Homicide and murder are crimes that have shaken society since ancient times . Whether with a specific premeditated objective, product of an impulse or mere whim, there are many cases of subjects who have decided to or have killed another person.

Generally, murderers and killers kill one or more people in the course of the crime, with the crime being a one-time event.

However, in some cases there are killers who commit multiple crimes, so-called serial killers.Jack the Ripper or Charles Manson are two widely known cases. In order to learn about how and why their crimes are committed, a series of films and documentaries on serial killers are highlighted.

What is considered a serial killer?

A serial killer is a person who intentionally, knowingly and with malice aforethought carries out at least three murders in a specific period of time that can vary greatly, with the killings being separated by hours, months or even years.

This type of individuals usually lacks a personal link with the victim , being generally the murder the product of chance, the appearance of aggressive impulses in the killer or the presence of certain characteristics in the victim that remind him of phenomena or people in his life. Sometimes the crime is carried out for ideological reasons. It is not uncommon to find psychopaths or those suffering from antisocial personality disorder, with elements in common being the total or partial absence of empathy, a high level of capacity for seduction and manipulation, a strong need for power and the presence of feelings of superiority.

The way these subjects act and the way they commit the crimes tend to have a pattern that is repeated throughout the killings, including rituals and methods of execution and torture of the victims.

10 films and documentaries on serial killer cases

Below we present a series of films and documentaries dealing with specific cases of serial killers . Most of them deal with real cases and events, although some of the films contain material that is only based on them or on novels that have dealt with the subject.

1. Manson, portrait of a murderer (Tom Gries)

Charles Manson is undoubtedly one of the most notorious serial killers, although he was not physically involved in the crimes.

In this film based on its history, you can see how a sect of murderers would be known as “the Family” through which a large number of murders would be committed, one of the best known being the murder of the actress Sharon Tate and four other people in the actress’s home.

2. The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer (Tom Spain, Arthur Ginsberg)

Richard Kuklinski, also known as Iceman because he froze the bodies of his victims in order to make police work more difficult, was a dangerous serial killer who killed more than a hundred people . Born into an aversive family environment with a father and mother who abused him and his siblings, he began his criminal career at the age of thirteen. He would later be known for attacking and killing numerous passers-by or anyone who bothered him.

Eventually he would become an assassin in the service of different mob families. He was characterized by his extreme lack of empathy with his victims, whom he eliminated with great cruelty and then disposed of the bodies. In this documentary we can see interviews made to this murderer during his stay in prison, where he would die in 2006.

3. Monster (Patty Jenkins)

This film released in 2003 is based on the story of Aileen Wuornos, who was responsible for the death of at least seven men . She did not know her parents, her father having committed suicide in prison and having been abandoned by her mother. She was left in the care of her grandparents, from whom she came to claim that she had been mistreated and sexually abused as a child. She later began to practice prostitution, and eventually had various problems with justice.

His first victim was an ex-convict, whom he claimed he killed in self-defence after he had raped her. He would later kill a total of six more men, according to his statements also in self-defence, although the evidence gathered and the condition of the bodies did not seem to support that idea. She was executed in 2002.

4. Arropiero, the wanderer of death (Carles Balagué)

A documentary centered on the figure of Manuel Delgado Villegas, known as the Arropiero . This man is considered the greatest serial killer in Spain, having confessed to a total of 48 murders throughout the country and even in France. Of these, seven were tested and twenty-two were considered credible.

Declared unfit for duty due to mental illness, he spent 25 years in psychiatric institutions until he was released against the advice of several professionals. He died in begging, due to lung problems resulting from his smoking.

5. Citizen X (Chris Gerolmo)

Film focused on the investigation of the murders carried out by the figure of Andrei Chikatilo , also known as the Butcher of Rostov. He is considered the worst serial killer in the Soviet Union, having been accused of killing after torturing and raping at least fifty-two women and children.

6. I Survived BTK (Marc Levitz)

Documentary focusing on Dennis Rader, the self-styled BTK (Bound, Torture, Kill) killer because he first tied up and then tortured and subsequently killed his victims. He attacked a total of twelve people after finding the sensation of ending a human life satisfying, of which two managed to get out alive. In the documentary you can see his statements before the court and the victims’ families.

7. Zodiac (David Fincher)

Based on the case of the Zodiac Killer, which has been confirmed to be responsible for the death or assault with intent to kill of four men and three women in the United States . He left cryptic coded messages with which he mocked the police . The individual in question was never found, his identity still being unknown.

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8. Ted Bundy: The Woman Killer (Tom Seligson)

This documentary tells us about another of the best known serial killers, Ted Bundy . This man murdered numerous women of different ages, having been blamed for fourteen deaths but the real figure could be as high as a hundred.Ted Bundy had a tendency to attack women with long, dark hair, apparently representing both his ex-girlfriend and his mother, who had abandoned him.

It is worth noting the high level of charisma he was capable of displaying and his high capacity for manipulation, defending himself legally in the process against him. He was condemned to death and executed in the electric chair.

9. El niño de Barro (Jorge Algora)

This recent film is based on the crimes of Cayetano Santos Gordino or el Petiso Orejudo , the youngest serial killer in Argentina. This young man killed four children (the first of them when the author was only nine years old), in addition to trying to kill seven more people and burn down as many buildings.

In the film a young man named Mateo has visions of the deaths of these children, with the police believing that he is the murderer.

10. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)

Although this is not a film that is based on any real case, it has been added to the list because the author of the original novel that would give it life based on many profiles of serial killers to create the characters of Hannibal Lecter (inspired among others by Ted Bundy) and Buffalo Bill (the latter inspired by the murderer Ed Gein).

In the film, researcher Clarice Starling pursues the serial killer Buffalo Bill , for which she seeks the help of another criminal locked up in prison, Hannibal Lecter, with the help of whom she intends to help understand and find the killer.