The backlash to the Dark Knight backlash isn't exactly news — not after two weeks and almost $400 million dollars silencing even the most vehement of the film's critics. But today we direct our attention to the more disturbing phenomenon of physical threats against some of those same critics, a few of whose lives have even been targeted by rogue fanboys with a taste for reviewer blood. We hardly believed it ourselves until an unsettling taxonomy of freaks coming after reviewers Jürgen Fauth and Keith Uhlich showcased the worst of it:

Some go no deeper than "Fag!"; some are actually amusing — "Keep your head in Little Women and Suffrage texts you pansy" — but others are downright ugly. On Rotten Tomatoes, someone felt it would be beneficial to post as many personal details about Jürgen that they could find, while another likened his crime to Joan of Arc's:

"This guy is a terd [sic], let him rot. Lets [sic] burn him at the stake!"

The comments left for Keith are even more vile, particularly this one, which the author later claimed was written while channeling his inner Joker. Yikes. (All [sic]):

"You know, some people have been so enraged by your little opinion piece that they want you to kill yourself. Please DON'T!!! You know why, because I am going to have so much fun killing you myself! I promise, it WON'T be painless. I am going to carve a smile in your face. And then I am going to carve you stomach. And you know why? Because i just want my phone call. You're my bitch now! I am going to track you down through your IP address and then I am going to f@#%!%* kill you!!!"

Daaammmn. Worried as we are for Mssrs. Fauth and Uhlich, really: You've got to see this in IMAX. Michael Caine will be campaigning for these guys' Oscar nominations by Monday.

• Hell Hath No Fury Like a Fanboy Scorned [Filmbrain]

Tags: batman | critics | frenzies | the dark knight