Braddourif - Blog Posts
Brad Dourif, the greatest of all time!!!!
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This dude turns 75 today👇
Happy Birthday, Brad! 🥳🎉
brad dourif fanarts by humanpincushion
When I was first scrounging around for Bradthirst material, I came across these pieces by @anonmarleighdourif (humanpincushion on DeviantArt). They have an incredible talent for capturing his likeness, especially the eyes.
So lush, these are a huge inspiration for me. I just want to stare at them all day long.
death machine x wrecking ball (SPOILERS)
Have to put this down now or I'll never stop futzing with it... I do enjoy watching his slimy little ass get beat over and over though
brad dourif: shit's getting real when they pop the headlights
While fawning over BD’s supernaturally gorgeous eyes, I had to pick just a few gifs to illustrate That Thing where directors highlight him from an off-angle so they seem to glow internally. You know something's about to go down when they bust out this trick.
Problem: The X-Files alone is chock-full of this effect, and there are a gajillion more from other media. So: a dedicated post!
Starting with the ole one-eye highlight — they usually pick the right one, which is a little lifted and turned (I'm calling it his cat-eye):
Cue the lightning!!!
Sometimes it makes an iridescent crescent shape. I know it's meant to be scary, but he's such a terribly pretty boy:
Getting creative with some uplighting and a rare left eye (it's nice to see her getting some attention)...
...And some more extreme angles. How does this even work?!
It's just... captivating. I'm gonna go lie down now. (Think I actually stole all the gifs from @exdeputysonso this time. I'm basically a recycler for all their hard work and tbqh I'm fine with that)
brad dourif scrungly feature analysis: eyes
from the “Boys” dourif-hottie supercut music video:
I’d love to see an artist break this down!
For now, let me write you a novel about Brad's spectacular eyes...
The Strangeness
(Skip if you want to preserve the mystery.) BD's right eye is placed a little higher, and turned up as if tugged from the outer corner. I think it's part of that subtle something that immediately sets him apart. This unique, catlike, romantic asymmetry snatches your attention.
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The glow
His striking, chameleonic blues capture light — even in B&W — which directors loooooove to exploit by lighting him obliquely:
It's a great way to crank up the eerie vibe of any scene, and I respect Star Trek for trashing that option outright with all-black contacts. (Of course, he still served an incredibly compelling outsider.)
(Edit: I put up a post just about this effect because they seriously do it all the damn time) (...because it's awesome)
Set in shadows
He has hooded eyes, deep-set and accentuated by heavy eye bags. The shadows and textures draw you in toward those luminescent irises, like picture frames that amplify each motion of his eyes.
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Contrast
Sometimes he pops them wide open, creating these huge, expressive magnets...
...Or squints lopsidedly...
...Or interrogates, challenges, threatens — alert but defensive, like a prey animal on the edge of lashing out.
He’s said he chooses roles that "turn him on" (pretty clearly in an artistic sense); many of these blend menace and vulnerability, and our boy dumps emotion into every. single. line. This can manifest as an intense, wary, combative look, with eyes wide under neutral or furrowed brows:
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Cry, baby
...And that's all before we mention the tears. He cries, of course, at will and liberally, and his eyes go red-rimmed and wet, highlighting them even more as he pins someone's soul to the wall with his gaze.
When he hovers right on the edge, they seem to shine in the dark.
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Bared
At times, his fair eyelashes almost vanish, compounding his unusual look with a birdlike or reptilian tinge.
Obviously, the shaved brows in LOTR add to this effect.
A couple more things you'll notice here: he'll hold his eyes wide open for much longer than normal, drawing out these moments and making him seem even more alien.
And when he gets up-close in someone's face (which is often), he's constantly switching his gaze between their eyes — totally fixated, as if scanning for emotional feedback. In my opinion, it adds to that vulnerability: to the object of his attention, he must seem like a predator freezing them in place... but it's also desperate, like a prey animal trying to decipher the other person's intent, all senses tuned to pick up their slightest signal. (GrĂma Wormtongue and Jack Dante especially have this pathetic air about them: grasping at sources of warmth while lashing out at the harsh, unintelligible world around them, allying themselves with uncontrollable destructive forces in an attempt to establish a place for themselves........)
