The world has an ongoing fascination with serial killers—partly out of fear, partly out of a desperate need to understand what drives such individuals. The serial killer is handled in all sorts of ways in popular culture—for example, Showtime’s hugely popular Dexter series takes us so far into the mind of a sociopath that we can empathize with him. Mostly though, serial killers are just downright terrifying, which is why the following films are so compelling.
Here are our top 10 scariest serial killer movies of all time. We suggest you snuggle up in the comforts of your home, make some popcorn and get ready to be scared!
10. American Psycho (2000)
Trade publication, CFA Magazine, recently claimed that one in ten people working on Wall Street is a clinical psychopath, compared to one in a hundred in the general population. This explains why Bret Easton Ellis-creation, Patrick Bateman, is such a fascinating and terrifying creation: the slick, successful, handsome guy… who also happens to murder prostitutes, homeless men and dogs in his spare time. Bateman is scary precisely because he’s realistic.
9. Monster (2003)
This tale of the downward spiral of prostitute and serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, is terrifying on one hand because it was based on real events, and horrifying in another because, in many ways, Aileen was almost as much as a victim as the people she killed. By the time she murders her final victim—an innocent man who was merely trying to help her—we feel his pain and terror acutely.