Evil laughter or maniacal laughter is a stock manic laughter by a villain in fiction. The expression "evil laugh" dates back to at least 1860. "Wicked laugh" can be found even earlier, dating back to at least 1784. Another variant, the "sardonic laugh" shows up in 1714 and might date back even further.
In comic books, where supervillains utter such laughs, it is variously rendered as mwahahaha, muwhahaha, muahahaha, buahahaha, etc. (Compared to Ho ho ho). These words are also commonly used on internet Blogs, Bulletin board systems, and games. There, they are generally used when some form of victory is attained, or to indicate superiority over someone else. The words are often used as either interjections or less frequently, as nouns.
During the 1930s, the popular radio program The Shadow used a signature evil laugh as part of its presentation. This was voiced by actor Frank Readick, and his laugh was used even after Orson Welles took over the lead role. The most recognizable and copied evil laugh is probably the one voiced by Vincent Price, as it has been used or copied in radio, film, music, and television, notably in the end of the music video Michael Jackson's Thriller.
In films, evil laughter often fills the soundtrack even though the villain is off-camera. The laughter therefore follows the hero or victim as they try to escape. An example is in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where Belloq's laugh fills the South American jungle while Indiana Jones attempts to escape from the Hovitos.
Non-human characters such as King Ghidorah and Destoroyah from the Godzilla series can also have extremely unique and sinister laughs or laughter-like sounds.
Famous quotes containing the words evil and/or laughter:
“It is an evil world. The fires of hatred and violence burn fiercely. Evil is powerful, the devil covers a darkened earth with his black wings. And soon the end of the world is expected. But mankind does not repent, the church struggles, and the preachers and poets warn and lament in vain.”
—Johan Huizinga (18721945)
“We have fallen in the dreams the Ever-living
Breathe on the burnished mirror of the world
And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh,
And find their laughter sweeter to the taste
For that brief sighing.”
—William Butler Yeats (18651939)