Of all crimes, the murder of another human being has always caused a special fascination. The following movies about serial killers have tried to bring us closer to the horror that these subjects unleashed and how they disrupted society, in an attempt to help us understand what drives someone to end the lives of their peers.
- On the same topic: The 10 best series on serial killers.
12 movies about the most terrifying serial killers
Beyond the extensive bibliography on the subject, these films help us understand the intricate psychology of some of the most disturbed minds in criminal history, in an attempt to understand the motivations underlying their behavior and the background on which his personality was built.
12. Ed Gein (Chuck Parello, 2000)
We open the list with a modest, although interesting proposal, which reviews the adventures of Ed Gein , a lonely farmer who lived tormented by the memory of his domineering mother, that even dead appeared to him in visions and ordered him to kill. He was also the cause of the disappearance of several corpses from the cemetery, whose remains he used to make leather dresses, as well as utensils for the furniture of his house.
This picturesque murderer served as inspiration for the character of Norman Bates, from the novel Psycho (1950); Leatherface, from the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Buffalo Bill, from The Silence of the Lambs (1988).
- An In-Depth Analysis: Ed Gein, “The Butcher of Plainfield”: The Ghoul Killer.
11. Helter Skelter (Tom Gries, 1976)
TV product by CBS, which adapts the book Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, written two years earlier by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor who prosecuted Manson. Charles Manson , co-authored with novelist Curt Gentry.
This tv movie divided into two episodes tells how Manson founded the sect known as ‘The Family’, setting himself up as their spiritual leader and driving his minions to commit a wave of crimes in 1969; going through the notorious judicial process of all those involved and their subsequent imprisonment. Steve Railsback gives us an excellent performance of the alienated criminal in one of the movies about murderers that best portrays this case, one of the ones that most strongly shook American society.
10. Dahmer (David Jacobson, 2002)
It may not go down in history as a work of impeccable technical billing, but Dahmer is an approximation as faithful as it is crude to the life of the ‘Milwaukee Butcher’. This B series film delves into and explores the motivations of one of the most twisted serial killers in the history of the United States, guilty of taking the lives of 17 young people, whom he killed, dismembered and ate some of their body parts, preserving others as trophies.
As a curiosity, highlight the performance of a very young Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / ‘Hawkeye’ of The Avengers) as the tormented Jeffrey Dahmer.
9. Portrait of a murderer (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1986)
While we wait for the new feature film in which Zac Efron will play the main role, we can take the opportunity to review one of the many incursions that have been brought to the small screen on Ted Bundy , probably the most infamous killer in history.
Again, this is a miniseries that, although it skimps on the bloodiest scenes, thus sparing us the most lurid details of the crimes committed by this psychopath, is a very credible representation of Bundy’s personality and career.
8. To Catch a Murderer (Eric Till, 1992)
The life of John Wayne Gacy, or ‘the killer clown’, has been brought to the small screen on several occasions, although not all with the same success. In this case, as was the case with Helter Skelter, it is a miniseries that focuses on the game of cat and mouse between the police and the child murderer ; Not so much in the kidnapping and murder of the victims of this two-faced monster, as if they would make other movies about serial killers.
7. From Hell (Albert and Allen Hughes, 2001)
Being the most famous murderer of all time and not having been caught has given rise to a multitude of works in different formats. In this case, we are facing the transfer to the big screen of Alan Moore’s vignettes, also famous for Watchmen and 300.
In From Hell, we travel to London in 1888, where ‘Jack the Ripper’ established his reign of terror after mutilating to five prostitutes, then disappeared without a trace. Johnny Depp will be the inspector in charge of stopping the Whitechapel murderer, who seems to be somehow linked to the Crown and Freemasonry.
- To know more: Jack the Ripper: identity, who he was and other secrets.
6. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (John McNaughton, 1980)
Free biography of Henry Lee Lucas, a multiple murderer who constantly changed his address and modus operandi to evade capture. Lucas claimed to have committed more than 200 murders throughout the United States, although it is believed that he falsely accused himself of many of them to gain fame among the media.
In this film with an 80s aesthetic, we follow in the footsteps of Henry and Ottis (based on the fugitive Otis Toole, a friend in real life of Lucas), embarked on a spiral of deaths that is triggered by the murder of two prostitutes. From that moment on, we witness the descent into madness of two monsters unable to stop., in what is one of the toughest serial killer movies of the decade and had to be censored.
File photo of Henry Lee Lucas, an elusive killer. | Available from: The News Leader.
5. Citizen X (Chris Gerolmo, 1995)
Another who had his own television biopic was Andrei Chikatilo, ‘the Beast of Rostov’, who terrorized this Russian town during the years of the Soviet Union.
Citizen X harshly narrates the Chikatilo atrocities, from the late 1970s to 1990when he was arrested. He ended up being tried for 53 deaths, including those of dozens of children, whom he kidnapped, raped and tortured before ending his life; and executed in 1994. Stephen Rea plays the forensic doctor assigned to find the culprit and Jeffrey Demunn makes our blood run cold with his incredible impersonation of the Rostov cannibal.
4. The Boston Strangler (Richard Fleischer, 1968)
Controversial for a time when Puritanism reigned in film productions, The Boston Strangler is one of the most daring serial killer movies ; an analysis of how the race against time went to catch a murderer of women to whom 13 fatalities were attributed.
Henry Fonda plays the investigator of the case, while Tony Curtis (whose performance earned him a well-deserved Golden Globe) plays Albert DeSalvo, the man who confessed to the wave of crimes that devastated the region, although today Today many doubt his authorship.
3. Summer of Sam (Spike Lee, 1999)
Filmmaker Spike Lee directed one of his most unjustly forgotten films, in which he takes us into the hot summer of 1977, when a self-proclaimed killer ‘Son of Sam’ planted the panic in New York having shot several girls inside their cars.
Lee contextualizes the story in the time of the crimes of David Berkowitz, a character who remains in the background; and he takes the opportunity to show us the racial disputes generated between the inhabitants of a humble neighborhood in the Bronx, who suspect that the author of the shootings is actually one of them.
2. Monster (Patty Jenkins, 2003)
Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her stunning portrayal of the insane Aileen Wuornos , who killed seven men who tried to abuse her, she claimed in her defense.
Monster is the dramatic story of this prostitute suffering from a severe mental illness, who managed to evade justice, in addition to tricking a woman who fell in love with her into eloping together and whom she managed to convince of her innocence during her wave of murders. .
1. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
And finally, the creme de la creme of all movies about serial killers, from the hands of the genius David Fincher, who with a firm hand made his best feature film. A superb setting of the United States of the late 60s and 70s, a trio of unbeatable protagonists; In addition to a magnificent script (which is inspired by Robert Graysmith’s book), they make Zodiac an excellent intrigue about the pursuit of an elusive murderer who had the police in checkand who has not been identified.
The film captures the brutality and cold blood of the crimes of the Zodiac killer, parallel to the tireless investigative work of a journalist and a cartoonist, who will work side by side with detective David Toschi. The case will become the downfall of these characters, who will live obsessed with catching the culprit.
- Find out what they are: The 12 serial killers with the most victims.
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