Kubrick Stare - Television Tropes & Idioms

In that showdown, and at several other times in the film, Kubrick indulges his favorite closeup, a shot of a man glowering up at the camera from beneath lowered brows. This was the trademark visual in A Clockwork Orange, and Jack Nicholson practiced it in The Shining. What does it mean? That Kubrick thinks it's an interesting angle from which to shoot the face, I think.

— Roger Ebert, review of Full Metal Jacket

A nifty trick for when you want to look like you're either evil or under an extreme amount of stress:

Tilt head down
Look up beneath eyebrows
Smile or grimace.

Named for Stanley Kubrick, who made at least eight movies where a major character has this facial expression. When some other show or film uses it, it's frequently a homage to Kubrick. You can be pretty sure the character in question has "lost it".

See also: Hidden Eyes and Death Glare. Compare Primal Stance and Limp And Livid.

Examples

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Anime & Manga

Almost every character in Katekyo Hitman Reborn does this when fighting at least once.
Light Yagami gets a few of these in Death Note.
Ophelia of Claymore does this a few times, as if we need any more reminders that she's psychotic.
It may be the shape of his eyes, but Noble Demon Hiei in Yu Yu Hakusho seems to perpetually wear this expression.
Kubrick Stare + Scary Shiny Glasses + Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive = Gendo Ikari.
Kyon does one in the Suzumiya Haruhi anime, when the plot just screws with the viewers head in "Remote Island Syndrome Part 2". 2:07 - 2:14. Scary.
Berserk: Guts does this from time to time.
- Femto's Kubrick Stare during The Eclipse is Nightmare Fuel worthy, since although He's raping Casca, Guts' love interest purely out of spite, he's also staring at Guts the entire time.
Naruto generally precedes asskicking with taking enough damage to kill a small town before pulling an incredibly bloodied one of these.
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni elevates the Kubrick Stare and the slasher smile to an art form.
Bleach: Ichigo's Heroic Resolve moments sometimes include this.
The protagonist of Gamble Fish uses these in particularly dramatic moments.
Gundam Wing: Heero Yuy likes to make these, particularly when using the ZERO System◊.
Several yakuza mermen stare down Nagasumi during the second episode of Seto No Hanayome to intimidate him.

Comics

Wolverine puts on this expression on some of his many, many Marvel Comics cover appearances.
Transmetropolitan's main character Spider Jerusalem does this a lot, most always wearing his trademark mismatched sunglasses. Often his left eye won't quite make it over the round lens, adding elements of Opaque Lenses, Scary Shiny Glasses, and Eyepatch Of Power to the mix, along with the occasional Slasher Smile.
"Run down the street like a motherfucker."

Films — Animation

Syndrome/Buddy Pine from The Incredibles uses it when he reveals his identity to Mr. Incredible.
- Syndrome uses it at more times than that, such as when he walks away from Mr. Incredible in a later scene in the movie, grumbling an ironic echo.
In Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, when Quasimodo is finally pushed over the edge by the gargoyles, he looks down into the street, grimacing for one of the few times in the film as the chorus begins to break out in Latin chants.
- There is another instance of one where Esmerelda gives Frollo one when he essentially offers to save her from burning if she sleeps with him. Just before the stare, she spits in his face.
In Ratatouille, Anton Ego somehow manages to do this to Linguini when the two first meet, even though Anton's standing over a seated Linguini.

Films — Live Action

Lolita, Dr Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut are the trope namers: all of them are Kubrick films where someone wears this expression. According to stories, the stare was often worn by Kubrick himself when he wanted to look gruff and intimidating on set.
Hannibal Lecter gives a cold, emotionless one in The Silence of the Lambs with an emphasis on creepy because he doesn't blink.
Kevin, the sociopathic cannibal (no, not the one above) from Sin City, gives an indescribably creepy Kubrick Stare right before he ambushes the protagonist Marv. Marv does one right back upon overhearing the cannibal's name from his prison. "See you later, Kevin."
Norman Bates at the end of Psycho.
The Crow: Post-mortem Eric Draven is quite fond of this.◊
Sarah Connor in the hospital in Terminator 2.
- Robert Patrick's T-1000, throughout the entirety of that movie, is a prime example.
The Joker in The Dark Knight, as his posture is often slightly hunched over, is practically built to give these stares. Perhaps this is most noticeable when he's sitting in the holding cell, even more so when he joins in the clapping for Gordon's promotion. As it happened, Gary Oldman told Heath Ledger after this was shot that his performance was reminding him of Alex in A Clockwork Orange; Ledger admitted he had just been watching that film in his trailer.
Michelle Rodriguez's entire method of "acting" can be summed up as this.
Star Wars: When Anakin Skywalker turns evil, he gets yellow eyes that he always displays by using one of these.
Sir John Gielgud gives one of these in the movie Arthur, although it looks more disapproving◊ than scary.
The Defence Secretary gives such a stare to M when he levels various complaints against her and her agency in Quantum of Solace.
Naomi Watts, of all people, gives a chilling glare near the end of the film Mulholland Drive.
One of the new Star Trek movie posters has Chris Pine in this pose◊, which unfortunately makes Captain Kirk look like a dead ringer for Dexter.
Hugh Jackman in the X-Men films deliberately adopted a subtle version of this, but he came upon the idea independently. In an interview he said something about always trying to keep his head just slightly bowed, to imitate the way a wolf looks at you over its nose.
Evil from Time Bandits does this a few times while apparently trying to cast a spell. He lifts his arms up and his face glows red, but he's interrupted before he can finish what he's doing. In the end, it turns him into a crumbling statue, and the Surpreme Being appears to clean things up.
Virtually every shot of Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko is a Kubrick Stare. Apparently, it runs in the family; Maggie Gyllenhaal does an oddly sexy Kubrick stare in a few of her movies, particularly Secretary.
Keanu Reeves gives us one after blowing up Smith in The Matrix.
James Van Der Beek gives this look in an early scene from The Rules of Attraction, in the scene featuring Kate Bosworth.
The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari might be the first example of this trope◊ in film. The actor doing the stare is Rudolf Klein-Rogge, who also popularized Milking The Giant Cow in Metropolis.
Played for sexy by Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, reportedly because Bacall was nervous about working with Bogey and was trying to keep from shaking. Considering that they later got married, that's adorable.
In The Transporter, the villain manages to do this off camera. That is to say, he stares villainously into the camera for his driver's license photo. He insured that every cop who pulled him over would realize he was evil. He also pulled it off several times on camera, but the driver's license deserves special mention.
American Beauty: by Jane in the very first scene.

