Best Serial Killer Movies
by Jamie_Shannon | created - 27 Feb 2016 | updated - 22 Mar 2018 | PublicDominated 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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1. Zodiac (2007)
R | 157 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Between 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.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards
Votes: 597,530 | Gross: $33.08M
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.
2. Badlands (1973)
PG | 94 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri
Votes: 78,294
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.
3. The Deliberate Stranger (1986)
Not Rated | 185 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The story of serial killer, Ted Bundy.
Stars: Mark Harmon, Frederic Forrest, George Grizzard, Ben Masters
Votes: 2,670
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.
4. Jack the Ripper (1988)
TV-PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A 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.
Stars: Michael Caine, Armand Assante, Ray McAnally, Lewis Collins
Votes: 5,665
Heavily fictionalized as most Jack movies are. However the acting is brilliant.
5. Citizen X (1995 TV Movie)
R | 105 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
During 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.
Director: Chris Gerolmo | Stars: Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Max von Sydow, Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 22,279
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.
6. To Catch a Killer (1992)
Unrated | 182 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
"To Catch a Killer" tells the true gruesome story of John Wayne Gacy - a good friend and helpful neighbour, a great child entertainer, a respectful businessman, and a violent serial killer ... See full summary »
Stars: Brian Dennehy, Michael Riley, Margot Kidder, Meg Foster
Votes: 2,910
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.
7. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Unrated | 83 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
Director: John McNaughton | Stars: Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles, Mary Demas
Votes: 40,385 | Gross: $0.61M
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.
8. Monster (2003)
R | 109 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.
Director: Patty Jenkins | Stars: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen
Votes: 161,641 | Gross: $34.47M
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.
9. From Hell (2001)
R | 122 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After 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.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | Stars: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane
Votes: 164,111 | Gross: $31.60M
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.
10. Dear Mr. Gacy (2010)
R | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A chronicle of the interaction between college student Jason Moss and the object of his obsession, serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Director: Svetozar Ristovski | Stars: William Forsythe, Jesse Moss, Emma Lahana, Cole Heppell
Votes: 3,805
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.
11. Helter Skelter (1976)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The investigation and trial of the horrific Tate-LaBianca mass murders orchestrated by the psychotic pseudo-hippie cult leader, Charles Manson.
Stars: George DiCenzo, Steve Railsback, Nancy Wolfe, Marilyn Burns
Votes: 3,850
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.
12. The Hunt for the BTK Killer (2005 TV Movie)
R | 82 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
After 31 years at-large, detectives in Wichita, Kansas home in on the serial killer known as BTK.
Director: Stephen Kay | Stars: Robert Forster, Michael Michele, Maury Chaykin, Mimi Kuzyk
Votes: 1,574
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.
13. Out of the Darkness (1985 TV Movie)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
"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... See full summary »
Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: Martin Sheen, Hector Elizondo, Matt Clark, Jennifer Salt
Votes: 484
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.
14. Karla (2006)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Based on real events, Paul Bernardo and his wife, Karla Homolka, kidnap, sexually abuse, and murder three young girls.
Director: Joel Bender | Stars: Laura Prepon, Misha Collins, Patrick Bauchau, Emilie Jacobs
Votes: 6,338
15. The Riverman (2004 TV Movie)
R | 91 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A 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.
Director: Bill Eagles | Stars: Bruce Greenwood, Sam Jaeger, Sarah Manninen, Kathleen Quinlan
Votes: 1,560
16. Summer of Sam (1999)
R | 142 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Spike 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.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito
Votes: 41,279 | Gross: $19.28M
17. Blue Caprice (2013)
R | 93 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An 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.
Director: Alexandre Moors | Stars: Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Tim Blake Nelson, Joey Lauren Adams
Votes: 6,048 | Gross: $0.09M
18. Dahmer (2002)
R | 101 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Biopic about notorious American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, taking place in both the past and the present.
Director: David Jacobson | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Bruce Davison, Artel Great, Matt Newton
Votes: 11,657 | Gross: $0.14M
19. True Story (I) (2015)
R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
When 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.
Director: Rupert Goold | Stars: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Felicity Jones, Maria Dizzia
Votes: 72,894 | Gross: $4.72M
20. The Manson Family (1997)
R | 95 min | Crime, Drama, History
A dramatization of the horrific and notorious Manson Family Murders, in the form of super 8 home movies.
Director: Jim Van Bebber | Stars: Marcelo Games, Marc Pitman, Leslie Orr, Maureen Allisse
Votes: 3,384 | Gross: $0.02M
21. Jack the Ripper (1976)
R | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A serial killer whose mother was a prostitute starts killing streetwalkers as a way of paying back his mother for her abuse.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Josephine Chaplin, Herbert Fux, Lina Romay
Votes: 1,901
22. Wolf Creek (2005)
R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller
Three backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
Director: Greg McLean | Stars: Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi, John Jarratt
Votes: 78,267 | Gross: $16.19M
23. The Snowtown Murders (2011)
Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based 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.
