TV’s top 10 scariest characters

3. Arvin Sloane, ‘Alias’

What do you call a guy who injects a serum into his daughter that turns her into a vessel for a long-dead prophet and almost kills her in the process? “Alias” viewers call him Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), the duplicitous, murderous, nattily dressed villain whose heart rate never seems to blip above a soft hum.

Sloane’s single-minded pursuit of artifacts designed to unravel the prophecy of 15^th-century seer Milo Rambaldi has been the thorn in the side of superspy Sydney Bristow since the show began. He’s her on-again, off-again boss, which makes for some chilly workplace banter. Oh, and there’s always the lingering suggestion that perhaps Sloane, her archenemy, is also her daddy. Eew.

Never was the character’s nefarious nature so apparent as when Joel Grey portrayed a man impersonating Sloane (dubbed, cleverly, “Arvin Clone”), playing the big baddie without the frustrating tease of humanity that Rifkin injects into the role. Without Rifkin’s confoundingly smooth, and yes, even likable persona, all that remained was 100 percent evil, reminding viewers of what lurked just beneath Sloane’s round glasses and closely-cropped hair.

Sloane’s worked for plenty of shady organizations over the years, from the we-say-we’re-a-part-of-the-CIA-but-we’re-secretly-working-against-it agency SD-6 to the terror-based Covenant to the now-we’re-really-a-part-of-the-CIA-we-swear agency APO.

He’s spent the last several episodes behind bars, ruminating about Rambaldi and accounting for his unconscionable misdeeds. But now he’s found a way to slither free by selling his soul to some mysterious benefactors with a shadowy agenda. That can’t be good for Sydney and the gang. But for viewers waiting for Sloane to get back to the business of being evil, it’s absolutely perfect.   —B.B.

4. John Locke, ‘Lost’

Mario Perez / AP On an island of people with secrets, John Locke has more than most.

Everything and everyone on "Lost" is a little off-kilter, from the island's security system to Hurley's lucky/cursed numbers.  Heck, even the kids have strange powers to inspire a bit of fear. But ask any of the island's involuntary guests who they're the most afraid of, and John Locke's the one most likely to be named.

Not many would take him in a fight over Sawyer, or in a leadership competition with Jack, but he's the one who inspires fear because he's the one who seems best able to manipulate the island's strangeness to his advantage. Wheelchair-bound before the accident, the island has allowed him to walk freely again. He discovered the hatch, sees visions of the island's properties and possibilities, and probably caused Boone's death while exploring the wreckage of another plane.

Locke believes that all the passengers were brought to the island for a reason, that something about them made the island reel them in. But his mysterious persona leaves everyone wondering who can manipulate them more — the island itself, or the man who seems the most in tune with it.    —Craig Berman

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