Subgenre Sampler

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No Man of God (2021): Dir. Amber Sealey
Feat. Elijah Wood, Luke Kirby, Aleksa Palladino…; Engrossing thriller based on the relationship between FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier and serial killer Ted Bundy. Set in Bundy's final years on death…
Des (TV Mini-series) (2020): Feat. David Tennant, Daniel Mays, Jason Watkins; Grisly TV miniseries based on the 1983 arrest of Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen, one of the most infamous criminal cases in UK…
Freaky (2020): Dir. Christopher Landon
Feat. Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran…; Christopher Landon (HAPPY DEATH DAY) directs this big hearted and hilarious teen comedy slasher with loving nods to classics of the genre, especially…
Little Things, The (2020): Dir. John Lee Hancock
Feat. Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto…; Neo noir murder mystery from writer–director John Lee Hancock (THE BLIND SIDE) with Denzel Washington and Rami Malek playing a pair of…
Clovehitch Killer, The (2018): Dir. Duncan Skiles
Feat. Dylan McDermott, Charlie Plummer, Samantha Mathis; A tense, effectively slowburn horror–thriller from the writer of COP CAR that stars Charlie Plummer (so good in LEAN ON PETE) as the dutiful…
House That Jack Built, The (2018): Dir. Lars Von Trier
Feat. Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman…; Matt Dillon plays a po–faced serial killer across 12 years, intimately exploring his mental state and beliefs about life and art. From Danish…
Absentia (TV Series) (2017): Feat. Stana Katic, Patrick Heusinger; Thriller about an FBI agent who is declared dead after disappearing while on the search for one of Boston's most notorious serial killers, but is…
Rillington Place (TV Mini-series) (2016): Dir. Craig Viveiros
Feat. Tim Roth, Samantha Morton, Nico Mirallegro…; Three–part crime drama starring Tim Roth as serial killer John Christie, who strangled a string of victims during the 1940s and early 1950s…
Catching Milat (TV Mini-series) (2015): Feat. Richard Cawthorne, Malcolm Kennard; Rigorous psychological thriller based on the investigation into the 1990s backpacker murders leading to the arrest and conviction of serial killer…
Child 44 (2015): Dir. Daniel Espinosa
Feat. Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace…; Disturbing thriller with Tom Hardy as disgraced member of the military police investigating a series of nasty child murders during the…
Legend of Barney Thomson, The (2015): Dir. Robert Carlyle
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Emma Thompson, Ray Winstone…; A uniquely Glaswegian black comedy directed by and starring Robert Carlyle as an awkward middle–aged barber whose life of desperate mediocrity…
Scream Queens - Season 1 (TV Series) (2015): Feat. Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts; Exactly twenty years after a mysterious death at Wallace University, another murder takes place. As the investigation progresses, the bodies start to…
Bosch (TV Series) (2014): Feat. Titus Welliver; Titus Welliver stars as Michael Connelly's famed detective in this acclaimed series in which Bosch pursues a murderer while standing trial for the…
Hannibal - Season 2 (TV Series) (2014): Feat. Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas…; Further episodes in the grisly, ultra stylised thriller based on Thomas Harris' ubiquitous crime novels, with the grimly compelling relationship…
Killers (2014): Dir. Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto
Feat. Oka Antara, Rin Takanashi, Katzuo Kitamura; A serial killer from Japan and Indonesia compete in a twisted game of one–upmanship by posting their latest sadistic crimes online in this…
Marshland (2014): Dir. Alberto Rodriguez
Feat. Javier Gutiérrez, Raúl Arévalo, Maria Varod; A brooding, exceptionally controlled thriller set in an unsettled post–Franco Spain of 1980 in which two homicide detectives who appear to be…
True Detective - Season 1 (TV Series) (2014): Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga
Feat. Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan…; This superlative HBO policier – a marquee television event in 2014, and the first in an anthology of bespoke detective stories – pairs…
Voices, The (2014): Dir. Marjane Satrapi
Feat. Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick…; From the director of PERSEPOLIS comes this deeply weird comedy with Ryan Reynolds as an amiable factory worker pursuing romance with the help of his…
Following, The (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Kevin Bacon, Natalie Zea, Annie Parisse…; Relentlessly grisly crime series concerns the dogged pursuit of an escaped serial killer by a weathered FBI agent (Bacon), whose job becomes more…
Hannibal - Season 1 (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas…; A grisly, ultra stylised thriller based on Thomas Harris' ubiquitous crime novels, with the grimly compelling relationship between FBI agent Will…
Wolf Creek 2 (2013): Dir. Greg McLean
Feat. John Jarratt; Serial–killing pig–hunter Mick Taylor returns to torment another unwitting tourist in this vicious sequel to the memorable outback horror.
