Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "serial-killer-as-protagonist"
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1. Dexter (2006–2013)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
He's smart. He's lovable. He's Dexter Morgan, America's favorite serial killer, who spends his days solving crimes and nights committing them.
Stars: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, James Remar
Votes: 766,253
2. You (2018–2024)
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A dangerously charming, intensely obsessive young man goes to extreme measures to insert himself into the lives of those he is transfixed by.
Stars: Penn Badgley, Victoria Pedretti, Tati Gabrielle, Ambyr Childers
Votes: 299,769
3. Pearl (2022)
R | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation, and lovelessness of life on her parents' farm.
Director: Ti West | Stars: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland
Votes: 96,518 | Gross: $9.42M
4. Arrow (2012–2020)
TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Spoiled billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is missing and presumed dead when his yacht is lost at sea. He returns five years later a changed man, determined to clean up the city as a hooded vigilante armed with a bow.
Stars: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Susanna Thompson
Votes: 446,053
5. Hannibal (2013–2015)
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Explores the early relationship between renowned psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter and a young FBI criminal profiler who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers.
Stars: Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas, Laurence Fishburne
Votes: 276,597
6. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 715,519 | Gross: $15.07M
7. Bones and All (2022)
R | 131 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A young woman embarks on a 1000 mile odyssey through America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter. But all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether love can survive their otherness.
Director: Luca Guadagnino | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance, Kendle Coffey
Votes: 57,951
8. Death Note (2006–2007)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it.
Stars: Mamoru Miyano, Brad Swaile, Vincent Tong, Ryô Naitô
Votes: 378,508
9. Monster (2022–2024)
TV-MA | 534 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of a cannibalistic serial killer named Jeffrey Dahmer, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Monster.
Stars: Evan Peters, Richard Jenkins, Molly Ringwald, Niecy Nash
Votes: 155,534
10. The House That Jack Built (2018)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
In five episodes, failed architect and vicious sociopath Jack recounts his elaborately orchestrated murders -- each, as he views them, a towering work of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer in the Pacific Northwest.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Votes: 92,010 | Gross: $0.09M
11. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,476 | Gross: $13.01M
12. 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: 161,820 | Gross: $34.47M
13. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
R | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy from the perspective of Liz, his longtime girlfriend, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
Director: Joe Berlinger | Stars: Lily Collins, Zac Efron, Angela Sarafyan, Sydney Vollmer
Votes: 103,432
14. Idle Hands (1999)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A teenage slacker's right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent.
Director: Rodman Flender | Stars: Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson, Jessica Alba
Votes: 46,749 | Gross: $4.00M
15. Maniac (2012)
Not Rated | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
Director: Franck Khalfoun | Stars: Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, America Olivo, Megan Duffy
Votes: 40,350 | Gross: $0.02M
16. Death Wish (1974)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks. In self-defense, the vengeful man kills muggers on the mean streets after dark.
Director: Michael Winner | Stars: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, Steven Keats
Votes: 44,044 | Gross: $22.00M
17. Mr. Brooks (2007)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A well-respected businessman is sometimes controlled by his murder and mayhem-loving alter ego.
Director: Bruce A. Evans | Stars: Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, William Hurt, Dane Cook
Votes: 156,300 | Gross: $28.48M
18. Serial Mom (1994)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
She's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her children happy.
Director: John Waters | Stars: Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, Matthew Lillard
Votes: 32,654 | Gross: $7.88M
19. May (2002)
R | 93 min | Drama, Horror
A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.
Director: Lucky McKee | Stars: Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, James Duval
Votes: 40,497 | Gross: $0.15M
20. Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988)
R | 80 min | Comedy, Horror
A sex-changed slasher returns as a camp counselor.
Director: Michael A. Simpson | Stars: Pamela Springsteen, Renée Estevez, Tony Higgins, Valerie Hartman
Votes: 13,348
21. The Golden Glove (2019)
Not Rated | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A serial killer strikes fear in the hearts of residents of Hamburg during the early 1970s.
