Top 10 Scariest Movie Serial Killers
#10: Sweeney Todd
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2007) There are dark musicals, and then there’s “Sweeney Todd.” The acclaimed play was adapted to film in 2007, with Johnny Depp portraying the titular serial killer. Played to macabre perfection by Depp, Sweeney Todd is a deranged barber who slits the throats of his victims and has their remains baked into meat pies. He kills at least ten people in the movie, including a number of innocent customers, evil Judge Turpin, and even his partner-in-crime Mrs. Lovett, whom he burns inside of an oven. We place a lot of trust in barbers, especially when they get near our throats with a straight razor. To watch that trust betrayed is completely chill-inducing.
#9: Peter & Paul
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“Funny Games” (1997) Michael Haneke’s subversive horror film has drawn incredible controversy since its release in 1997. It concerns two young men named Peter and Paul, who torment and eventually kill the Schober family in their holiday home. The Biblical names of Peter and Paul are immediately noticeable and almost certainly an intentional choice on the part of Haneke. Three humans and one dog become victims of Peter and Paul, and at the end of the film, it’s implied that they will also kill neighbors Gerda and Robert, bringing their body count to at least six. Their motive is entirely unknown, and we infer that they do it simply for sadistic entertainment. The idea that people like that actually exist is a truly terrifying thought.
#8: Pearl
“X” franchise (2022-) Ti West crafted a modern classic with his “X” series, which chronicles the life of a serial killer named Pearl. The series is quite creative in that it spans multiple decades and styles, portraying Pearl as both an aged woman and youthful aspiring actress. Whatever her age, Pearl is an incredibly dangerous individual, and she is played to perfection by Mia Goth (even under twenty layers of makeup). She kills several people in “Pearl,” including her own parents, but that’s just the beginning. Her psychopathy continues well into old age, and she kills more with her husband Howard in “X.” We can only imagine how many lives she took in the interim. Actually, we don’t want to think about that…
#7: Mickey & Mallory Knox
“Natural Born Killers” (1994) A divisive film, “Natural Born Killers” is a scathing indictment of mass media and its obsession with violence - the grislier, the better. The story follows Mickey and Mallory Knox, two mass murderers played to eerie perfection by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. Along the way, they become national celebrities, known far and wide for their almost mythical killing spree. The couple murder dozens of people before getting caught, and they murder many more while breaking out of prison. Even scarier than their ridiculous body count is their total lack of empathy, with Mickey calling himself a “natural born killer.” There’s nothing scarier than that.
#6: Billy Loomis & Stu Macher
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“Scream” (1996) There are a ton of Ghostfaces throughout this iconic series, but come on, we have to go with the OGs. One gone insane from past trauma and the other just along for the ride, Billy and Stu make one of the creepiest movie duos. They partner up to conduct the Woodsboro murders, killing a total of six people throughout two years. Their spree begins with Sidney’s mother Maureen and continues to include the school principal, a news cameraman, and even Stu’s girlfriend. It doesn’t really matter who gets in their way - they will die, and often quite violently. Casey’s death is an all-timer, and it alone places Billy and Stu in the horror villain Hall of Fame.
#5: Patrick Bateman
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“American Psycho” (2000) Like “Natural Born Killers,” this is a film with deeper thematic ambitions than mere entertainment. Often seen as a black satire, “American Psycho” lets you know what you’re getting from the very title. He’s American, and he’s a psycho. What more do you want? The psycho, of course, is Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie who moonlights as a serial killer. Patrick is truly deranged, obsessed with nothing but status and murder. He takes seventeen lives throughout the course of the movie, including one dog, but he confesses to Harold that he’s killed up to forty. Much of Patrick’s eeriness comes through Christian Bale’s dead-eyed performance, portraying a soulless husk of a man who has lost any semblance of humanity he may have once had.
#4: Jigsaw
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“Saw” franchise (2004-) Sure, you can make the argument that John Kramer never actually killed anyone, but come on, that would never hold up in court. He’s a serial killer through and through, a broken man who kidnaps people and subjects them to horrific “life lessons” - let’s put the biggest quotation marks possible around those words. Jigsaw has a truly warped mind, not only believing that what he’s doing is right but subjecting people to grotesque traps that often result in their painful deaths. Maybe we can sympathize with Jigsaw’s tragic backstory, but what he did with it is, shall we say, a little difficult to digest. In fact, it’s one of the most deplorable things we’ve ever seen in movies.
#3: John Doe
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“Seven” (1995) Fed up with the state of the world, John Doe orchestrated his murder spree around the seven deadly sins, with each of his victims representing a different sin. John claimed a total of seven lives throughout his spree, including Rachel Slade, who took her own life after John mutilated her face. Each of these deaths are devastating and horrific in their own rights, but David Fincher saves the worst for last, delivering a crushing plot twist that has reverberated throughout pop culture. John Doe is the scariest type of killer - obviously apathetic and cruel, but also manipulative and very, very smart. And worst of all? He wins.
#2: Norman Bates
“Psycho” (1960) Anthony Perkins gives one of the all time great villain performances, portraying the twisted Norman Bates. What makes Norman so scary is his deceptive charm. He’s a very attractive and well-dressed man, and he comes across as very friendly, albeit with some major mommy issues. But that’s obviously hiding a very violent reality, with Norman often dressing as his dead mother and killing the female guests of his hotel. He kills two people on screen, but the psychiatrist reveals that he has murdered four others, bringing his body count to six. Of those four, two were innocent women, and the others were his own mother and her lover.
#1: Hannibal Lecter
“Hannibal Lecter” franchise (1991-2007) And speaking of deceitful, here we come to the most deceitful villain of them all. Playing Hannibal Lecter must be an incredibly difficult assignment. Like Norman Bates, he’s charming, but not so charming that you immediately lower your guard. No matter how friendly he appears, there’s always an obvious undercurrent of darkness, whether it comes through in a malicious glance or an off-handed comment. In the Anthony Hopkins canon, including “Hannibal Rising,” Lecter has a confirmed 26 kills, not including a number of proxy deaths and attempted murders. And yes, most of these victims were cannibalized to some degree. He’s an utterly terrifying figure, and Hopkins gives a masterful performance depicting his predatory behavior.