Alex Cross (2012): Dir. Rob Cohen
Feat. Tyler Perry, Edward Burns, Matthew Fox…; An exceedingly derivative serial killer film hatched from James Patterson's best–selling crime novels. Prolific director Tyler Perry steps…
Gone (2012): Dir. Heitor Dhalia
Feat. Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Carpenter, Wes Bentley…; Amanda Seyfried suspects the same serial killer who kidnapped her has now taken, but no–one believes her, of course. Heavily telegraphed…
Sinister (2012): Dir. Scott Derrickson
Feat. Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Vincent D'Onofrio…; Ethan Hawke plays a crime writer who moves into the house of a grisly crime scene and stumbles upon a cache of 8mm snuff footage in the attic,…
Faces in the Crowd (2011): Dir. Julien Magnat
Feat. Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon, Marianne Faithfull; An oddly balanced thriller, which juggles illness–of–the–week earnestness with the occasionally suspenseful movements of a serial…
Snowtown (2011): Dir. Justin Kurzel
Feat. Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris…; Australian serial killer John Bunting is the controversial subject of this disturbing yet persuasively told recreation of the 'scum' murders that…
Texas Killing Fields (2011): Dir. Ami Canaan Mann
Feat. Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Grace Moretz…; Muddled, though distinctly helmed serial killer saga set amid the sticky marshlands of Texas City, where two stone–faced homicide detectives…
Dear Mr. Gacy (2010): Dir. Svetozar Ristovski
Feat. William Forsythe, Jesse Moss, Emma Lahana; Haunting cautionary tale – based on a true story – chronicles the interactions between an ambitious college student and the notorious…
Nightmare on Elm Street, A (2010): Dir. Samuel Bayer
Feat. Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Clancy Brown…; Stylish, shallow reworking of the classic 80s slasher movie (replete with a music video director at the helm) reins in the smirk and aims for a…
Revenge: A Love Story (2010): Dir. Ching-po Wong; 'Hammer and tong' serial killer potboiler centres on a lowly store clerk who begins murdering policemen (and their pregnant wives) after his…
Rubber (2010): Dir. Quentin Dupieux
Feat. Stephen Spinella, Roxane Mesquida, Wings Hauser; Defiantly oddball art–horror parody about an inanimate car tyre with telepathic powers who embarks on a desert killing spree for "no reason".…
Friday The 13th (2009): Dir. Marcus Nispel
Feat. Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti…; 'Re–imagining' of the popular eighties slasher flick sees masked psychopath Jason terrorize a group of frisky camp councilors at legendary…
Halloween 2 (2009): Dir. Rob Zombie
Feat. Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane, Brad Dourif…; Rob Zombie delivers yet another episode to the undying slasher franchise, this time following up his 2007 'resurrection' with further tales of…
Lodger, The (2009): Dir. David Ondaatje
Feat. Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Shane West…; Remake of the Hitchcock original takes Jack the Ripper out of Whitechapel and places him on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip, pursued by grizzled…
Murderer (2009): Dir. Roy Chow
Feat. Aaron Kwok, Ning Chang, Tam Chun Yat; Serial killer convention receives an enjoyable, shameless workout with this Hong Kong policier, centred on a police investigator framed for a series…
My Bloody Valentine (2009): Dir. Patrick Lussier
Feat. Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Kerr Smith; Remake of the 1981 slasher film sees a group of teens pursued at a Valentine's Day party – in an abandoned mineshaft, of course – by a…
Red Riding Trilogy (1974, 1980, 1983) (2009): Dir. Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker
Feat. Sean Bean, Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey…; David Peace’s gritty quartet of crime novels receive a stunning translation to the screen with this threesome of British detective thrillers, based…
Acolytes (2008): Dir. Jon Hewitt
Feat. Joel Edgerton, Michael Dorman, Hanna Mangan Lawrence…; Chilling, if somewhat uneven, low–budget Aussie thriller concerning a group of teens who blackmail a serial killer to help them extract revenge…
Chaser, The (Chugyeogja) (2008): Dir. Hong-jin Na
Feat. Yun-seok Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Yeong-hie Seo; As much concerned with criticizing the police force as it is deftly juggling plot twists, murders, and other serial killer conventions, this Korean…
Dead in 3 Days (Dead in Three Days) (2008): Dir. Andreas Prochaska; Chilling Austrian slasher involving a group of teenagers who must discover a serial killer’s identity in order to save themselves from getting…
How to Be a Serial Killer (2008): Dir. Luke Ricci