Literature

The Harry Potter series refers to this as well; in Order of the Phoenix, Bellatrix Lestrange's mugshot apparently shows her with a Kubrick Stare (judging by its description).
- Barty Crouch Jr. seems to have worn one.

Live Action TV

Xena Warrior Princess does this a lot when she goes into Badass Normal mode.
Firefly's River has also been known to do this, particularly in Serenity.
"Also, I can kill you with my brain."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the first season opening (and the episode that scene was taken from).
Adrian Pasdar uses the Kubrick Stare both in Heroes and Profit.... It's very, VERY creepy.
- Zachary Quinto plays his Kubrick Stare to terrifying perfection as both Sylar and Spock have had Kubrick Stare moments.
Greg House from House almost always wears a Kubrick Stare, as shown in many publicity shots. It works to make him look like a strung-out crazy asshole. Which isn't far from the truth.
The League of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou does this from time to time. It's incredibly frightening.
Patrick McGoohan is seen with a Kubrick Stare at least once in the opening credits of The Prisoner.
NCIS. Gibbs is comforting a crying woman whose deceased husband was a cannibalistic Serial Killer... until he's informed that some of the bodies buried in her backyard had been buried after the husband died. Cue instant Kubrick Stare from the woman, revealing her true evil self.
Dexter, of course.
Of all people on Lie to Me to give this look, we get it from Loker in an episode where he's pretending to be a mobster. It actually is fairly creepy.
Claire in Lost has come down with this.
iCarly: Freddie of all people, in iWin A Date. They are trying to comfort Gibby, who's crazy for a girl named Shannon who actually likes Freddie. After Gibby runs off, Carly comments on how sad it is to be in love with someone who won't love you back. Freddie gives her a well-deserved stare, and Carly goes 'Sorry'.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles has Cameron apt at doing this. Given it's Summer Glau it doubles as Head Tiltingly Kinky.
In Power Rangers SPD, Sky (the Blue Ranger) gets bodyjacked by an alien, and starts doing this◊ a lot. It worked a little too well on the fandom.

Music

This, combined with a Slasher Smile, has become the trademark pose for the electronic artist Aphex Twin, first featured on his "Richard D. James Album".
Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta has become famed for leveling "The Psycho Stare" at any camera in his vicinity. This has done nothing to quell the rumors about his basement of unspecified horrors.
Oomph!'s singer Dero Goi does this at the end of the music video of Labyrinth.
- Also worth noting that for the majority of the video, he looks like a cross between Alex DeLarge and the Mad Hatter.
They Might Be Giants singer John Linnell is pretty much made for this with his crazy sparkly eyes and slightly ridiculous forehead.

Pro Wrestling

This is one of Triple H's signature poses.

Video Games

The Legend of Zelda: Midna◊ does this at one point.
- So does Ganondorf◊. Kind of.
Child Alma from F.E.A.R. is fond of doing these.
Damon Gant from Ace Attorney has one.
- Edgeworth also has a pretty good one.
Quite a few of the talking heads of Fallout 1 and 2 had this as their "angry" animation.
In Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Soma Cruz's character image get this expression when he's possessed by Dracula, but not the rest of the time.
Cyrus does this in the title sequence of Pokémon Platinum.
Just about every official concept artwork of Solid Snake ever drawn or rendered.

Web Comics

El Goonish Shive: "No one will care if I kill you."
Rumors Of War: Manaus sports these from beneath a hood and cloak.

Web Original

In Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the title character pulls one off quite well just before the final song of Act II.
This LOLcat.
The Nostalgia Critic often does this.
Logan from Just Another Fool pulls off a rather frightening one.
Flippy from Happy Tree Friends whenever he goes into Ax Crazy mode.

Western Animation

Hama on Avatar: The Last Airbender gets treated to this once her intentions are revealed.
- Appropriately enough, Katara does this when she threatens to "end" Zuko, "permanently", if he hurts Aang.
- Zuko does this the best during The Boiling Rock part 1.
- Azula does this too, right after she fires her Dai Li agents in Sozin's Comet.
Samurai Jack sometimes does this when he's ready to get dangerous, especially in the pilot.
Robot Chicken parodies this in one sketch, "Just The Good Parts": a segment of that dealing with The Shining consists near-entirely of the Kubrick Stares from the film.
In The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror V", Homer does this during a Shining parody. The creators mention in DVD commentary that they made Dan Castellaneta do this while recording those lines. "Tilt your head forward and look up, you'll look like a lunatic."
In Code Lyoko, William Dunbar performs one of these just after (faking) escaping from XANA's possession for a moment. The screenshot◊ has reached Memetic Mutation as his "rape face."