Films Based on Real Life Serial Killers
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- DirectorSpike LeeStarsJohn LeguizamoAdrien BrodyMira SorvinoSpike 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.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJake GyllenhaalRobert Downey Jr.Mark RuffaloBetween 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.
- DirectorPatty JenkinsStarsCharlize TheronChristina RicciBruce DernBased on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.
- DirectorDavid JacobsonStarsJeremy RennerBruce DavisonArtel GreatBiopic about notorious American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, taking place in both the past and the present.
- DirectorJoel BenderStarsLaura PreponMisha CollinsPatrick BauchauBased on real events, Paul Bernardo and his wife, Karla Homolka, kidnap, sexually abuse, and murder three young girls.
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
- DirectorMatthew BrightStarsMichael Reilly BurkeBoti BlissJulianna McCarthyThe story of serial killer Ted Bundy.
- DirectorChris GerolmoStarsStephen ReaDonald SutherlandMax von SydowDuring 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.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsRobert BlakeScott WilsonJohn ForsytheTwo ex-cons murder a family in a robbery attempt, before going on the run from the authorities. The police try to piece together the details of the murder in an attempt to track down the killers.
- DirectorJohn BorowskiStarsOto BrezinaJoe ColemanBob DunsworthA documentary about Albert Fish, who was a sadistic and cannibalistic serial killer.
- DirectorClive SaundersStarsMark HoltonAdam BaldwinTom WaldmanModel 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.
- DirectorChuck ParelloStarsSteve RailsbackCarrie SnodgressCarol MansellThe 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.
- DirectorMichael FeiferStarsKane HodderAmy LyndonOdessa RaeDennis L. Rader systematically tortured and killed innocent victims for over two decades, evading the police for over 30 years while living a seemingly normal life as a husband, father, security officer and church president.
- DirectorRick BitzelbergerStarsChristopher StapletonRobert SiskoSean ThomasA 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.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsTony CurtisHenry FondaGeorge KennedyA series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.
- DirectorDavid GriecoStarsMalcolm McDowellMarton CsokasRonald PickupA disgraced communist schoolteacher in Kyiv becomes a brutal, unfeeling serial killer. Based on the crimes of Andrei Chikatilo.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsMichael BiehnAlex McArthurNicholas CampbellAlex is an outwardly normal man who goes on killing and mutilating sprees. When he is finally captured and brought to trial, the district attorney is torn between his own liberal ideals on guilt and the crimes the accused is being tried.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.
- DirectorChuck ParelloStarsC. Thomas HowellNicholas TurturroAllison LangeKenneth 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.
- DirectorDouglas McGrathStarsToby JonesDaniel CraigSandra BullockWhile researching his novel "In Cold Blood", Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.
- DirectorGreg McLeanStarsNathan PhillipsCassandra MagrathKestie MorassiThree backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
- DirectorTodd RobinsonStarsJohn TravoltaSalma HayekJared LetoBased on the true story, two homicide detectives track Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a murderous pair known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers" who lured their victims through the personals.
- DirectorRupert GooldStarsJames FrancoJonah HillFelicity JonesWhen 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.
- DirectorBennett MillerStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanClifton Collins Jr.Catherine KeenerIn 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.
- DirectorJustin KurzelStarsLucas PittawayDaniel HenshallLouise HarrisBased 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.
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsMelanie LynskeyKate WinsletSarah PeirseTwo teenage girls share a unique bond; their parents, concerned that the friendship is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsJohnny DeppHeather GrahamIan HolmAfter 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.
- DirectorLarry ClarkStarsBrad RenfroNick StahlBijou PhillipsA pack of naïve teenagers conspire to murder a mutual friend, whose aggressive demeanour has proven too much.
- DirectorZev BermanStarsBrian PresleyJake MuxworthyRider StrongOn a trip to a Mexican border town, three college friends stumble upon a human-sacrifice cult.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsYogi JoshiElissa DowlingCassandra ChurchThis 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 by a satanic cult. New York would never be the same.
- StarsBrian DennehyMichael RileyMargot KidderGood friend and neighbour John Wayne Gacy entertained children and ran a business. However, he hid a dark secret as a violent serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young boys.
- DirectorKeith WalleyStarsDoug ColeBeverly SoteloStacy CunninghamGruesome 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.
- DirectorDavid R. BowenStarsCarl CrewCassidy PhillipsDonna Stewart BowenBased on the life of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered 17 men and ate many of them before he was caught in 1991.
- StarsGeorge DiCenzoSteve RailsbackNancy WolfeThe investigation and trial of the horrific Tate-LaBianca mass murders orchestrated by the psychotic pseudo-hippie cult leader, Charles Manson.
- StarsMark HarmonFrederic ForrestGeorge GrizzardThe story of serial killer, Ted Bundy.