Feat. Dameon Clarke, Matther Gray Gubler, George Wyner…; Droll satire of the motivational speaker circuit with serial killer Clarke leading his proteges through a ten step program on their way to becoming…
Mentalist, The (TV Series) (2008): Feat. Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang; Superior crime series sees Simon Baker play an ex–'psychic' who now uses his remarkable powers of scrupulous observation in the name of the…
MR 73 (The Last Deadly Mission) (2008): Dir. Olivier Marchal
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Olivia Bonamy, Philippe Nahon; Rock solid policier stars Daniel Auteuil as a drunken, burnt–out cop whose shot at redemption comes in the form of a woman requiring protection…
Surveillance (2008): Dir. Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Feat. Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James…; Divisive thriller following two FBI agents who must piece together three very different eyewitness accounts of a murder in a small town, in order to…
Trick 'r Treat (Trick or Treat) (2008): Dir. Michael Dougherty
Feat. Dylan Baker, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin…; Well–crafted horror that interweaves five spooky stories on the same Halloween night, subverting familiar urban legends into unexpected new…
Untraceable (2008): Dir. Gregory Hoblit
Feat. Diane Lane, Billie Burke, Colin Hanks; Contemporary cyber–thriller starring Diane Lane as an FBI agent tracking a serial killer who uses Internet hits to decide how quickly he will…
Whitechapel (TV Mini-series) (2008): Feat. Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis, Steve Pemberton; Atmospheric detective show focused on a group of detectives who are trying to track down a Jack The Ripper copycat. Filmed entirely in the East…
Anamorph (2007): Dir. Henry Miller
Feat. Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Clea Duvall; Moody thriller in which Willem Dafoe plays detective to a delusional psychopath who leaves each crime scene in the style of a painting…
Death Proof (2007): Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Feat. Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan…; Tarantino, that great galloping genre geek, further indulges his jones for '70s B flicks and sexual kicks with his half of the 'Grindhouse' double…
Disturbia (2007): Dir. D. J. Caruso
Feat. Carrie-Anne Moss, Shia LaBeouf, David Morse…; Highly suspenseful retake of Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW, about a high–school senior who suspects his neighbour is a notorious serial…
Fallen Angel (TV Series) (2007): Dir. David Drury
Feat. Emilia Fox, Charles Dance, Clare Holman; Disquieting Brit crime thriller fixed on the story of a murderess, starting at her most recent crime then winding back through time to reveal her…
Halloween (2007): Dir. Rob Zombie
Feat. Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Sheri Moon…; Rocker–turned–horrormeister Rob Zombie's resurrection of the 1978 slasher classic, which tells the tale of an escaped mental patient on a…
Hannibal Rising (2007): Dir. Peter Webber
Feat. Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Gong Li…; SILENCE OF THE LAMBS creator Thomas Harris pens this original back–story to Hannibal Lecter’s murderous reign, in which we’re privy to the…
Mr. Brooks (2007): Dir. Bruce A. Evans
Feat. Demi Moore, Kevin Costner, Dane Cook…; Cool, conceptual psycho–drama in which Costner and Hurt play two sides of the same character: an on–the–wagon serial killer from…
No Country for Old Men (2007): Dir. Joel Coen
Feat. Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones…; A masterfully executed thriller from the Coen brothers, who return to the suspense–driven fatalism of their most admired films (BLOOD SIMPLE,…
Roman De Gare (Crossed Tracks) (2007): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Audrey Dana, Dominique Pinon, Fanny Ardant; Playfully pulpy French thriller from veteran director Claude Lelouch (A MAN AND A WOMAN) depicts the intersecting lives of two strangers oddly…
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Dir. Tim Burton
Feat. Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman…; Johnny Depp is centre stage once again for dir. Tim Burton in this fiendish screen rendition of Stephen Sondheim's twisted musical about a…
Zodiac (2007): Dir. David Fincher
Feat. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards…; Intense, painstaking thriller from the dir. of SEVEN magnifies San Francisco's unsolved ‘Zodiac’ killings with obsessive compulsion and…
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006): Dir. Jonathan Levine
Feat. Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Whitney Able; Above–average slasher flick following a group of Texan teens who invite the unobtainable 'hot girl' at their school to a remote weekend…