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TL;DR
The eyes — and how he uses them — are the standout scrungly feature, the main reason we can’t look away from this unforgettable weirdo.
The cat-eye asymmetry pulls focus;
His ice-blue irises are light traps, framed in textured shadow;
His full-bore emotional commitment ramps up the anguish and torment to an aching crescendo that's impossible to ignore.
Eventually I'll follow up on other contributing factors, but for now, I'll leave you with a couple of article snippets about The Eyes:
Imagi-Movies: Vol 1 No 2 — Winter 1993/94. Pages 11-13: "Traumatic - Brad Dourif". Link
SoHo News: November-December 1981. "Tension and mercy - Brad Dourif glowers for our sins" (an article all about his eyes! But they don't mention the asymmetry.)
[Gifs were mostly stolen from the GOAT, @exdeputysonso — with some of my own, mostly the square ones. Shout-out to @dragonsbloodsnowcone for inspiring this word vomit.]
Thanks for reading!
There’s a high-quality face smoosh in Death Machine too, AND a face-grabby kiss in Spontaneous Combustion!
I get it… I really do
Pictures of people smooshing Brad’s face. He’s got a smooshable face.
brad dourif Best Men curls poll
(follow-up to the previous Best Men curls gifpost)
bonus gifs!
Whoever is responsible for BD's silvery curls in Best Men, I salute you 🫡
There's like a two-toned thing going on: frizzy brown tendrils in the front and well-defined metallic lushness in the back. Possibly a rare sighting of the molting phase? Young Brad's hair is more fluffy and light brown, Elder Brad's is more black and silver. In other stuff from 1997-ish, it's usually brushed back so harder to tell. (Discuss.)
In this movie, he did a weird croaky voice the whole time and had lots of sexual tension with this other ex-soldier guy. A+
what movies are these shots from? and if you'd have the time to make a full list of the movies in the Boys edit that'd be nice. carry on brad dourif warrior 🫡
Here are your answers :v I've updated the Boys hottie supercut video with a full list as well! Thanks for the push.
1. Tales of the Unknown, episode “Number Eight”
2. Istanbul! The infamous movie where brad plays someone with a really awful secret, but is also incredibly stupidly impossibly gorgeous
3. Moonlighting TV show episode, we love a tortured priest
4. Trauma: he’s only onscreen for a few minutes, but he makes them count
the garment
What do we think this thing is that Tucker Cleveland wears under his exterminator coverall? It looks like something knitted with white yarn and covered in orange paint, maybe intended to look like rusty chainmail?
all my weird little music videos of Brad Dourif looking pretty:
Supercut of hottie moments (Boys)
The X-Files (Shinigami Eyes)
Spontaneous Combustion (You Spin Me)
Death Machine (Wrecking Ball)
Boyssss
I'm a simple critter... all I need is a continuous feed of Brad Dourif being a prettyboy
-> you may enjoy my other Dourif vids
-> if you only know him from Chucky, Lord of the Rings, or Dune, here is an introductory smorgasbord of Brad being a total hottie
...Clip sources under the cut! As requested by @for-there-is-phantasmagoria
(Many of these were trimmed from supercuts by @exdeputysonso , who also has a ton of gifsets you can scroll through to figure out which Brad you're looking at! Seriously they are driving the fandom)
Listed in order of appearance. Some are repeats, so I've added hints.
Trauma (frame narrative)
Cypress Edge (ponytail and deep Vs)
Moonlighting (priest)
Best Men (frizzy but compelling veteran)
Spontaneous Combustion (glitter)
The Equalizer (puffy vest)
Amos and Andrew (5-0)
Istanbul (all the prettiest shots)
Star Trek: Voyager
Death Machine (hair extensions)
London Kills Me (red suit)
Tales of the Unexpected, "Number Eight" (blond fluff)
Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo
The X-Files, "Beyond the Sea" (prison CCTV)
Miami Vice (pool table)
Silicon Towers (finger bite)
Graveyard Shift (drinky)
Ragtime (boater)
Escape to Witch Mountain (chauffeur)
The Exorcist III (nose bandage)
Senseless (horn rims)
Wild Palms (VR dance)
Medium Rare (brain fry)
Nightwatch (pill bottle)
Alien: Resurrection