Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "sadistic-killer"

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

R | 154 min | Crime, Drama

The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis

Votes: 2,228,717 | Gross: $107.93M

2. Twin Peaks (1990–1991)

TV-MA | 50 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.

Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook

Votes: 216,352

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine

Votes: 1,554,163 | Gross: $130.74M

4. Terrifier (2016)

Unrated | 85 min | Horror, Thriller

On Halloween night, Tara Heyes finds herself as the obsession of a sadistic murderer known as Art the Clown.

Director: Damien Leone | Stars: Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, David Howard Thornton, Catherine Corcoran

Votes: 53,227

5. Scream (I) (2022)

R | 114 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

25 years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, Calif., a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past.

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett | Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Melissa Barrera

Votes: 159,876 | Gross: $81.64M

6. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

R | 91 min | Horror

Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.

Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon

Votes: 263,461 | Gross: $25.50M

7. The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)

R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

In an abandoned house in Poughkeepsie, New York murder investigators uncover hundreds of tapes showing decades of a serial killer's work.

Director: John Erick Dowdle | Stars: Stacy Chbosky, Ben Messmer, Samantha Robson, Ivar Brogger

Votes: 24,979

8. Misery (1990)

R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller

After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen

Votes: 236,664 | Gross: $61.28M

9. Dark City (1998)

R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.

Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt

Votes: 212,892 | Gross: $14.38M

10. Natural Born Killers (1994)

R | 119 min | Action, Crime, Romance

Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Rodney Dangerfield

Votes: 252,441 | Gross: $50.28M

11. Palm Springs (2020)

R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery

Stuck in a time loop, two wedding guests develop a budding romance while living the same day over and over again.

Director: Max Barbakow | Stars: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Peter Gallagher

Votes: 183,821

12. I Saw the Devil (2010)

Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.

Director: Kim Jee-woon | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin

Votes: 146,918 | Gross: $0.13M

13. High Tension (2003)

R | 91 min | Horror

Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.

Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Cécile de France, Maïwenn, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun

Votes: 78,125 | Gross: $3.68M

14. Wolf Creek (2005)

R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller

Three backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.

Director: Greg McLean | Stars: Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi, John Jarratt

Votes: 78,647 | Gross: $16.19M

15. Vacancy (2007)

R | 85 min | Horror, Thriller

Stranded in an isolated motel, a couple become the unsuspecting subjects of a snuff film.

Director: Nimród Antal | Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, Frank Whaley, Ethan Embry

Votes: 107,816 | Gross: $19.36M

16. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

R | 97 min | Action, Horror

Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenagers of Elm Street. Only this time, they're out to get each other, too.

Director: Ronny Yu | Stars: Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger, Kelly Rowland, Monica Keena

Votes: 127,574 | Gross: $82.62M

17. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

R | 96 min | Fantasy, Horror

A psychiatrist familiar with knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.

Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette

Votes: 90,693 | Gross: $44.79M

18. Cobra (1986)

R | 87 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far-reaching plans.

Director: George P. Cosmatos | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson

Votes: 79,830 | Gross: $49.04M

19. Halloween (2007)

R | 109 min | Horror

After being committed for 15 years, Michael Myers, now a grown man and still very dangerous, escapes from the mental institution and immediately returns to Haddonfield to find his baby sister, Laurie.

Director: Rob Zombie | Stars: Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Brad Dourif

Votes: 130,805 | Gross: $58.27M

20. Summer of 84 (2018)

Not Rated | 105 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

After suspecting that their police officer neighbor is a serial killer, a group of teenage friends spend their summer spying on him and gathering evidence, but as they get closer to discovering the truth, things get dangerous.

Directors: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell | Stars: Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Cory Gruter-Andrew

Votes: 46,175 | Gross: $0.09M

21. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller

After being announced dead and taken to a morgue, Jason Voorhees spontaneously revives, escapes from the hospital, and stalks a group of friends renting a house in the countryside near Crystal Lake.

Director: Joseph Zito | Stars: Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Peter Barton, Kimberly Beck

Votes: 59,426 | Gross: $32.98M

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: 39,480 | Gross: $0.08M

23. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Still haunted by his past, Tommy Jarvis, who, as a child, killed Jason Voorhees, is sent to a secluded halfway house in the countryside, where the killing of a young man triggers a brutal series of murders in the area.

Director: Danny Steinmann | Stars: Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, Anthony Barrile, Suzanne Bateman

Votes: 44,107 | Gross: $21.93M

24. Pieces (1982)

Not Rated | 85 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

The co-eds of a Boston college campus are targeted by a mysterious killer who is creating a human jigsaw puzzle from their body parts.

Director: Juan Piquer Simón | Stars: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom

Votes: 12,901 | Gross: $2.03M

25. Phenomena (1985)

R | 116 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery

A young girl who has an amazing ability to communicate with insects is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro

Votes: 30,166

26. The Snowtown Murders (2011)

Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Based 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.

Director: Justin Kurzel | Stars: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris, Bob Adriaens

Votes: 20,692 | Gross: $0.01M

27. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

R | 77 min | Horror

A female high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.

Director: Amy Holden Jones | Stars: Michele Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso

Votes: 17,992

28. Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982)

R | 95 min | Horror, Thriller

Jason Voorhees stalks a group of friends who have just arrived to spend the weekend at a cabin near Crystal Lake.