Behind the Mask - The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006): Dir. Scott Glosserman
Feat. Zelda Rubinstein, Robert Englund, Scott Wilson…; This flick mockuments the activities of Leslie Vernon, a fresh, new mask–faced psycho–killer, as he plans a reign of slasher terror in…
Blood Trails (2006): Dir. Robert Krause
Feat. Rebecca R. Palmer, Ben Price, Tom Frederic; Low budget horror sees a cyclist woman and her boyfriend pursued by a psycotic fellow rider through the wilderness. This is an effective little…
Infamous (2006): Dir. Douglas McGrath
Feat. Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig…; Beaten to the punch, this second take on Truman Capote’s infamy suffers inevitably from de–ja vu, yet has plenty new to offer as an alternate…
Lonely Hearts (2006): Dir. Todd Robinson
Feat. John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto…; The true tale of 1940s “lonely hearts killers”, Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez who would lure war widows through personal ads and…
Perfume - The Story of a Murderer (2006): Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Ben Whishaw…; Lush, faithful adaptation of Patrick Suskind’s 1985 novel, with Ben Whishaw as Jean–Baptiste Grenouille, the gifted ‘nose’ turned…
See No Evil - The Story of the Moors Murders (2006): Dir. Christopher Menaul; Well–made, sensitive teledrama that depicts in grim detail the story of the notorious "Moors murderers" Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who…
Bystanders (Diary of June) (2005): Dir. Kyung-Soo Im
Feat. Yunjin Kim; Proficient Korean thriller grapples with a murder mystery of cryptic diary notes left inside the bodies of murder victims; the handwriting matched to…
Capote (2005): Dir. Bennett Miller
Feat. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr.…; Polished and sophisticated dramatisation of how writer Truman Capote came to research and create his seminal 'true–crime' masterpiece IN COLD…
Devil's Rejects, The (2005): Dir. Rob Zombie
Feat. Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon…; There is no pause in the blood–letting for this sequel to HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, with dir. Zombie continuing the saga of the murderous Firefly…
Hellbent (2004): Dir. Paul Etheredge-Ouzts
Feat. Dylan Fergus; Curiously queer–themed slasher flick is surprisingly non–camp, and instead offers an intense throwback to old school…
Saw (2004): Dir. James Wan
Feat. Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover…; Acclaimed by many for its inventive serial–killer premise and sadistic delivery, this opens with Elwes and Whannell chained in a locked…
Suspect Zero (2004): Dir. E. Elias Merhige
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, Carrie-Anne Moss; A foreboding blood hunt in the stylish tradition of SEVEN, with serial–killer Kingsley and FBI–man Eckhart circling each other in a fog…
Taking Lives (2004): Dir. D. J. Caruso
Feat. Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland…; Expert FBI 'profiler' Jolie is recruited onto a case in deepest Canada involving a serial killer who murders blonde–haired men then assumes…
Twisted (2004): Dir. Philip Kaufman
Feat. Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, Andy Garcia…; Judd plays a detective hunting a serial killer on the San Francisco waterfront in this overly shadowy thriller. It's chief distinction occurs when…
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003): Dir. Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill; A compelling 'sequel' to the renowned documentary on the case of Aileen Wuornos, once touted as the world's first 'female serial killer'. Ten…
Card Player, The (Cartaio, Il) (2003): Dir. Dario Argento
Feat. Stefania Rocca, Liam Cunningham, Silvio Muccino; Dario Argento, Master of 'Giallo' Cinema, strives to update his style of acutely crafted horror to a contemporary plot involving a policewoman…
Grudge 2, The (Ju-On 2) (2003): Dir. Takashi Shimizu
Feat. Chiharu Nîyama, Noriko Sakai, Kei Horie…; Followup to the original Japanese version of dir. Takashi's own JU–ON, this proffers an almost identical vision, with a TV crew visiting the…
In the Cut (2003): Dir. Jane Campion
Feat. Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh…; An uncomfortable, darkly ‘feminist’ thriller for which Meg Ryan deflowers her star persona, playing a troubled forty–something who…
Killing Words (Palabras encadenadas) (2003): Dir. Laura Mana
Feat. Darío Grandinetti, Goya Toledo, Fernando Guillén…; This quality, award–winning thriller has a woman waking to find herself restrained in a dark basement, while a seeming serial–killer,…
Last Horror Movie, The (2003): Dir. Julian Richards
Feat. Kevin Howarth, Antonia Beamish; A 'no budget' horror spin with a self–reflexive hook, has suave photographer Howarth film weddings by day and grisly killings by night –…
