Best Serial Killer Movies
Dominated by TV Movies, TV Miniseries, Art Films and cheap direct to Video releases. Skilled actors really shine in the role Harmon, Dennehy, Rooker, Renner, Sheen, Theron, Railsback all did career high points with their performances.
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- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJake GyllenhaalRobert Downey Jr.Mark RuffaloBetween 1968 and 1983, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.As the case goes cold so does this movie, its a brilliant work. Structured and paced to follow the story of one man's investigation of the serial killer. It gives you tons of data more than most documentaries on the subject in a completely engrossing and unnerving way. Robert Downey jr is perfectly cast.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.Looks at Starkweather and Fugate from an artistic manner that is a reflection of more of what the director saw them as rather than what they were. That makes them more than what they were but what they may have seen themselves. It makes itself more vivid portal into what was expected and what happened.
- StarsMark HarmonFrederic ForrestGeorge GrizzardThe story of serial killer, Ted Bundy.Harmon is good extremely good in his portrayal. He outshines the rest of the cast and the quality of the production. It all struggles to keep up with him.
- StarsMichael CaineArmand AssanteRay McAnallyA Scotland Yard police inspector, battling the booze, investigates the Jack the Ripper murders and discovers a conspiracy that leads all the way up to the Queen.Heavily fictionalized as most Jack movies are. However the acting is brilliant.
- DirectorChris GerolmoStarsStephen ReaDonald SutherlandMax von SydowDuring the 1980s, Soviet authorities hunt for a serial killer who picks his victims in railway stations and commuter trains and lures them into the woods.Hunting a serial killer in Russia. Focuses more on the hunter than the hunted. It is extraordinary interesting as the iron curtain refuses at times to admit they even have a serial killer.
- StarsBrian DennehyMichael RileyMargot KidderGood friend and neighbour John Wayne Gacy entertained children and ran a business. However, he hid a dark secret as a violent serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young boys.Dennehy does an outstanding job with his take on Gacy. The subject matter does not lend itself well to television which hurts it. It is also does not feel in the slightest like the Chicago land area in 1978. Generally very similar to the Deliberate Stranger where an actor out shines the work he is in.
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.Another fictionalized store but wow what a shocking evil little movie about a very evil man. It catches the spirit of his claims, truthful or not.
Its not ranked higher because too often it is exploitation and not exploration. If it had not fictionalized itself into what it was it could be justified. - DirectorPatty JenkinsStarsCharlize TheronChristina RicciBruce DernBased on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.Aileen was much more tragic than this movie. That this movie was made is the icy on her tragic cake of life. The acting again is outstanding.
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsJohnny DeppHeather GrahamIan HolmAfter five ritualistic murders are committed in 1888 London, Inspector Abberline's assignment is to investigate the "Jack the Ripper" murders. Along with a string of mutilated prostitutes, he uncovers a conspiracy involving the government.Beautifully filmed fictionalized and comic book look at Jack. Its a very will made movie. Depp's detective a dark twist on Sherlock in a pitch black tale.
- DirectorSvetozar RistovskiStarsWilliam ForsytheJesse MossEmma LahanaA chronicle of the interaction between college student Jason Moss and the object of his obsession, serial killer John Wayne Gacy.Creepy true story about the fun a serial murderer can have on death row. Different from most of these movies on this list in that its after fact.
- StarsGeorge DiCenzoSteve RailsbackNancy WolfeThe investigation and trial of the horrific Tate-LaBianca mass murders orchestrated by the psychotic pseudo-hippie cult leader, Charles Manson.The level of realism is high. The acting spot on. Not ranked higher as Bugliosi's work that the script in based on is heavy handed in parts to be almost an episode of Dragnet. Bugliosi extends a grandeur upon scum while at the same time scraping boney fingers together in a holier than thou style of simply crap. What happened was a product of its time without question. Is it safe to over simplify it, no. It is an easy moral high ground of course. This is not a matter to just blankly report nor is it a matter to dismiss without a deeper exploration of why.
- DirectorStephen KayStarsRobert ForsterMichael MicheleMaury ChaykinAfter 31 years at-large, detectives in Wichita, Kansas home in on the serial killer known as BTK.Robert Forester does a solid job in a bland role. Something about the extremely lean no frills television production and its very factual story telling. Interject that with Forester's monotone world wary and deeply sad performance makes this one feel real.
- DirectorJud TaylorStarsMartin SheenHector ElizondoMatt Clark"Out of the Darkness" is a gripping thriller telling the true story of the hunt and capture of David Berkowitz, a.k.a. "Son of Sam" - the infamous serial killer who stalked New York City in the 1970s.Son of Sam from the view of a cop after him a bit to much focus on the family of the cop. Martin Sheen is outstanding.
- DirectorJoel BenderStarsLaura PreponMisha CollinsPatrick BauchauBased on real events, Paul Bernardo and his wife, Karla Homolka, kidnap, sexually abuse, and murder three young girls.
- DirectorBill EaglesStarsBruce GreenwoodSam JaegerSarah ManninenA series of interviews are conducted with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy in hopes of gaining insight into the Green River Killer who is terrorizing Seattle.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsJohn LeguizamoAdrien BrodyMira SorvinoSpike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.
- DirectorAlexandre MoorsStarsIsaiah WashingtonTequan RichmondTim Blake NelsonAn abandoned boy is lured to America and drawn into the shadow of a dangerous father figure. Inspired by the real-life events that led to the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks.
- DirectorDavid JacobsonStarsJeremy RennerBruce DavisonArtel GreatBiopic about notorious American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, taking place in both the past and the present.
