Serial Killing Based Movies list
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist. FBI agent Jack Crawford believes that Lecter who is also a very powerful and clever mind manipulator have the answers to their questions to help locate the killer. Clarice must first try and gain Lecter’s confidence before he is to give away any information.
Director: Jonathan Demme
MPAA: R
Running Time: 1 hr. 58 min.
Release Date: Feb 13, 1991
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Kasi Lemmons, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, Frankie Faison, Brooke Smith, Dan Butler, Tracey Walter, Charles Napier.
Seven (1995)
t. William Somerset, a burnt-out veteran cop, is on the brink of retirement. Forced to train his ambitious and eager replacement, Somerset is teamed with Detective David Mills on an investigation that draws these disparate cops deeper and deeper into the twisted world of a cunning and meticulous criminal. He is methodical, exacting and grotesquely creative. He is known as John Doe and he is the most vicious serial killer alive, fashioning murders based on the seven deadly sins. As each new victim is discovered, the detectives must combine their collective experiences to track the trail of a killer bent on seeking attrition for society’s sins. Also known as Se7en .
Director: David Fincher
MPAA: R
Running Time: 2 hrs. 8 min.
Release Date: Sep 22, 1995
Cast: Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, R. Lee Ermey, Richard Roundtree.
The Bone Collector (1999)
After an accident in a tunnel, a forensics expert is left as a quadriplegic who is able only to move his head and one finger. Setting his finger to a computer, he is able to manipulate his environment with the help of a loving nurse. Even so, fearing seizures that could leave him a vegetable, he plans his “transition” with the help of a hesitational doctor friend. That all changes when he is confronted with clues from a serial killer that obviously are pointed to forensics investigation. The case clearly re-invokes his interest in life. A sharp, young cop’s quick thinking saves the first crime scene. Recognizing her talent for forensics, he brings her unwillingly into forensics detection. Through radio contact, she becomes his eyes and legs on the scene. Michael Rooker also appears as the police captain, who has bungled earlier killings by the serial killer and is more interested in the press than in good police work. Ed O’Neill and Luis Guzman are support staff who aid Washington and run interference with Rooker.
Director: Phillip Noyce
MPAA: R
Running Time: 118 min.
Release Date: Nov 05, 1999
Cast: Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker, Mike McGlone, Luis Guzman, Leland Orser, Ed O’Neill.
Cape Fear (1991)
Sam Bowden is a womanizing lawyer who has cheated on his burnt out, bitter wife Leigh Bowden. Sam, Leigh, and their 15 year old daughter Danielle have moved to a backwater Florida town for a new start, but Sam is already showing signs of fooling around with his clerk, 16 year old Lori Davis. Meanwhile, Leigh broods at home, venting her bitterness on Danielle. But Sam’s unfaithfulness becomes the least of Leigh’s worries. Years ago, as a public defender, Sam had a client named Max Cady, who was accused of brutalizing a teenage girl. Sam put up a lousy defense for Max after discovering that Max was guilty of brutalizing the girl. Now, 14 years later, Cady has been released from prison and he’s hungry for revenge on Sam, having spent his sentence making himself well-read in philosophy and literature. Cady’s plan is to destroy Sam’s career and family. Cady fatally poisons the family dog, brutalizes Lori, and comes close to getting Danielle to sympathize with him, successfully goading Sam into violence. Sam has Lieutenant Eigert, of the local police department, try to harass Cady into leaving town, hires sleazy private eye Claude Kersek to have Cady beaten up, and offers Cady money to simply go away. When all that fails, Sam uses his family as bait to lure Cady into his house while Kersek is guarding the place. It ends up as a bloody mess when Cady sneaks in and kills Kersek. This prompts the Bowdens to leave the house, with Cady following them all the way to the Bowden houseboat for a confrontation on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
Director: Martin Scorsese
MPAA: R
Running Time: 2 hrs. 8 min.
Release Date: Nov 13, 1991
Cast: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Pec.
Dirty Harry (1971)
In the year 1971, San Francisco faces the terror of a maniac known as Scorpio- who snipes at innocent victims and demands ransom through notes left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Harry Callahan (known as Dirty Harry by his peers through his reputation handling of homicidal cases) is assigned to the case along with his newest partner Inspector Chico Gonzalez to track down Scorpio and stop him. Using humiliation and cat and mouse type of games against Callahan, Scorpio is put to the test with the cop with a dirty attitude.
Director: Don Siegel
MPAA: R
Running Time: 1 hr. 42 min.
Release Date: Dec 24, 1971
Cast: Andrew Robinson, Andy Robinson, Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, John Larch, John Mitchum, John Vernon, Rene Santoni, Reni Santoni.
Frenzy (1972)
A murdering rapist has been terrorizing London. The police manage to track him down and sentence him to life imprisonment. However Inspector Oxford has his doubts as to whether or not they have indeed the right man…
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
MPAA: R
Running Time: 1 hr. 56 min.