Manson Family, The (2003): Dir. Jim Van Bebber
Feat. Marcelo Games; Psychedelic biopic of the notorious hippie anti–icon Charles Manson, who gathered a cult following around him in the late 1960s and programmed…
Memories of Murder (Salinui chueok) (2003): Dir. Joon-ho Bong
Feat. Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim, Roe-ha Kim; A darkly lyrical thriller, set around the true–life hunt for South Korea's first documented serial killer in 1986, during the years of Chun…
Monster (2003): Dir. Patty Jenkins
Feat. Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern…; Powerful dramatization of the story of female serial–killer Aileen Wournos, strong enough to support an astonishing, Oscar–winning…
Serial Slayer (Claustrophobia) (2003): Dir. Mark Tapio Kines
Feat. Melanie Lynskey; Interesting indie thriller has a maniac with a crossbow stalking victims from Los Angeles rooftops, before narrowing in on three women having a…
You Can't Stop the Murders (2003): Dir. Anthony Mir; In a small Australian town, a serial killer selects his victims according to the lineup of the classic 'Village People' music group. Although not…
Double Vision (Shuang tong) (2002): Dir. Chen Kuo Fu
Feat. David Morse, Tony Leung (Kar-fai), Rene Liu; A slickly effective horror film, in which cross–cultural cop buddies Leung and Morse hunt a demonic serial killer in Taiwan. Imbued with a…
Frailty (2002): Dir. Bill Paxton
Feat. Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe; After a spiritual visitation, Bill Paxton and his two young sons take an axe to unsuspecting “evil–doers” in the late 1970s, while…
Halloween: Resurrection (2002): Dir. Rick Rosenthal
Feat. Busta Rhymes, Bianca Kajlich, Sean Patrick Thomas…; The eighth film in the franchise is in fact a sequel to the resurrected HALLOWEEN H20, picking up three years later where the teflon–coated…
Red Dragon (2002): Dir. Brett Ratner
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes…; Betraying the odds after the lackluster “Hannibal”, this accomplished ‘prequel’ based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name more than…
Ted Bundy (2002): Dir. Matthew Bright
Feat. Michel Reilly Brooke; For those not wearied of the serial–killer genre, this is a memorable portrait of America’s first acknowledged specimen, Ted Bundy…
Wire in the Blood (TV Series) (2002): Feat. Robson Green, Hermione Norris, Simone Lahbib; Terrific tough–as–nails UK detective show focused on a compassionate clinical psychologist (Green) and an ambitious Detective Inspector…
15 Minutes (2001): Dir. John Herzfeld
Feat. Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Charlize Theron…; Seeking his televised share of fame, a deranged serial–killer is stalking the streets of NYC, with celebrity detective Robert De Niro in tow.…
From Hell (2001): Dir. Hughes Brothers
Feat. Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm; Johnny Depp goes Goth again, this time buttoned–up in Victorian garb, as a drug–afflicted cockney detective hired to sniff out legendary…
Hannibal (2001): Dir. Ridley Scott
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Ray Liotta; Anthony Hopkins reprises his iconic role as Hannibal Lechter in this controversially gruesome sequel to the serial killer classic, SILENCE OF THE…
Messiah (TV Series) (2001-2005): Feat. Ken Stott, Frances Grey, Michelle Forbes; Grisly BBC serial in the tradition of PRIME SUSPECT and CRACKER shadows the case solving of a partially–deaf detective with a disturbed nose…
Murder In Mind (TV Series) (2001): Excellent star–studded series of self–contained stories on the theme of murder, generally centered around apparently 'normal people' who…
Sleepless (Non ho Sonno) (2001): Dir. Dario Argento
Feat. Max von Sydow, Stefano Dionisi, Chiara Caselli; A welcome return to his 'giallo' roots by dir. Argento, turning a tangled tango between a serial–killer and recently–retired detective…
Cell, The (2000): Dir. Tarsem Singh
Feat. Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughn; Entering the mind of serial killer might seem like a tired idea, but commercial supremo and visual stylist Tarsem Singh creates a impressively creepy…
Crimson Rivers, The (2000): Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
Feat. Jean Reno, Vincent Cassel; A bizarre murder in the French Alps draws detectives Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel into the killing–cycle of a particularly grisly…
Ed Gein (In the Light of the Moon) (2000): Dir. Chuck Parello
Feat. Steve Railsback, Carrie Snodgrass; Sombre biopic of the 1950s Wisconsin serial–killer, whose macabre exploits were the basis for PSYCHO and many other movies. Steve Railsback…
Eye of the Beholder (2000): Dir. Stephan Elliot