- DirectorRupert GooldStarsJames FrancoJonah HillFelicity JonesWhen disgraced New York Times reporter Michael Finkel meets accused killer Christian Longo - who has taken on Finkel's identity - his investigation morphs into a game of cat-and-mouse.
- DirectorJim Van BebberStarsMarcelo GamesMarc PitmanLeslie OrrA dramatization of the horrific and notorious Manson Family Murders, in the form of super 8 home movies.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsKlaus KinskiJosephine ChaplinHerbert FuxA serial killer whose mother was a prostitute starts killing streetwalkers as a way of paying back his mother for her abuse.
- DirectorGreg McLeanStarsNathan PhillipsCassandra MagrathKestie MorassiThree backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
- DirectorJustin KurzelStarsLucas PittawayDaniel HenshallLouise HarrisBased on true events, 16 year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsTony CurtisHenry FondaGeorge KennedyA series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.
- DirectorChuck ParelloStarsC. Thomas HowellNicholas TurturroAllison LangeKenneth is obsessed with the police, he moves to LA with his cousin, Angelo convinces him to start a prostitution business. Frustrated decide on revenge, feeling a great pleasure with her death. The two cousins become addicted to death.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRichard AttenboroughJudy GeesonJohn HurtWhat happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
- DirectorRobert S. BakerMonty BermanStarsLee PattersonEddie ByrneBetty McDowallA serial killer is murdering women in the Whitechapel district of London. An American policeman is brought in to help Scotland Yard solve the case.
- DirectorRich AmblerStarsBo SvensonScott CordesCathy BarnettBased on the true story of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the events within the family behind, and leading up to his capture.
- DirectorChuck ParelloStarsSteve RailsbackCarrie SnodgressCarol MansellThe story of Ed Gein, who dug up the corpses of over a dozen women and made things out of their remains before finally shooting two people to death and butchering their bodies like beef sides.
- DirectorBruce Seth GreenStarsRichard JordanA MartinezJulie CarmenBased on the true story of Richard "The Night Stalker" Ramirez who terrorized California in 1985 and the two Los Angeles police detectives who try to track him down.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsKen ForeeUlli LommelChristopher KriesaA mysterious shooter randomly kills innocent citizens in public; one after the other in broad daylight. All murders happen not far from the White House; not far from the President.
- DirectorKeith WalleyStarsDoug ColeBeverly SoteloStacy CunninghamGruesome true story of murderer Richard Speck who killed eight nursing students in one night in Chicago during the late sixties. The story also follows him to his prison fate and uncovers more of his strange behavoir before his death.
- DirectorMatthew BrightStarsMichael Reilly BurkeBoti BlissJulianna McCarthyThe story of serial killer Ted Bundy.
- DirectorTom McLoughlinStarsCharles S. DuttonJay O. SandersBobby HoseaJohn Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo went on a serial killing spree in October 2002 in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
- DirectorTom HansonStarsHal ReedBob JonesRay LynchA serial killer in San Francisco murders without motive or apparent pattern and taunts the police with phone calls and letters.
- DirectorChris FisherStarsBret RobertsJoseph McKelheerRoxanne DayRichard Ramirez, aka the Nightstalker, who terrorized people in Los Angeles during the 1980s, and the police had no clue with him.
- DirectorAlexander BulkleyStarsJustin ChambersRobin TunneyRory CulkinAn elusive serial killer known as the Zodiac terrorizes the San Francisco Bay in the late 1960s, while detectives aim to stop him before he claims more victims. Based on a true story.
- DirectorCharles B. PierceStarsBen JohnsonAndrew PrineDawn WellsThe story of a hooded, berserk killer who terrorized the border town of Texarkana, Arkansas in 1946--leaving no fewer than five murder victims in his wake. He was never caught. Based on one of America's most baffling murder cases.
- DirectorMichael FeiferStarsKane HodderAdrienne FrantzMichael BerrymanThe twisted and murderous appetites of the notorious Ed Gein, whose depredations in his small town of Plainfield come as quite a shock to his neighbors, especially Deputy Mason, whose mother Vera and girlfriend Erica have gone missing.
- DirectorRick BitzelbergerStarsChristopher StapletonRobert SiskoSean ThomasA film based on the true story of Ed Kemper, a serial killer who murdered ten in Santa Cruz, CA during the late sixties and early seventies.
- DirectorChris FisherStarsJoleigh FioreavantiBret RobertsBrittany DanielKenneth Bianchi, one of the two serial rapists and killers who terrorized the Los Angeles area in the late 1970s, is giving police station interviews to psychiatrist Samantha Stone, who is forced to relive the horrific crimes.
- DirectorClive SaundersStarsMark HoltonAdam BaldwinTom WaldmanModel citizen, devoted father, loving husband and serial killer John Wayne Gacy - a man with over 30 dead men and boys entombed in the crawl space underneath his family house. Based on a true story.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsGerard GriesbaumEric GerlemanVictoria UllmannThe B.T.K. killer harasses a news reporter with threatening letters as he ponders about the murders he committed 30 years ago.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsGeorge KiseleffJacquelyn AuroraGeorgie DonovanAlong twenty years, the deranged serial-killer Gary Ridgway has killed at least forty-eight prostitutes and dumped their bodies in Green River.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsYogi JoshiElissa DowlingCassandra ChurchThis chilling tale recounts the late 70's in New York City, when a serial killer on the loose dubbed "Son of Sam" creates havoc. When arrested, "Son of Sam" tells police he was influenced by a satanic cult. New York would never be the same.