Depends on the mood and intent. Pure evil villains are good for movies were the conflict is not that complex, like Superman or Lion King (cartoon), and you’re just going along for the ride. They can even be made compelling while completely unredeemable, like Scar.
Humanized ones are better when the driving conflict is meant to actually be conflicting for the audience. Kilgrave in Jessica Jones comes to mind as an absolutely despicable horrible person, who is still humanized from beginning to end, which makes sense because a central theme of the first season is about fleeing or confronting abuse and the normalisation of such abuse in society, and whether abusers are capable or willing to change. Spoilers for a 10 year old series, but it concludes with a resounding “no, fuck that” that would be nowhere near as compelling if Kilgrave was portrayed as just evil. (Great series, highly recommend)
Depends on the mood and intent. Pure evil villains are good for movies were the conflict is not that complex, like Superman or Lion King (cartoon), and you’re just going along for the ride. They can even be made compelling while completely unredeemable, like Scar.
Humanized ones are better when the driving conflict is meant to actually be conflicting for the audience. Kilgrave in Jessica Jones comes to mind as an absolutely despicable horrible person, who is still humanized from beginning to end, which makes sense because a central theme of the first season is about fleeing or confronting abuse and the normalisation of such abuse in society, and whether abusers are capable or willing to change. Spoilers for a 10 year old series, but it concludes with a resounding “no, fuck that” that would be nowhere near as compelling if Kilgrave was portrayed as just evil. (Great series, highly recommend)