Feat. Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, k.d. Lang…; Intriguing in concept, this surveillance thriller sees British agent Ewan McGregor tracking the movements of vicious serial killer Ashley Judd from…
Frequency (2000): Dir. Gregory Hoblit
Feat. John Caviezel, Dennis Quaid; Time–travel thriller tuned to an interesting premise – a NYPD cop speaks to his dead father via a ham radio. Features some…
Watcher, The (2000): Dir. Joe Charbanic
Feat. James Spader, Keanu Reeves, Marisa Tomei; Breakneck–paced cat–and–mouse thriller has FBI agent James Spader tormented by psycho Keanu Reeves, who sends him photographs of…
Bone Collector, The (1999): Dir. Phillip Noyce
Feat. Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie; Denzel Washington's acting skills are put to the test playing a quadriplegic forensics expert helping to track down a particularly grisly serial…
Summer of Sam (1999): Dir. Spike Lee
Feat. John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino…; Getting some distance from his usual street–scene, Spike Lee lets off a real firecracker of a film, set during the heatwave summer of 1977,…
In Dreams (1998): Dir. Neil Jordan
Feat. Annette Bening; Clairvoyant mother Annette Bening starts having visions through the eyes of a serial killer. Rising far above its no – I'm not crazy!''…
Stalker's Apprentice, The (1998): Dir. Marcus D.F. White
Feat. Peter Davison, James Bolam, Kathleen Turner; A book editor uses a writer's manuscript about a serial killer as a template for his own homicidal fantasies in this punchy, at times lurid British…
Assassin(s) (1997): Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
Feat. Mathieu Kassovitz, Michel Serrault; Disappointing followup to LA HAINE for dir./star Kassovitz, plumping for a story of an apprentice hitman (Kassovitz) to aging pro Michel Serrault,…
Cure (1997): Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Feat. Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki…; Delivering one of the great, unsung horror movies, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa plumbs the depths of societal malaise with this novel take on serial…
Desperate Measures (1997): Dir. Barbet Schroeder
Feat. Andy Garcia, Michael Keaton; Cop Andy Garcia needs to secure a bone marrow donor for his son, and finds a perfect match in Michael Keaton, an incarcerated serial killer, who…
Kiss the Girls (1997): Dir. Gary Fleder
Feat. Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd; Raincoated detective Morgan Freeman and bottle–brunetted Ashley Judd seek the psychotic 'Casanova', who kidnaps beautiful woman for his…
Sweeney Todd (1997): Dir. John Schlesinger
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Joanna Lumley; Based on the true story of the demon barbers of Fleet Street, Ben Kingsley and Joanna Lumley attend this gruesome tale of the esteemed barbershop in…
Ugly, The (1997): Dir. Scott Reynolds
Feat. Paolo Rotondo, Rebecca Hobbs, Jennifer Ward-Lealand; A local portrait of a serial killer – Auckland lad Scott Reynolds' transcends his derivative script with an audacious visual style that'll…
Copycat (1996): Dir. Jon Amiel
Feat. Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Harry Connick Jnr.; Psychologist Sigourney Weaver and cop Holly Hunter collaborate to track a serial killer who stages his murders like famous crimes of the past. Much…
Crimetime (1996): Dir. George Sluzier
Feat. Stephen Baldwin, Pete Postlethwaite, Sadie Frost…; An educated, grisly thriller from director of THE VANISHING, set in a near–future where TV re–enacts, week by week, the latest efforts of…
Ebola Syndrome, The (1996): Dir. Herman Yau
Feat. Anthony Wong; Birthed from the notorious "Category 3" underbelly of Hong Kong cinema, this close relative of THE UNTOLD STORY features another deranged murderer on…
Tesis (Thesis) (1996): Dir. Alejandro Amenabar
Feat. Ana Torrent, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega; Intelligent chiller has a film student researching violence drawn into a violent mystery when her Professor dies after watching what may be an…
Citizen X (1995): Dir. Chris Gerolmo
Feat. Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Max von Sydow; A suitably disturbing account of the world's most prolific serial killer, Viktor Burakov, a man whose eight year, 52–victim reign of terror…
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (Halloween 6) (1995): Dir. Joe Chappelle
Feat. Donald Pleasence, Paul Rudd; Sixth film in the HALLOWEEN horror franchise picks up the story approximately six years after the events of the fifth film, convoluting a plot that…
Seven (Se7en) (1995): Dir. David Fincher
Feat. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow…; Director David Fincher imbues the hackneyed serial–killer genre with astonishing directorial flair, while bringing an influential 'underground'…
