Ten Fictional Serial Killers We Hate To love!
Who are TV and Films most notorious serial killers, that we all love to watch?
Here’s our pick of the top ten fictional serial killers that we hate to love!
10. Annie Wilkes – Misery
There’s something poetic about the fact that one of horror maestro Stephen King’s most memorable monsters is completely non-supernatural!
Annie Wilkes, played in Misery by Kathy Bates (who won an Oscar for her troubles) is very pleased when her favourite author is involved in a car crash near her remote snowy cabin in the woods. She’s not so pleased when he begins to heal and tries to leave. Not too pleased at all…
9. Tom Ripley – The Talented Mr Ripley
Matt Damon proved he was more than just a one-hit wonder when he nailed this intricate portrait of a lonely, somewhat likeable serial killer/identity thief in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Chillingly self-serving but strangely tragic, Tom Ripley, first featured in Patricia Highsmith novels in 1955, is a character who has stood the test of time.
8. Donnie Pfaster – The X Files
One of the scariest episodes of the The X Files features no aliens or ghosts or freaky science, merely a man who kills for no reason except a strange fetish for women’s hair and fingernails.
As Mulder looks disappointed and keeps his eyes firmly on the skies in the hope that he’s see suspicious-looking lights, Scully shows the audience what really scares her – the human monster.
7. Jigsaw – Saw (and all it’s sequels)
Although the Saw movies might seem to focus more on gory set-pieces and torture than character building, the franchise has managed to give us an extremely complex and memorable psycho.
Jigsaw is a man who has grown tired of society’s selfish ways and goes about teaching us all a lesson, one by one. Each trap he designs is an intricate test of moral strength and/or cleverness. See? It’s all for the good of society…or so his lawyers tell us!
6. Sweeney Todd – Sweeney Todd
The all-singing, all-dancing serial killer Sweeney Todd helps the woman he loves to improve business in her pie shop by providing the meat.
But there’s a reason “The Worst Pies in London” start to do a booming trade…there’s something strangely delicious about that meat.
5. Ghostface – Scream
Over the years and the sequels there have been several Ghostfaces but we think the most memorable is the original. We hate to give spoilers so look away if you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the first Scream film.
Such is Scream’s irreverence for convention and it’s playful mood that no character could be counted out as the killer but we have to say it’s difficult to imagine a more satisfying conclusion than the hero’s boyfriend Billy and his goofy mate, Stu.
After spending their entire spree referencing movies this cheeky pair have the nerve to claim that “Movies don’t creative psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!” Fair enough! Probably best not to argue with those two.
4. Buffalo Bill/Hannibal Lector – The Silence of the Lambs
You really can’t have one without the other. Buffalo Bill, who makes skin suits out of his victims and Hannibal Lector who whips out his beans n’ wine whenever someone comes around for dinner are two of the most unpleasant cinematic psychos in history.
Buffalo Bill is a careless deviant whose manic demeanour is frighteningly unpredictable but it’s Anthony Hopkins as cold, brutal and highly intellectual Hannibal Lector who steals the show.
3. Norman Bates – Psycho
Probably cinema’s first cross-dressing serial killer, Norman Bates is a kind, lonely motel owner who rents a room to Janet Leigh’s girl on the run, makes her a nice sandwich and helps calm her down before dressing up as his own mother and stabbing her to death in the shower.
“We all go a little mad sometimes” Understatement of the century, Norman!
2. Patrick Bateman – American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis created the character in his seminal satire on Reagan-era yuppies but Christian Bale was responsible for embodying one of the most frightening serial killers in recent memory.
Arrogant, self-obsessed, bordering on laughably silly, Patrick Bateman is yuppie culture gone mad and a grotesque look at the evil that men can do when material possessions become more important than human life itself.
1. Dexter Morgan – Dexter
The ultimate anti-hero – Dexter Morgan, a man whose dark desire to commit murder is somewhat kept reined in by his dubious moral “code” whereby he only kills other killers, making him a vigilante of sorts.
Unable to respond emotionally to those around him but ultimately showing empathy where empathy’s due, is Dexter a complete monster? Or has he just been made that way by his father’s encouragement? Nature or nurture? Either way, we’re glad to watch!
This post was produced for rukkle by Charlene Lydon. Visit Carlene’s film blog here.
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