Director: Steve Miner | Stars: Dana Kimmell, Tracie Savage, Richard Brooker, Terry Ballard

Votes: 60,660 | Gross: $36.69M

29. 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: 32,860 | Gross: $7.88M

30. The Last House on the Left (1972)

R | 84 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller

Two teenage girls heading to a rock concert for one's birthday try to score marijuana in the city, where they are kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of psychopathic convicts.

Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln

Votes: 40,401 | Gross: $3.10M

31. A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

R | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

Director: Scott Frank | Stars: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook

Votes: 127,508 | Gross: $26.31M

32. Secret Window (2004)

PG-13 | 96 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A successful writer in the midst of a painful divorce is stalked at his remote lake house by a would-be scribe who accuses him of plagiarism.

Director: David Koepp | Stars: Johnny Depp, Maria Bello, John Turturro, Timothy Hutton

Votes: 209,976 | Gross: $48.02M

33. Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988)

R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller

Jason Voorhees is accidentally freed from his watery prison by a telekinetic teenager. Now, only she can stop him.

Director: John Carl Buechler | Stars: Terry Kiser, Jennifer Banko, John Otrin, Susan Blu

Votes: 42,534 | Gross: $19.17M

34. Deep Red (1975)

R | 127 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A jazz pianist and a wisecracking journalist are pulled into a complex web of mystery after the former witnesses the brutal murder of a psychic.

Director: Dario Argento | Stars: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril

Votes: 42,823

35. 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: 18,393

36. The Collection (II) (2012)

R | 82 min | Horror, Thriller

A man who escapes from the vicious grips of the serial killer known as "The Collector" is then forced to help rescue an innocent girl from the killer's booby-trapped lair.

Director: Marcus Dunstan | Stars: Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick, Christopher McDonald, Randall Archer

Votes: 54,276 | Gross: $12.84M

37. 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: 20,321

38. Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (2021)

TV-MA | 47 min | Documentary, Crime, Mystery

This limited docu-series tells the true story of how one of the most notorious serial killers in American history was hunted down and brought to justice.

Stars: Paul Skolnick, Gil Carrillo, Frank Salerno, Pearl Carrillo

Votes: 30,495

39. Mindhunters (2004)

R | 106 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller

A group of FBI trainees are taken to a remote island for simulation training. However, once there, they realize that they are being hunted by a serial killer, who might be someone amidst them.

Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Val Kilmer, LL Cool J, Christian Slater, Eion Bailey

Votes: 64,341 | Gross: $4.48M

40. 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: 13,406

41. Tenebrae (1982)

R | 101 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

An American novelist visiting Rome to promote his latest book is stalked and harassed by an obsessed fan who is committing a string of murders that appear to be tributes to his work.

Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Anthony Franciosa, Giuliano Gemma, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi

Votes: 27,550

42. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

GP | 96 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

An American expatriate in Rome attempts to unmask a serial killer he witnessed in the act of an attempted murder - and is now hunting him and his girlfriend.

Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi

Votes: 24,195 | Gross: $0.42M

43. Harper's Island (2009)

TV-14 | 40 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

Harper's Island was once the scene of a gruesome series of murders. Seven years later, family and friends gather on the island for a wedding, but one by one they begin to die.

Stars: Elaine Cassidy, Christopher Gorham, Matt Barr, Gina Holden

Votes: 27,503

44. Hell Fest (2018)

R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller

A masked serial killer turns a horror-themed amusement park into his own personal playground, terrorizing a group of friends while the rest of the patrons believe that it is all part of the show.

Director: Gregory Plotkin | Stars: Cynthea Mercado, Stephen Conroy, Amy Forsyth, Reign Edwards

Votes: 19,503 | Gross: $11.11M

45. Pet (I) (2016)

R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller

A man bumps into an old crush and holds her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works.

Director: Carles Torrens | Stars: Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, Jennette McCurdy, Da'Vone McDonald

Votes: 18,892 | Gross: $0.01M

46. Blood and Black Lace (1964)

Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery

A masked, shadowy killer brutally murders the models of a scandalous fashion house in Rome.

Director: Mario Bava | Stars: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Arianna Gorini

Votes: 13,109

47. Shocker (1989)

R | 109 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller

After being sent to the electric chair, a serial killer uses electricity to come back from the dead and carry out his vengeance on the football player who turned him in to the police.

Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Michael Murphy, Mitch Pileggi, John Tesh, Heather Langenkamp

Votes: 17,759 | Gross: $16.55M

48. Wolf Creek 3

Action, Horror, Thriller | Announced

An American family on holiday in the Australian outback catch the attention of notorious serial killer Mick Taylor. A hellish nightmare ensues as the couple's two children escape only to be hunted by Australia's most infamous murderer.

Director: Rachele Wiggins | Star: John Jarratt

49. Final Exam (1981)

R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller

A psycho killer shows up on college campus to slash up pretty co-eds and dumb jocks.

Director: Jimmy Huston | Stars: Cecile Bagdadi, Joel S. Rice, Ralph Brown, DeAnna Robbins

Votes: 4,648

50. The Collected

Action, Adventure, Horror | Announced

This is the third film in The Collector film series. Follow up to The Collection (2012) by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton.

Director: Marcus Dunstan | Stars: Josh Stewart, Navi Rawat, Dot-Marie Jones, Tom Atkins