Dear Creative LazyWeb-sters:

[mlerules]

A friend is currently mulling over an idea for a film with a completely off-stage main villain. This is what he says and I'm spreading the question further w/this post:

I can think of a couple of examples of this that, in my opinion, don't work well (Blair Witch Project springs to mind, as does one horrific Enterprise episode), but I'm at a loss for examples of people who've done it well. As a general rule, if the audience doesn't ultimately confront the villain (vicariously through the main characters, of course) they're left feeling unsatisfied with the narrative. But for every rule there's an exception, so I'm sure they must be out there.

So, can anyone out there come up with an example (preferably on screen, but also in prose, and preferably in science fiction, comedy, or drama and not horror) where the non-appearance of the antagonist is either not a hinderance or actually an enhancement to the storytelling?

Comments

[knifeyspoony.livejournal.com]

Inspector Gadget. Dr Klaw does get voice overs though.

What about The Usual Suspects? Does that count?

[jimkeller.livejournal.com]

I've never seen The Usual Suspects. I'll have to give it a rent.

[argentla.livejournal.com]

That's a case where we've seen the antagonist throughout, though, even though we didn't know it.