10 Best Movies About Serial Killers

In honor of Zodiac (read yesterdays review), I have compiled a list of the greatest movies about serial killers. I did not include any movie that may be considered a slasher/horror film. So, while movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween may be constrewed as being about serial killers, I did not include them on this list!

10. Dahmer (2002) - The movie may get a little bogged down with all the flashbacks (and even flashbacks-within-flashbacks), Dahmer is still a compelling, and terribly underrated, piece of cinema. Jeremy Renner plays the title character with the perfect amount of creepiness. It's a fascinating film that does not glamorize Dahmer nor portray him as a villain. He's merely presented as a human being.

09. Sin City (2005) - Sin City is a lot of things: beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted and pretty much one of the coolest movies in recent years. But it also presents not one but two wonderfully imagined and executed serial killers in the form of creepier than creepy cannibal Elijah Wood and child rapist Nick Stahl (as the Yellow Bastard). While none of the characters in Sin City are likeable, per say, these two are the sleaziest and creepiest.

08. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) - Based on real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, the film follows the exploits of Henry (played by Michael Rooker) in a realistic and utterly frightening way. You don't even see Henry actually killing anyone, but the movie still sends chills down your spine. This is an all around creepy, disturbing movie presented in such a cold and calculating way.

07. M (1931) - M is about the search for a child murderer in Berlin and as the story progresses, the high profile murders begin to inhabit the lives of everyone from the police to the criminals to the innocent bystanders to the accused. This film uses a lot of the tricks that would come to be considered film noir such as the use of shadows to create a dark and intense mood. Without this film, we probably wouldn't have the modern psyhological crime thrillers that top my list.

06. Manhunter (1986) - Sure, this film has fallen by the waste side because of it's relationship to the utterly masterful The Silence of the Lambs, but at the time this fiml was wonderful. The way Will goes about catching the killer is every bit as clever as Starling's methods in the latter film, if not more so. In addition, we are treated to the thoughts, the inner monologue, the frustration and the triumph of a hunter. The movie is very dated and stylised but it's still a wonderful entry into the the story of Hannibal Lector.

05. American Psycho (2000) - Maybe I'm a little bias because of my feelings for Christian Bale, but American Psycho is so much more than the exploitative slasher flick it appears to be on the surface. It's really something unique and intriguing, a brilliant, throught-provoking social commentary and thriller. The movie really requires more than one viewing in order to experience fully the surreal visual arena and to justify what we think actually happened. The masterful and perplexing ending is perhaps the best part of the film.

04. Dirty Harry (1971) - Diry Harry was widely accepted to be based on the Zodiac murders that were happening at the time and the movie has become a classic not to be missed. Clint Eastwood goes from cowboy to hit man, mountain terrain to urban metropolis. He shifts into a gear where society is run by the evil acts of people. Dirty Harry is one of the most iconic characters of all time and the film is much more about him than the "Scorpio" killer but it's still a wonderful film driven by fear and anxiety and anger and tension.

03. Psycho (1960) - Psycho may seem hokey now but at the time it was surely a terrifying film. Anthony Perkins plays the ulimate mamma's boy and avoids turning Norman Bates into a ranting, raving, drooling, murder-happy, manic characterization. Instead, his performance is subtle, creepy, cool, unsettling and utterly brilliant. From his quiet conversations with Marion Crane amidst the stuffed birds, to his weasling wimpiness when confronted by Arbogast, his performance is so exact that it chills the viewer to the bone.

02. Se7en (1995) - Zodiac isn't David Fincher's first brilliantly done serial killer flick. His first was the gothic, shocking, suspenseful, disturbing and clever Se7en, the dark tale of murder and crime the revolves around Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman's detectives who try to piece together a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins. Se7en is a step into the harsh realities of life, showing a realistic portrayal of two detectives investigation into the undescribable horrific world of murder and the darkest realms of mankind.

01. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Hannibal Lector is the greatest serial killer in the history of literature and film. Played so perfectly by Anthony Hopkins, the film is an intelligent, tightly controlled, intense character study and look into a psychotic mind. This is the kind of film that will wrap itself around you and you will likely never shake some of the key elements of the film. This movie is in a class by itself.

Hannibal Rising and Half Nelson

Hannibal Rising - Presented as a prequel to Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, Hannibal Rising could have been a lot worse. That's not saying, however, that the movie was good. It has its share of ridiculousness. We learn that Lecter is a victim of brutal violence suffered when he was 8 years old, surviving bombings at the hands of war criminals. He watches as they kill his entire family. He breaks out of a Soviet orphanage and travels to France where he meets his Japanese aunt (!!). Somehow, he already speaks perfect French (although he is Lithuanian and shouldn't he speak German?) and is able to study medicine without having any education. Turns out, his Japanese aunt is a survivor of Hiroshima and is some sort of Super Geisha Samaurai who can kick major ass and trains Lecter into being able to cut a man's head off in a one single swoop of a sword (which is so damn silly that I nearly laughed out loud). Still, the movie isn't a complete mess. The beginning drags on for far too long and the end becomes absolutely ridiculous right down to the bad acting (I mean, like, Saw bad). Still, what's in the middle isn't all that bad. As part of a franchise, the movie doesn't do much damage. Still, it all just seems a little unneccessary. Is it really important to see where Lecter, the greatest serial killer in literary and film history, came from? Is it really important to debate whether he was born a serial killer or made to become one? Gaspard Ulliel does a fine job as Hannibal. He's mostly creepy but... there is no way in hell that this kid would grow up to look ANYTHING like Anthony Hopkins. Still, the film is a decent bloodbath complete with everything you would expect from the franchise right down to the cannibalism.
Grade: C

Half Nelson - This is the kind of movie that is such a gem that it becomes such a shame that no one is going to see it. How the brilliant director/writers managed to weave together - seamlessly - politcal commentary, commentary on the nature of modern family relationships, existential struggles, racial tensions and ironies, and the struggles with which we are born by simply being human, is beyond me. It's a gritty, sensitive, well controlled and emotionally harrowing film set in Brooklyn that manages to avoid the inspirational cliches of many teacher-student films and the obligatory violence of films set in the ghetto. Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling finally making the movie and giving the performance that I knew he could) is an idealistic eighth-grade History teacher in an inner city mostly black school who inspires his students by day and drugs himself at night with crack cocaine. Dan is well-liked by his students because he challenges them and doesn't treat them like kids. He coaches girls basketball on the side and is charming with every woman he comes in contact with. His parents were liberal activists in the 60s and 70s and, like them, he wants to make an impact on the world but is disillusioned with the current political climate and, out of frustration and just plain old fatigue, has drifted into a self-induced stupor. Dunne's life begins to spiral out of control when one of his students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), discovers him in the girl's locker room passed out for cocaine. Instead of becoming frightened or angry, Drey brings him water and helps him come down from his high. Drey is not without her own problems, however. Her mother works constant double shifts and is never home, her father is out of her life and her older brother is in prison for selling drugs. Drey is mature and street-wise beyond her age. Drey and Dan forge an unlikely friendship that satisfies emotional needs that Drey cannot find with her classmates and Dan cannot find with other adults. The emotional highlight of the film begins when Dan confronts Frank (Anthony Mackie), a suave drug dealer and associate of Drey's older brother who recruits Drey to be his collector. While Dan wants so desperately to steer Drey in the right direction, he is hardly a role model. This is a sort of tragic modern day classic. Gosling's performance as the charming but flawed teacher is so nuanced and touching that we root for him in spite of h is capacity for self-destruction. Gosling is spot on and that Oscar nomination is well deserved. Epps is equally convincing in her understated and powerful performance. This story is intense, deep, dark, depressing and, well, hopeful.
Grade: A-