Release Date: Jun 21, 1972
Cast: Alec McCowen, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Barry Foster, Bernard Cribbins, Billie Whitelaw, Clive Swift,
Jean Marsh, John Boxer, Jon Finch, Michael Bates, Vivien Merchant .
Copycat (1995)
Taking its lead from Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning pulse-raiser The Silence of the Lambs, Copycat strives for intelligence over gristle and carnage. It’s a terse, involving thriller that swings away from the usual cinematic notion of violence as a means to an end by forgoing brawn for brains. Young San Francisco police inspector Ruben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) is teamed with brilliant force vet, M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter), a diplomatic, no-nonsense cop who must buck the system in order to find a killer who is copycatting the crimes of history’s most notorious serial killers. Ruben would rather shoot to kill than merely wound a suspect; Monahan labors to help him think more diplomatically. Everything changes when crank calls arrive at the station from serial -killer pin-up girl psychiatrist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver). She’s been housebound for 13 months, ever since murderer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) nearly made her his next victim because she testified against him in court. Though he’s in prison, he’s still mentor and muse to every loose cannon walking the streets–one of whom is killing people with a vengeance and hoping to finish the job Cullum began. Cop and doc team up to solve the case in this stylish, plot-driven movie. Though Copycat loses steam in the end, it still makes a point. And it serves as a cautionary tale for people everywhere, tossing in street smart warnings against victimization. The teaming of Hunter and Weaver works well, the short and the tall forging a terrific and frictioned relationship that leads to grudging respect. Establishing an ominous atmosphere reminiscent of his classic British TV miniseries The Singing Detective, director Jon Amiel has an eye for the dark and the unusual and it gives this film an edge that eludes most other mainstream filmmakers.
Director: Jon Amiel
MPAA: R
Running Time: 125 min.
Release Date: Oct 27, 1995
Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Harry Connick, Harry Connick Jr., Holly Hunter, J.E. Freeman, John Rothman, Jr, Sigourney Weaver, Will Patton, William McNamara.
Identity (2003)
Strangers from all different walks of life: a limo driver escorting a movie star, parents with a young son, a cop transporting a convict, a prostitute, a young couple, and a motel manager are caught up in a nasty rainstorm, stuck at a motel in desolate Nevada. Soon they realize they may be at the motel for another reason when one by one, people start getting killed off. As tensions flare and fingers are pointed, they have to get to the bottom of why they’re there. Meanwhile in an undisclosed location, a psychiatrist is trying to prove the innocence of a man accused of murder in an eleventh hour trial. How these two through-lines are related can only be found in Identity.
Director: James Mangold
MPAA: R
Running Time: 90 min.
Release Date: Apr 25, 2003
Cast: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, John C. McGinley.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
“Perfume” is a terrifying story of murder and obsession set in 18th-century France. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille has a unique talent for discerning the scents and smells that swirl around him, which he uses to create the world’s finest perfumes. Strangely lacking any scent of his own, he becomes obsessed with capturing the irresistible but elusive aroma of young womanhood. As Grenouille’s obsession turns deadly, 12 young girls are found murdered. Panic breaks out as people rush to protect their daughters, while an unrepentant and unrelenting Grenouille still lacks the final ingredient to complete his quest.
Director: Tom Tykwer
MPAA: R
Running Time: 2 hrs. 27 min.
Release Date: Dec 27, 2006
Cast: Alan Rickman, Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Karoline Herfurth, Rachel Hurd-Wood.
Monster (2003)
A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America’s first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute–servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby. And during that very same time, she also began murdering any of her clientele who attempted to rape her. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers–instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer.
Director: Patty Jenkins
MPAA: R
Running Time: 1 hr. 49 min.
Release Date: Dec 24, 2003
Cast: Annie Corley, Bruce Dern, Bubba Baker, Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Lee Tergesen, Marc Macaulay, Marco
St. John, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Pruitt Tayor Vince, Scott Wilson
The Brave One (2007)
New York radio host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) has a life that she loves and a fiancé she adores. All of it is taken from her when a brutal attack leav…(read more…)es Erica badly wounded and her fiancé dead. Unable to move past the tragedy, Erica begins prowling the city streets at night to track down the men she holds responsible. Her dark pursuit of justice catches the public’s attention, and the city is riveted by her anonymous exploits. But with the NYPD desperate to find the culprit and a dogged police detective (Terrence Howard) hot on her trail, she must decide whether her quest for revenge is truly the right path, or if she is becoming the very thing she is trying to stop.
Director: Neil Jordan
MPAA: R
Running Time: 2 hrs. 2 min.
Release Date: Sep 14, 2007
Cast: Jodie Foster, Terrence Dashon Howard, Naveen Andrews, Mary Steenburgen
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