Movies where the father figures are the most despised by audiences

Vernon Dursley – the Harry Potter franchise

Though he wasn’t Harry Potter’s paternal father, he was the only father figure that the young boy had from the moment his parents were ripped away from him as a baby. Not only failing young Potter completely, Vernon Dursley did a terrible job of raising his own son, Dudley. He was a spoiled and rotten boy, who would throw his toys out of his metaphorical pram whenever he didn’t get his own way. He also took great pleasure in bullying his cousin Harry, for no reason other than to assert his dominance as the true leader of his pitiful household.

Mr Wormwood – Matilda

Soon to hit Netflix for the live-action musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic novel, the original Matilda movie is one of the finest examples of a child doing well in spite of their parents. Mr Wormwood, Matilda’s father, is a particularly terrible dad. He bullies his daughter, insisting that he is always right even when all of the evidence and proof points to the contrary. Fortunately, Matilda gets away with pulling some pranks on her dad, before he and her mother decide to hand over custody to her school teacher.

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Darth Vader – the Star Wars franchise

One of the greatest movie twists of all time, saw Darth Vader revealing himself to be the father of Luke Skywalker. It was a moment that will live on through cinematic history forever, thanks to the jaw-dropping revelation and, because he then slices his son’s hand off. Not the best way to introduce yourself as a parent to your offspring, is it?

Jack Torrance – The Shining

When you think of dads gone bad, one of the first people that are going to come to mind is Jack Torrance, from Stephen King’s critically-acclaimed novel The Shining. Somehow, Jack becomes even more terrifying in the big screen adaptation, which whilst not entirely faithful to the original work, still did a good job of showcasing one of the worst parents the world of cinema has ever seen. Hellbent on murdering his wife and only child, Jack ends up freezing to death outside of the hotel in which the family were staying. And speaking of the cold…

The King of Arendelle – Frozen

He may not have had much screen time, after being killed in a terrible accident when Anna and Elsa were so young, but the way in which he insisted his daughter must hide her frosty powers away from the world meant that she would deal with some pretty bleak mental health issues for the years to come. Locking herself up in her room and refusing to even go outside to build a snowman with her sibling, it took a lot of work for Elsa to get over the trauma of having super powers, undoing a lifetime of self-doubt.