Best Serial Killer Movies Based on or Inspired by Real Stories


10 Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, 2018

Ted Bundy

Bundy was often regarded as charismatic and handsome, traits he exploited to win the trust of both his victims and society as a whole. He typically approached women in public places, either asking for help by feigning a physical impairment such as an injury, or impersonating an authority figure. Once tricked into being led away, they would be bludgeoned unconscious and taken elsewhere to be sexually assaulted and killed.
Ted Bundy
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

Director: Joe Berlinger
Writers: Michael Werwie, Elizabeth Kendall
Starring: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario
Box office: $9 816 000

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9 From Hell, 2001

Jack the Ripper

Was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron.
Jack the Ripper
From Hell

The first tabloid star of the twentieth century, he remains the most notorious and enigmatic serial killer in history. “From Hell” puts an intense urban spin on the horrific legend of Jack the Ripper and unravels a chilling alleged conspiracy involving the highest powers in England.

Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Writers: Terry Hayes, Rafael Yglesias, Alan Moore
Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm
Budget: $35 000 000
Box office: $74 558 000

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8 Longford, 2006

Myra Hindley

The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward Evans—aged between 10 and 17, at least four of whom were sexually assaulted.
Myra Hindley
Longford

Biopic of Lord Longford, known for many years for his work with prisoners and prisoners rights in general. The film focuses on Longford’s work on behalf of Myra Hindley convicted, along with her boyfriend Ian Brady, of several child murders. Hindley is nothing short of notorious and even Longord’s wife is shocked when he announces that he will visit her in prison.

Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: Peter Morgan
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Samantha Morton, Andy Serkis

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7 Monster, 2003

Aileen Wuornos

In 1989–1990, while engaging in street prostitution along highways in Florida, she shot dead and robbed seven of her male clients. Wuornos claimed that her clients had either raped or attempted to rape her, and that the homicides of the men were committed in self-defense.
Aileen Wuornos
Monster

Shortly after moving to Florida, longtime prostitute Aileen Wuornos meets young and reserved Selby Wall and a romance blossoms. When a john attempts to brutalize Aileen, she kills him and resolves to give up prostitution. But supporting herself and her new girlfriend through legitimate means proves extremely difficult, and she soon falls back on old ways. More johns die, and Selby can’t help but think her new friend is responsible.

Director: Patty Jenkins
Writer: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern
Budget: $18 000 000
Box office: $60 378 000

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6 Scream, 1996

Danny Rolling

Known as the Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer. He murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in August 1990.
Danny Rolling
Scream

The sleepy little town of Woodsboro just woke up screaming. There’s a killer in their midst who’s seen a few too many scary movies. Suddenly nobody is safe, as the psychopath stalks victims, taunts them with trivia questions, then rips them to bloody shreds. It could be anybody…

Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Kevin Williamson
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
Budget: $14 000 000
Box office: $173 046 000

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5 In Cold Blood, 1967

Dick Hickock, Perry Smith

In the early morning hours of November 15, 1959, four members of the Clutter family – Herb Clutter, his wife, Bonnie, and their teenage children Nancy and Kenyon – were murdered in their rural home, just outside the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Richard Hickock, Perry Smith
In Cold Blood

In this adaptation of Truman Capote’s seminal true-crime novel, ex-convicts Perry Smith and Richard “Dick” Hickock hatch a plan to rob a wealthy Kansas family, the Clutters. The men enter the Clutter home expecting to find a safe filled with cash, but in fact find no money at all. Enraged, they kill the entire family and flee. While on the run, they face not only the realities of their terrible crime but also their own earthly impermanence.

Director: Richard Brooks
Writers: Richard Brooks, Truman Capote
Starring: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe
Budget: $3 500 000

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4 Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, 2019

Charles Manson

Was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971.
Charles Manson
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood

Actor Rick Dalton gained fame and fortune by starring in a 1950s television Western, but is now struggling to find meaningful work in a Hollywood that he doesn’t recognize anymore. He spends most of his time drinking and palling around with Cliff Booth, his easygoing best friend and longtime stunt double. Rick also happens to live next door to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate the filmmaker and budding actress whose futures will forever be altered by members of the Manson Family.

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie
Budget: $90 000 000
Box office: $377 426 000

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3 Memories Of Murder (살인의 추억 | Salinui chueok), 2003

Lee Choon-jae

Is a South Korean serial killer known for committing the Hwaseong serial murders. Between 1986 and 1994, Lee murdered 15 women and young girls in addition to committing numerous sexual assaults predominantly in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi and the surrounding areas. The serial murders, which remained unsolved for 30 years, are considered to be the most infamous in South Korea’s modern history.
이춘재
Salinui chueok

In 1986, Park and Cho are two simple-minded detectives assigned to a double murder investigation in a South Korean province. But when the murderer strikes several more times with the same pattern, the detectives realize that they are chasing the country’s first documented serial killer. Relying on only their basic skills and tools, Park and Jo attempt to piece together the clues and solve the case in this thriller based on true events.

Director: Bong Joon-ho
Writers: Bong Joon-ho, Shim Seong-bo, Kim Gwang-rim
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-gyeong, Kim Roi-ha
Budget: $2 800 000
Box office: $999 000

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2 Psycho, 1960

Ed Gein

Gein’s crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety in 1957 after authorities discovered that he had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin.
Ed Gein
Psycho

Phoenix secretary Marion Crane, on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates, a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Joseph Stefano, Robert Bloch
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Budget: $806 947
Box office: $32 000 000

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1 Zodiac, 2007

Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac murdered five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969, operating in rural, urban and suburban settings. He targeted young couples and a lone male cab driver.
Zodiac
Zodiac

In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. Investigators and reporters become obsessed with learning the killer’s identity and bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, Zodiac claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers and menacing phone calls.

Director: David Fincher
Writers: James Vanderbilt, Robert Graysmith
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards
Budget: $65 000 000
Box office: $84 785 000

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