Director: Justin Kurzel | Stars: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris, Bob Adriaens
Votes: 20,591 | Gross: $0.01M
24. The Boston Strangler (1968)
Approved | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy, Mike Kellin
Votes: 10,810
25. The Hillside Strangler (2004)
R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Kenneth 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.
Director: Chuck Parello | Stars: C. Thomas Howell, Nicholas Turturro, Allison Lange, Marisol Padilla Sánchez
Votes: 1,982 | Gross: $0.00M
26. 10 Rillington Place (1971)
GP | 111 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
What 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.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt, Pat Heywood
Votes: 9,767
27. Jack the Ripper (1959)
Not Rated | 84 min | Crime, Drama, History
A serial killer is murdering women in the Whitechapel district of London. An American policeman is brought in to help Scotland Yard solve the case.
Directors: Robert S. Baker, Monty Berman | Stars: Lee Patterson, Eddie Byrne, Betty McDowall, Ewen Solon
Votes: 964
28. Raising Jeffrey Dahmer (2006)
R | 100 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the true story of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the events within the family behind, and leading up to his capture.
Director: Rich Ambler | Stars: Bo Svenson, Scott Cordes, Cathy Barnett, Rusty Sneary
Votes: 465
29. Ed Gein (2000)
Not Rated | 89 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The 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.
Director: Chuck Parello | Stars: Steve Railsback, Carrie Snodgress, Carol Mansell, Sally Champlin
Votes: 5,621 | Gross: $0.01M
30. Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker (1989 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 95 min | Crime, Drama, History
Based 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.
Director: Bruce Seth Green | Stars: Richard Jordan, A Martinez, Julie Carmen, Alan Feinstein
Votes: 485
31. D.C. Sniper (2010 Video)
R | 92 min | Crime, Thriller
A 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.
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Ken Foree, Ulli Lommel, Christopher Kriesa, Tory N. Thompson
Votes: 417
32. Speck (2002)
R | 79 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
Gruesome 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.
Director: Keith Walley | Stars: Doug Cole, Beverly Sotelo, Stacy Cunningham, Flynn Beck
Votes: 272
33. Ted Bundy (2002)
R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of serial killer Ted Bundy.
Director: Matthew Bright | Stars: Michael Reilly Burke, Boti Bliss, Julianna McCarthy, Jennifer Tisdale
Votes: 8,131 | Gross: $0.01M
34. D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear (2003 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 85 min | Drama, History, Thriller
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo went on a serial killing spree in October 2002 in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
Director: Tom McLoughlin | Stars: Charles S. Dutton, Jay O. Sanders, Bobby Hosea, Trent Cameron
Votes: 1,525
35. The Zodiac Killer (1971)
R | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A serial killer in San Francisco murders without motive or apparent pattern and taunts the police with phone calls and letters.
Director: Tom Hanson | Stars: Hal Reed, Bob Jones, Ray Lynch, Tom Pittman
Votes: 961
36. Nightstalker (2002)
R | 95 min | Crime, Horror
Richard Ramirez, aka the Nightstalker, who terrorized people in Los Angeles during the 1980s, and the police had no clue with him.
Director: Chris Fisher | Stars: Bret Roberts, Joseph McKelheer, Roxanne Day, Julian Garcia
Votes: 1,269
37. The Zodiac (2005)
R | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
An 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.
Director: Alexander Bulkley | Stars: Justin Chambers, Robin Tunney, Rory Culkin, William Mapother
Votes: 7,475 | Gross: $0.04M
38. The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Approved | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The 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.
Director: Charles B. Pierce | Stars: Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells, Jimmy Clem
Votes: 9,770
39. Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007 Video)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The 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.
Director: Michael Feifer | Stars: Kane Hodder, Adrienne Frantz, Michael Berryman, Priscilla Barnes
Votes: 2,205
40. Kemper (2008 Video)
R | 88 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
A 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.
Director: Rick Bitzelberger | Stars: Christopher Stapleton, Robert Sisko, Sean Thomas, Jordan Blanchard
Votes: 609
41. Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders (2006)
R | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Kenneth 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.
Director: Chris Fisher | Stars: Joleigh Fioreavanti, Bret Roberts, Brittany Daniel, Joseph McKelheer
Votes: 872
42. Gacy (2003 Video)
R | 88 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Model 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.
Director: Clive Saunders | Stars: Mark Holton, Adam Baldwin, Tom Waldman, Charlie Weber
Votes: 4,814
43. B.T.K. Killer (2005 Video)
R | 82 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The B.T.K. killer harasses a news reporter with threatening letters as he ponders about the murders he committed 30 years ago.
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Gerard Griesbaum, Eric Gerleman, Victoria Ullmann, Shyla Fernandes
Votes: 1,434
44. Green River Killer (2005 Video)
R | 83 min | Crime, Horror
Along twenty years, the deranged serial-killer Gary Ridgway has killed at least forty-eight prostitutes and dumped their bodies in Green River.
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: George Kiseleff, Jacquelyn Aurora, Georgie Donovan, Shannon Leade
Votes: 1,005
45. Son of Sam (2008 Video)
R | 80 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
This 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Yogi Joshi, Elissa Dowling, Cassandra Church, Bertrand Paré
Votes: 470
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