Director: Fatih Akin | Stars: Jonas Dassler, Vasiliki Georgina Pseimada, Christine Jensen, Greta Sophie Schmidt
Votes: 18,251
22. Peeping Tom (1960)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Karlheinz Böhm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer, Maxine Audley
Votes: 39,259 | Gross: $0.08M
23. 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: 40,447 | Gross: $0.61M
24. The Greasy Strangler (2016)
Unrated | 93 min | Comedy, Horror
Ronnie runs a Disco walking tour with his son, Brayden. When a sexy woman takes the tour, it begins a competition between father and son for her love. It also signals the arrival of an oily strangler who stalks the streets at night.
Director: Jim Hosking | Stars: Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo, Gil Gex
Votes: 8,471 | Gross: $0.04M
25. Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At the snobby Crawford Academy, Virginia's group of friends start to go missing years after horrible events that happened to her as a child around her birthday.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker
Votes: 11,230
26. Maniac (1980)
18+ | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A psychopathic man goes on a killing and mutilation spree in New York City.
Director: William Lustig | Stars: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper
Votes: 20,215
27. Martin (1977)
R | 95 min | Drama, Horror
A young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a Pennsylvania small town where he tries to redeem his blood-craving urges.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elyane Nadeau
Votes: 12,600 | Gross: $0.10M
28. Scorned (1993)
R | 100 min | Drama, Thriller
A vengeful widow is out to seduce the relatives of the man she blames for her husband's death.
Director: Andrew Stevens | Stars: Andrew Stevens, Shannon Tweed, Kim Morgan Greene, Daniel McVicar
Votes: 2,029
29. Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989)
R | 80 min | Comedy, Horror
After murdering a young girl, Angela Baker assumes her identity and travels to Camp New Horizons, built on the grounds of the camp she terrorized the year before, and starts killing again.
Director: Michael A. Simpson | Stars: Pamela Springsteen, Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard, Mark Oliver
Votes: 9,427
30. Tragedy Girls (2017)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A twist on the slasher genre, following two death-obsessed teenage girls who use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small mid-western town into a frenzy, and cement their legacy as modern horror legends.
Director: Tyler MacIntyre | Stars: Brianna Hildebrand, Alexandra Shipp, Jack Quaid, Kevin Durand
Votes: 11,598 | Gross: $0.06M
31. Murder by Contract (1958)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer - until he finds his next target is a woman.
Director: Irving Lerner | Stars: Vince Edwards, Phillip Pine, Herschel Bernardi, Caprice Toriel
Votes: 4,365
32. 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: 11,662 | Gross: $0.14M
33. M.F.A. (2017)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
An art student taps into a rich source of creative inspiration after the accidental slaughter of her rapist. An unlikely vigilante emerges, set out to avenge college girls whose attackers walked free.
Director: Natalia Leite | Stars: Francesca Eastwood, Clifton Collins Jr., Leah McKendrick, Peter Vack
Votes: 7,448
34. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
R | 79 min | Horror, Thriller
Little Billy witnesses his parents getting killed by Santa after being warned by his senile grandpa that Santa punishes those who are naughty. Now Billy is 18 and out of the orphanage, and he has just become Santa himself.
Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr. | Stars: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson
Votes: 18,809 | Gross: $2.49M
35. 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: 8,144 | Gross: $0.01M
36. Cutting Class (1989)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A murderer is loose in a high school in this 'whodunit' movie.
Director: Rospo Pallenberg | Stars: Donovan Leitch Jr., Jill Schoelen, Brad Pitt, Roddy McDowall
Votes: 5,913
37. Bloodline (III) (2018)
R | 97 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Director: Henry Jacobson | Stars: Seann William Scott, Mariela Garriga, Dale Dickey, Christie Herring
Votes: 9,048
38. Mirror Mirror (I) (1990)
R | 104 min | Horror, Thriller
A teenage girl begins receiving black magic power through an antique mirror that drips blood, not realizing the mirror is controlled by demonic forces.
