , loathes children only less than the Grand High Witch  does. Unlike the sorceress, however, Trunchbull has non-magical, very real tools to express her animus. (The magic is left to Matilda.) She keeps, for instance, a medieval torture chamber to punish wayward schoolchildren—and she can get really creative with what is 'wayward.' And as a professional hammer thrower, Trunchbull can take her villainy to new heights.   Bertie Carvel transforms into Trunchbull for Matilda the Musical on West End and will reprise the role when the play transfers to Broadway on April 11. Pam Ferris got into the role in the 1996 movie .

When does a being with nefarious means to achieve greater good stop? And a villain with a perverse bent begin? Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga attempts an answer to that quandary with the Volturi, a coven of hyper-wizened vampires.  Jane is the Volturi's best foot forward, a 1,200-year old vessel of pain. Described in the books as no more than an adolescent boy, Jane and her equally powerful twin brother Alec police showy bloodsuckers, keeping their kind a secret. Dakota Fanning plays her with catatonic resolve in the Twilight movies. 

Photo via Disney Screencaps Poor unfortunate soul you are not when it comes to getting an Ursula costume. The web is bursting with ready-made Ursula dresses  for the fishing. If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet, you've got to pay the toll; it doesn't cost much. ( Just your voice. ) Or use a little witchcraft and create a homemade Ursula costume instead. eHow will teach you how to make an Ursula costume , step by step. Worth checking too is Giddy Girlie's  own take on an Ursula dress . Also get inspiration from this gallery of DIY Ursula costumes , especially this winner . Accessorize with Ursula's trademark conch shell for necklace. Trident and eels are optional. Hair and Makeup Your favorite hairstylist can help you achieve Ursula's famous silver crop, albeit permanently. If you don't want your hair cut that short, much less bleached, simply tie your hair back, preferably down to a bun, and give the front some volume. With a fork  comb an...

NEGATIVE 101. Cruella de Vil in an un-PETA coat. Hell-arious! This is just one in a series of paintings by Deviant artist Justin Turrentine that artfully imagined Walt Disney protagonists deprived of their ever-happy afters. So what if Disney villains won? See more Disney villainesses live happily ever after here .

She's magnificent and marvelous. Merlin's nemesis in Disney's 1963 classic The Sword in the Stone , Mad Madam Mim, wields awesome magic. Too bad she is just that—mad. Her sanity just can't keep up with her abilities. Madame Mim straddles a fine line between adorable and scary. Viewers can't help but feel for Arthur when he flits off to Mim's sunshine-free cottage in the woods.  Had she had the elegant sobriety of Maleficent, Mim would have been livin' la vida maldita in a castle on some forbidden mountain range. Alas, Mim can give Maleficent a run for her Medieval money. Mim can turn into any purple-haired form she pleases:

Cate Blanchett is certainly no Galadriel here. She is the wicked stepmother, as it were, to Saoirse Ronan's cast-iron princess in Joe Wright's fairytale-ish, Bourne -sque spy thriller Hanna . As CIA operative Marissa Wiegler, Blanchett has the dedication of a storybook evil queen hunting down the fairest-of-them-all title character and her spy-father (played with kingly resolve by Eric Bana) through thick and thicket. Wiegler may not have poisoned apples or occult knowledge but she does have an arsenal of guns and silencers at her command. Those and her incapacity to love make Wiegler a wicked, wicked witch in this mundane world.