Virtuosity (1995): Dir. Brett Leonard
Feat. Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington; Russell Crowe plays a computer–generated composite of 200 serial killers who escapes cyberspace and proves a formidable opponent for…
Hawk, The (1994): Dir. David Hayman
Feat. Helen Mirren; Helen Mirren brings edgy believablity as a mother–of–two who watches the evidence mount against her husband as the notorious serial…
Natural Born Killers (1994): Dir. Oliver Stone
Feat. Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis; Oliver Stone turns a Tarantino script into a mean–spirited satire that points fingers at the decline of America without any measure of…
Nightscare (Beyond Bedlam) (1994): Dir. Vadim Jean
Feat. Keith Allen, Elizabeth Hurley, Georgina Hale…; An incarcerated serial killer (Keith 'The Yob' Allen) continues his rampage from his prison cell upon procuring the capacity for mind invasion.…
Aileen Wournos: Selling of a Serial Killer (1993): Dir. Nick Broomfield; Brit doco–man Nick Broomfield takes his mike and cameraman to Florida to reveal the strange truth beneath the myth of the 'world's first female…
Ghost in the Machine (1993): Dir. Rachel Talalay
Feat. Karen Allen, Chris Mulkey; Computer effects ala THE LAWNMOWER MAN punctuate this high–tech thriller in which a serial–killer does some heavy–duty destruction…
Kalifornia (1993): Dir. Dominic Sena
Feat. Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny…; Crime–movie–on–wheels that rises above its fashionably glossy veneer with a script and performances that progressively whitens the…
Serial Mom (1993): Dir. John Waters
Feat. Kathleen Turner; Prickly domestic satire stars Kathleen Turner as the perfect mom – one who'll go to murderous lengths to protect her family.…
Charles Manson - Then and Now (1992): Tracing America's morbid fascination with the infamous sociopath , jailed in 1970 after members of his cult "family" went on a murder spree, this…
Jennifer 8 (1992): Dir. Bruce Robinson
Feat. Andy Garcia, Lance Henriksen, Uma Thurman…; Dark tale in which cop Andy Garcia falls for blind girl Uma Thurman who may be a serial killer's next victim. Mostly engrossing and often scary. John…
Knight Moves (1992): Dir. Carl Schenkel
Feat. Christopher Lambert, Diane Lane, Tom Skerritt…; Chess champion Christopher Lambert finds his psychological profile and alibi make him a prime murder suspect. A battle of intelligent wits ensues…
Man Bites Dog (1992): Dir. Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, Benoit Poelvoorde
Feat. Benoit Poelvoorde; Disturbing black comedy unravels itself as a media satire but its barbaric humour won't tickle everyone's funnybone. Staged as a documentary, a film…
Overkill: The Aileen Wournos Story (1992): Dir. Peter Levin
Feat. Jean Smart; Jean Smart vividly incarnates the infamous female 'serial killer' who, at the time of this film, was awaiting execution on death row. Solid TV movie.
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991): Dir. Jonathan Demme
Feat. Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn…; Celebrated adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel follows the hunt of a gruesome serial killer by a rookie cop (Jodie Foster), 'aided' by an incarcerated…
Bloodmoon (1990): Dir. Alec Mills
Feat. Leon Lissek, Christine Amor; Enjoyably derivative low–budget Australian slasher, set in a Catholic Girls' school where a bloodthirsty serial killer is on the loose.
Dark Angel (1990): Dir. Craig Baxley
Feat. Dolph Lundgren; Sci–Fi action. A cop with attitude discovers the vicious serial killer he is stalking is an alien life–form.
Maniac Cop 2 (1990): Dir. William Lustig
Feat. Robert Davi, Bruce Campbell, Claudia Christian…; Better–than–expected sequel to the enjoyably trashy slasher about an undead police officer who turns serial killer after his own murder.…
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989): Dir. Dominique Othenin-Girard
Feat. Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Beau Starr; Fifth film in the HALLOWEEN horror franchise picks where the previous installment left off with Michael Myers surviving the gunshots, and getting…
Amsterdamned (1988): Dir. Dick Maas
Feat. Huub Stapel, Monique Van de Ven, Serge-Henri Valcke; Around the canals of the Dutch capital, an elusive serial killer is manhunted. Huub Stapel stars in this sleek, exotic thriller from genre stylist…
Jack the Ripper (TV Mini-series) (1988): Dir. David Wickes
Feat. Michael Caine, Armand Assante, Jane Seymour; This British television series adds a new solution to the ever–intriguing and grisly case of Jack the Ripper, who preyed on women in Victorian…
Jack's Back (1988): Dir. Rowdy Herrington
Feat. James Spader; James Spader plays a reincarnated Jack the Ripper plaguing the streets of modern–day L.A.