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsJames StewartVera MilesMurray HamiltonA dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
- DirectorBenjamin RossStarsHugh O'ConorAntony SherTobias ArnoldThis film is based on a true story about a British teenager who allegedly poisoned family, friends, and co-workers. Graham is highly intelligent, but completely amoral. He becomes interested in science, especially chemistry, and begins to read avidly. Something of a social misfit, he is fascinated by morbid subjects such as poisons and murder. His family environment is intolerable to him and, in particular, his stepmother torments him. He decides to poison those who annoy him, first with antimony and later with thallium. He smugly thinks himself cleverer than all those around him, but nevertheless he is caught and sentenced to 'rehabilitation' at a psychiatric institution. Once there, he undertakes to deceive the new eminent psychiatrist sent there to 'cure' him, thereby securing his release.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsVictoria UllmannPia PownallJacquelyn AuroraInspired by the streak of murders committed along Baseline Ave in Arizona during 2006 amd 2007. A vicious serial killer stalks and kills women along Baseline Avenue, a 2-mile stretch in East Phoenix, AZ.
- DirectorNa Hong-jinStarsKim Yoon-seokHa Jung-wooSeo Yeong-hieA disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.
- DirectorShi-Zheng ChenStarsYe LiuAidan QuinnMeryl StreepBased on actual events, a Chinese university student responds violently when his chances for a Nobel Prize are dashed by school politics.
- DirectorCédric KahnStarsStefano CassettiIsild Le BescoPatrick Dell'Isola'Kurt' claims to be a sales rep. He also claims to be English in spite of his heavy Italian accent. Kurt is an habitual liar and a dangerous driver, at the very least. In the south of France he meets Léa, age 16. Between his increasingly strange dates with Léa, Kurt engages in a number of armed robberies, some successful, some not... The police are perplexed by a series of crimes including disappearances and a murder. They conclude that they are dealing with a madman... After he proposes, Léa breaks up with Kurt. The attempt to find a new girlfriend leads to a shooting by Kurt, now calling himself André. Léa's information identifies Kurt/André as Roberto Succo, psychiatric patient and parental murderer. The police hunt for Roberto covers three countries.
- DirectorMarian DoraStarsCarsten FrankVictor BrandlTobias SickertAn internet advertisement placed by a man with a cannibalistic obsession brings yields a willing victim to serve up his own flesh in this dramatic account of the crime that shocked the world.
- DirectorRobert HosseinStarsRobert HosseinMarie-France PisierRoger DutoitA true story of Peter Kurten, a serial killer who committed nine murders and many other offenses in Dusseldorf during the Great Depression era.
- DirectorRomuald KarmakarStarsGötz GeorgeJürgen HentschPierre FranckhFritz Haarmann, who has killed at least 27 boys, is questioned by a psychology professor in order to find out whether he is sane and can be held responsible for his crimes. During this interrogation Haarmann reveals his motives and his killing methods.
- DirectorUlli LommelStarsGeorge KiseleffJacquelyn AuroraGeorgie DonovanAlong twenty years, the deranged serial-killer Gary Ridgway has killed at least forty-eight prostitutes and dumped their bodies in Green River.
- DirectorTom KalinStarsDaniel SchlachetCraig ChesterRon VawterThe true story of gay lovers, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold Jr. Who kidnapped and murdered a child in the early 1920s for kicks. The plot covers the months before the crime, the investigation, trial and final fate of the two men.
- DirectorChris FisherStarsJoleigh FioreavantiBret RobertsBrittany DanielKenneth 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.
- DirectorChristian de ChalongeStarsMichel SerraultPierre RomansBérangère BonvoisinBased on the real life of Dr. Marcel Petiot: During world war II Petiot, an MD living in occupied Paris, promised to help wealthy Jewish people among his patients to flee occupied France for Spain. Instead, he drugged them and burnt their bodies in his home, while stealing their valuables. After the Liberation of France, he was condemned to death.
- DirectorJerry JamesonStarsKurt RussellRichard YniguezNed BeattyThe infamous story of Charles Whitman, "America's favourite sniper" (in Stephen King's words), is told here once again.
- DirectorMichael FeiferStarsCorin NemecAmy LyndonColey FeiferA film based on the notorious mass killer Richard Speck, who systematically tortured, raped and murdered a group of student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital in 1966.
- DirectorMichael FeiferStarsKane HodderAdrienne FrantzMichael BerrymanThe 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.
- DirectorStephen KayStarsRobert ForsterMichael MicheleMaury ChaykinAfter 31 years at-large, detectives in Wichita, Kansas home in on the serial killer known as BTK.
- DirectorTim MetcalfeStarsJames WoodsRobert Sean LeonardEllen GreeneA prison guard at Leavenworth with lofty ideals and hopes of reform struggles to understand a violent, hateful and conscienceless convict. The result is a written testimonial to a crime that no one could have predicted.