WHAT MAKES A great villain?

Impeccable style? An intriguing backstory? Stereotypically outlandish, overblown villainous qualities? For sure.

Take the Sanderson sisters, for example. They’re the stars of Hocus Pocus, not the poxy kids who saved the day and broke the curse in the end. OVER IT.

Face it – everyone loves a bad bitch. Authoritative, mutli-faceted and usually made up in the slickest gothic makeup, it’s no wonder that I was absolutely obsessed with Debi Mazar as a child.

Back in the day when cassette tapes exist, I watched Beethoven’s 2nd over and over again. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, allow this trailer to bring you up to speed:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Seriously, dogs falling in love is my favourite film genre. Anyway, as you’ll see, there’s a woman attempting to scupper Beethoven’s newfound family bliss – that woman, is Regina, played by Debi Mazar.

Regina is Beethoven’s ‘girlfriend’ Missy’s owner who hatches a dastardly plan to pawn off their puppies for some sweet, sweet cash in order to finalise her divorce.

Overall, she was a true villain, abusing poor Missy and her boyfriend Floyd along the way. And yet, toddler me couldn’t take my eyes off her.

This was a woman who wore a full red ensemble to a fair in the mountains. This was a gal who chose to forego the long-held makeup rule that you can’t do a smokey eye and a red lip (you can. Look at her). Don’t get me started on her absolutely bangin’ hoops. Even her eyebrows weren’t that bad – and bear in mind, this was the peak decade for terrible eyebrows.

Regina emerged at a time when female were typically portrayed as being jealous and ‘ugly’. The fact is, Regina knew what she wanted and what she deserved. Were her methods of getting there questionable? For sure. But at least she didn’t pretend to be someone she wasn;t.

Yep – Regina wasn’t going to let ANYTHING stand in her way. And with that Boston accent, it’s no wonder why you’d be inclined to just give it to her.

Then, there was Debi’s role as Spice, one of Two-Faced’s wingwomen in Batman Forever.

(The above is the first known sighting of a floating cut-crease, just FYI).

Spice was going out with a bad boy, but also definitely had a thing for her BFF Sugar (played by Drew Barrymore – dream team or what?) – contributing to every bi-person’s sexual awakening in 1995.

All this, and she’s still playing off The Riddler? We love a women who keeps her options open!

“Sorry, d’you’ve a lighter?”

When are we getting our own Sugar and Spice spinoff? It’s what we deserve.

Nowadays, Debi seems to be going for smaller roles to keep her occupied – in 2017, she had a bit part in a Woody Allen movie Wonderwheel, subsequently bursting the bubble of awe I had for her.

Listen, we might not always have Debi. But we’ll always have Regina and her death stare.

(H/t to @nessadineen on Twitter for inspiring this article!)

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