Fantasist, The (1986): Dir. Robin Hardy
Feat. Moira Harris, Christopher Cazenove, Timothy Bottoms; Belated and little known second film from the director of “The Wicker Man” about a rural Irishwoman whose teaching stint in Dublin finds…
Manhunter (1986): Dir. Michael Mann
Feat. Brian Cox, William Petersen; Brooding 'psycho'–drama based on Thomas Harris' novel 'Red Dragon', featuring an appearance of the pre–iconic Hannibal Lechter character…
Fear City (1984): Dir. Abel Ferrara
Feat. Tom Berenger, Abel Ferrara, Melanie Griffith…; Pimp Tom Berenger hunts through the neon–lit NY night for a stripper–slaying serial killer. Early item from dir. Abel Ferrara…
Initiation, The (1984): Dir. Larry Stewart
Feat. Daphne Zuniga, Vera Miles, Clu Gulager…; A department store–set 80's slasher flick starring Daphne Zuniga (BEVERLY HILLS 90210) as an amnesiac sorority member plagued by a recurring…
House on Sorority Row, The (1983): Dir. Mark Rosman
Feat. Kate McNeil, Harley Jane Kozak, Eileen Davidson…; Cult 80's slasher set in a sorority house, where the sisters pull a graduation prank that backfires and leads to them being stalked and murdered one…
Killing of America, The (1982): The ugly flipside of the land of the free, this disturbingly accounts many of America's most bizarre and horrific acts of violence including Manson,…
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982): Dir. Terry Hughes
Feat. Angela Lansbury, George Hearn, Cris Groenendaal; TV movie of the 1979 Broadway hit, originally staged by Harold Prince, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Set in London in 1846, where Barber…
Road Games (1981): Dir. Richard Franklin
Feat. Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis; Inventive and at times intense, this road thriller has truckdriver Keach traversing the outback, while a serial killer is on the loose. Effectively…
Time After Time (1981): Dir. Nicholas Meyer
Feat. Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen; Intriguing time–travel fantasy sees a young H G Wells (Malcolm McDowell), tracking Jack the Ripper from 1890s England to 1970s San Fransisco…
Driller Killer (1979): Dir. Abel Ferrara
Feat. Abel Ferrara; Somewhat notorious as a 'video nasty' of the 80s video boom, this debut from bad boy auteur Abel Ferrara was perhaps misunderstood (like The Texas…
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978): Dir. Irvin Kershner
Feat. Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif…; A tightly made popcorn suspenser, with Dunaway playing a fashion photographer who believes she can see through the eyes of a serial killer as he…
Carnal Violence (Torso) (1973): Dir. Sergio Martino
Feat. Suzy Kendall, John Richardson; Effective 'giallo' from the obscure but prolific dir. Sergio Martino (whose filmography covers everything from spaghetti westerns to cannibal…
Night Stalker, The / Night Strangler, The (1972-1973): Dir. John Llewellyn Moxey, Dan Curtis
Feat. Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland…; Two excellent and groundbreaking tele–movies from the early 70s starring Darren McGavin as wise–cracking 'regular guy' reporter Carl…
10 Rillington Place (1971): Dir. Richard Fleischer
Feat. Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt…; Richard Attenborough re–creates the activities of UK serial–killer John Christie.
Hands of the Ripper (1971): Dir. Peter Sasdy
Feat. Eric Porter, Dora Bryan; Atmospheric Hammer puts a Freudian spin on the exploits of Jack the Ripper, whose daughter inherits some of Dad's sharp handiwork. A pleasingly…
Honeymoon Killers, The (1970): Dir. Leonard Kastle
Feat. Shirley Stoler, Tony Lo Bianco; Fascinating, tabloid tale of the 'lonely hearts' murderers of the 40's and 50's. Grimly realistic, ultimately tragic story of obsessive love and…
Two Mrs Carrolls, The (1947): Dir. Peter Godfrey
Feat. Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith; Bogie plays the baddie in this tense psychodrama – a mad artist who paints his female models before killing them. Barbara Stanwyk is the latest…
M... Worst Crime of All (1931): Dir. Fritz Lang
Feat. Peter Lorre; A chilling expressionist classic starring Peter Lorre as psychotic child molester. Dir. Lang masterfully fills the screen with understated but…
Death Row + Worst Crimes of the 20th Century: Part one looks at the history of capital punishment in America while the second examines four of the most horrific mass murders of this century…
Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century: This absorbing crime series analyses the grim details of century's most heinous yet fascinating crimes. Five volumes to quench that voyeuristic…

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