True Crime: Serial Killer and Spree Killer Movies
No documentaries, no docudrama's, only movies. Based on true crime, so no fictional killers.
I have tried to leave out movies which are IMO tóó loosely based upon the real events, though sometimes it is a thin line. 'Inspired by' is not enough to make this list. I have also left out movies about hitmen and war criminals.
I must have missed quite a few movies on this list, so if you have any suggestions to add, please tell me.
I have seen quite a lot of these but not all. Some are great, some are utter crap.
Alphabetical order.
I have tried to leave out movies which are IMO tóó loosely based upon the real events, though sometimes it is a thin line. 'Inspired by' is not enough to make this list. I have also left out movies about hitmen and war criminals.
I must have missed quite a few movies on this list, so if you have any suggestions to add, please tell me.
I have seen quite a lot of these but not all. Some are great, some are utter crap.
Alphabetical order.
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- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRichard AttenboroughJudy GeesonJohn HurtWhat happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.Based on John Reginald Christie
- DirectorHarry BradbeerStarsMartin ClunesKeeley HawesRichard HopeJohn George Haigh, the notorious "acid bath murderer" in 1940s England, becomes the subject of this dramatization.Based on John George Haigh
- DirectorGerald KarglStarsErwin LederRobert Hunger-BühlerSilvia RyderA troubled man gets released from prison and starts taking out his sadistic fantasies on an unsuspecting family living in a secluded house.Based on Werner Kniesek
- StarsEmily WatsonDominic WestRobert GlenisterDramatisation of the case of serial killers Fred and Rose West, focusing on the way in which they were brought to justice.Based on Fred and Rose West
- StarsJason RobardsJames Earl JonesRip TornThe city of Atlanta, Georgia, is terrorized by a rash of child murders occurring in its black community. When a black photographer is arrested for the crimes, controversy erupts over whether he is the actual killer or a scapegoat offered up by the city's mostly black leadership. Based on actual events.Based on the Atlanta Child Murders.
- 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.Based on Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate
- DirectorJuraj JakubiskoStarsAnna FrielKarel RodenVincent ReganWith an unquenchable thirst for blood, Countess Elizabeth Bathory was one of the most prolific serial killers in history.Based on Countess Elizabeth Báthory
- Based on Belle Sorenson Gunness
- DirectorPaul SouthWilliam TaftStarsSeth CorreaSteve WilliamsMarc SalemeBob Berdella who originated from Ohio, moved to Kansas City in the 1960s to enroll at the KC Art Institute. Shortly after his move to Kansas City, Berdella purchased a house on 4315 Charlotte Ave. This house would serve as the grounds for some of the most bizarre acts of torture and mutilation ever performed. Bob Berdella was very active in his local community. He was in charge of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Coalition for many years, was a cook for many restaurants in KC, even worked with the local news stations in organizing numerous charities and auctions. Berdella was also notable for his work mentoring troubled youths, and was even assigned as the probation officer to many of these teens. In the end Bob was known for his shop, at the Westport Flea Market, "Bob's Bazaar Bizarre". It was here at this shop that many people met and interacted with Berdella. His shop was setup like any normal flea market, but his taste of goods were different than the rest of the merchants at Westport Flea Market. Bob had real human skulls, witchcraft and occult books, jewelry, knives and swords, and practically anything that would be classified as bizarre. Berdella, after his arrest, was known for keeping precise notes on his torture and killing methods. Investigators found these notebooks under his mattress with over 1,000 Polaroid pictures taken of his victims at various stages of their torture. The evidence was overwhelming and Bob eventually admitted to 6 murders between the years of 1984-1988.Based on Robert Berdella
- DirectorMatthew CarnahanStarsScott BairstowEric MabiusTara SubkoffAll-American Kyle is the newest initiate of the Black Circle Boys, an underworld society of gothic groupies whose primary interests are creating mayhem and studying the Occult. By the time he realizes he's in over his head, it may be too late!Based on Ricky Kasso
- DirectorIan MerrickStarsDonald SumpterDebbie FarringtonMarjorie YatesA gung-ho ex-military man pursues a secret life of crime, culminating in the kidnapping of a teenage heiress.Based on Donald Neilson
- DirectorChristopher LeitchStarsKelly McGillisDavid LipperFrancis X. McCarthyTrue story of a charming, popular American who managed to kill his mother and 3 wives before anyone even suspected him.Based on Lowell Amos
- DirectorAlan MetzgerStarsElizabeth MontgomeryDavid ClennonJohn M. JacksonA woman marries her boyfriend on his deathbed for his money so she can move on to the next guy. When he turns up mysteriously ill the police step in and investigate the strange circumstances.Based on Blanche Taylor Moore
- DirectorMark G. GilhuisStarsRaymond ElmendorfPamela BakerNavarre PerryHarry is unable to hold a job due to his mental illness and lives in an abandoned Hollywood hotel haunted by friendly ghosts of the long dead staff. The lines of his mental illness and reality become extremely blurred as some of his strangest events are indeed witnessed by others. As Harry becomes more frustrated by not being able to distinguish fact from delusion he turns to violence.Based on James Huberty
- DirectorArthur PennStarsWarren BeattyFaye DunawayMichael J. PollardBored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.Based on Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsTony CurtisHenry FondaGeorge KennedyA series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.Based on Albert DeSalvo
- DirectorKeith WalleyStarsMauro LanniniJason DavidCamille LannanAlbert DeSalvo (Mauro Lannini) embarks on a murderous crime spree.Based on Albert deSalvo
- DirectorMichael FeiferStarsDavid FaustinoAndrew DivoffKostas SommerBoston Strangler: The Untold Story is an intense true-crime thriller about Albert De Salvo, a wise cracking, small time criminal with an unrelenting sex drive, who ultimately falsely confesses to being the strangler that wreaked havoc in Boston during the early sixties. Guided by his manipulative cell mate, who knows more about the murders than he reveals, they devise a plan to gain all of the notoriety from the killings and the money from the reward. Meanwhile, Detective John Marsden, searches out the truth certain that they were not committed by one man. Fighting the bureaucracy of the day, Marsden lets his emotions get the best of him as he follows the trail of the murders.Based on Albert deSalvo
- DirectorHarry BradbeerStarsMartin KempRichard GriffithsCharlotte RandleDramatisation of the real-life case of George Joseph Smith who was hanged in 1915 for the murder of his three wives, each of whom he killed in turn by drowning them in the bath while trying to make the deaths look like accidents.Based on George Joseph Smith
- 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.Based on Dennis Rader
- DirectorMichael FeiferStarsCorin NemecKane HodderJen NikolaisenBased on the true story of one of history's most demented serial killers.Based on Ted Bundy
- DirectorVernon SewellStarsPaul LutyRoy MacreadyDerren NesbittTwo men go into business supplying medical colleges with cadavers by robbing graves.Based on William Burke and William Hare
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsBill BaileyTom WilkinsonMichael SmileyA black comedy about two 19th-century grave robbers who find a lucrative business providing cadavers for an Edinburgh medical school.Based on William Burke and William Hare
- 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.Based on the Clutter Family Murders by Rickard Hickock and Perry Smith
- StarsTom CavanaghCurrie GrahamAmy DavidsonA pair of girls seeking adventure beyond their western Washington trailer park encounter the area's most ruthless serial killer. The series is based on Sheriff David Reichert's book, "Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer".Based on Gary Ridgway