Hair-raising and eminently quotable 'what is your major malfunction!?' Ermey looms large as the spectre of fear haunting the film itself.

- Abin Cooper, Red State (Michael Parks)

Kevin Smith’s bludgeoning take on Christian fundamentalists may not have been too delicate with the sensitive subject matter it was playing with but it certainly committed to screen one of the more mesmerising examples of a bad old dude in a position of power, Pastor Abin Cooper.

Called grandpa by his congregation and fostering relations with his female followers that bordered definitely on the little bit too close side Cooper had the conviction of the divine on his side for sure.

If that’s not enough to scare the life out of you the possibility of being forcibly cocooned in bubble wrap to avoid your sweet meat getting on the carpet should send you running from him and his nutjob followers.

- Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars Saga (Ian McDiarmid)

Only one authority figure has truly no redeeming features. The rest of this roster have at least had some sort of divine encouragement, anti-hero vibe or ruthless wit working in their defence.

The Emperor though - holding the galaxy hostage with an iron fist and pathetic enough to fake paralysing fear only to manipulate Anakin Skywalker into betraying his masters - deserves not a shred of sympathy.

From blowing up planets to causing poor Admiral Ackbar to mutter those immortal lines 'It’s a trap' oh and some offensively flamboyant taste in personal body guards  as authority figures go he’s pretty much the worst.

Bad Teacher is out on Blu-ray and DVD now.

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