Director: Marina Sargenti | Stars: Karen Black, Yvonne De Carlo, William Sanderson, Rainbow Harvest
Votes: 2,198
39. Psycho Raman (2016)
Not Rated | 133 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Ramanna, a maniac murderer, finds a soulmate in Raghavan, a policeman, who inspects his murder cases. He tries to make Raghavan realize how they both are similar.
Director: Anurag Kashyap | Stars: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal, Sobhita Dhulipala, Mukesh Chhabra
Votes: 15,942
40. The Driller Killer (1979)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day, Harry Schultz
Votes: 8,438
41. Killer Tongue (1996)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror
This horror story involves a woman hiding out with four pastel colored poodles in a desert gas station with the loot from a heist while her boy friend does prison time. A meteorite crashes ... See full summary »
Director: Alberto Sciamma | Stars: Melinda Clarke, Jason Durr, Mapi Galán, Mabel Karr
Votes: 1,338
42. In a Glass Cage (1986)
Unrated | 110 min | Drama, Horror
A former Nazi child-killer is confined in an iron lung inside an old mansion after a suicide attempt. His wife hires him a full-time carer, a mysterious young man who is driven slowly mad by the old man's disturbing past.
Director: Agustí Villaronga | Stars: Günter Meisner, David Sust, Marisa Paredes, Gisèle Echevarría
Votes: 5,048
43. Island of Death (1976)
Not Rated | 108 min | Horror, Romance
A couple of perverted and maniac killers get loose on a Greek island.
Director: Nico Mastorakis | Stars: Bob Behling, Jane Lyle, Jessica Dublin, Gerard Gonalons
Votes: 4,832
44. The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An obese, embittered nurse doesn't mind if her toupee-wearing boyfriend romances and fleeces other women, as long as he takes her along on his con jobs.
Directors: Leonard Kastle, Donald Volkman | Stars: Shirley Stoler, Tony Lo Bianco, Mary Jane Higby, Doris Roberts
Votes: 5,830 | Gross: $0.46M
45. Massacre at Central High (1976)
R | 87 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A high-school transfer student pushed to the edge by a trio of brutal bullies resorts to murder to reclaim the school from oppression, and later turns against the students wanting to fill the vacuum of their oppressors.
Director: Rene Daalder | Stars: Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, Kimberly Beck
Votes: 2,721
46. The Last Circus (2010)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
A young trapeze artist must decide between her lust for Sergio, the Happy Clown, or her affection for Javier, the Sad Clown, both of whom are deeply disturbed.
Director: Álex de la Iglesia | Stars: Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, Carolina Bang, Manuel Tallafé
Votes: 15,230 | Gross: $0.04M
47. Fade to Black (1980)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A shy, lonely film buff embarks on a killing spree against those who browbeat and betray him, all the while stalking his idol, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike.
Director: Vernon Zimmerman | Stars: Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Gwynne Gilford, Norman Burton
Votes: 4,996
48. Deranged (1974)
R | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A deranged rural farmer becomes a grave robber and murderer after the death of his possessive mother, whose corpse he keeps, among others, as his companion in a decaying farmhouse.
Directors: Jeff Gillen, Alan Ormsby | Stars: Roberts Blossom, Cosette Lee, Leslie Carlson, Robert Warner
Votes: 5,762 | Gross: $0.05M
49. Fear No Evil (1981)
R | 99 min | Horror
High school student turns out to be personification of Lucifer. Two arch angels in human form (as women) take him on.
Director: Frank LaLoggia | Stars: Stefan Arngrim, Elizabeth Hoffman, Kathleen Rowe McAllen, Frank Birney
Votes: 1,733
50. Sound of Violence (II) (2021)
94 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
A young killer experiences intense pleasure whenever she hears the sound of human pain.
Director: Alex Noyer | Stars: Jasmin Savoy Brown, Lili Simmons, James Jagger, Tessa Munro
Votes: 1,225