There's nothing scarier than humans! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at memorable movie serial killers.
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00:00And like a dutiful son covered up all traces of the crime he was convinced his mother had
00:05committed. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're looking at memorable movie serial killers.
00:10You're to tell him nothing personal, Starling. Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter
00:15inside your head. These killers must be fictional characters and they must be unambiguously human,
00:20so we'll be excluding the likes of Jason, Michael and Freddy.
00:25Number 10. Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street.
00:38There are dark musicals and then there's Sweeney Todd. The acclaimed play was adapted to film in
00:432007, with Johnny Depp portraying the titular serial killer. Played to macabre perfection by
00:48Depp, Sweeney Todd is a deranged barber who slits the throats of his victims and has their
00:54remains baked into meat pies. He kills at least 10 people in the movie, including a number of
01:09innocent customers, evil Judge Turpin and even his partner in crime Mrs. Lovett, whom he burns
01:14inside of an oven. We place a lot of trust in barbers, especially when they get near our
01:19throats with a straight razor. To watch that trust betrayed is completely chill-inducing.
01:34Number 9. Peter and Paul. Funny Games.
01:37Michael Haneke's subversive horror film has drawn incredible controversy since its
01:46release in 1997. It concerns two young men named Peter and Paul, who torment and eventually kill
01:52the Schober family in their holiday home. The biblical names of Peter and Paul are immediately
02:01noticeable, and almost certainly an intentional choice on the part of Haneke. Three humans and
02:07one dog become victims of Peter and Paul, and at the end of the film, it's implied that they will
02:12also kill neighbors Gerda and Robert, bringing their body count to at least six. Their motive
02:18is entirely unknown, and we infer that they do it simply for sadistic entertainment.
02:24The idea that people like that actually exist is a truly terrifying thought.
02:37Number 8. Pearl. The X Franchise.
02:51Ty West crafted a modern classic with his X series, which chronicles the life of a serial
02:56killer named Pearl. The series is quite creative in that it spans multiple decades and styles,
03:02portraying Pearl as both an aged woman and youthful aspiring actress. Whatever her age,
03:07Pearl is an incredibly dangerous individual, and she's played to perfection by Mia Goth,
03:13even under 20 layers of makeup. She kills several people in Pearl, including her own parents,
03:24but that's just the beginning. Her psychopathy continues well into old age,
03:29and she kills more with her husband Howard and ex. We can only imagine
03:33how many lives she took in the interim. Actually, we don't want to think about that.
03:44Number 7. Mickey and Mallory Knox.
03:50A divisive film, Natural Born Killers is a scathing indictment of mass media and
03:55its obsession with violence. The grislier, the better. The story follows Mickey and Mallory
04:00Knox, two mass murderers played to eerie perfection by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis.
04:05Along the way, they become national celebrities, known far and wide for their almost mythical
04:11killing spree. The couple murders dozens of people before getting caught, and they murder many more
04:20while breaking out of prison. Even scarier than their ridiculous body count is their total lack
04:26of empathy, with Mickey calling himself a natural born killer. There's nothing scarier than that.
04:43Number 6. Billy Loomis and Stu Mocker, Scream.
04:50There are a ton of ghost faces throughout this iconic series, but come on,
04:58we have to go with the OGs. One gone insane from past trauma and the other just along for the ride,
05:03Billy and Stu make one of the creepiest movie duos. They partner up to conduct
05:09the Woodsboro murders, killing a total of six people throughout two years.
05:20Their spree begins with Sidney's mother Maureen, and continues to include the school principal,
05:29a news cameraman, and even Stu's girlfriend. It doesn't really matter who gets in their way,
05:34they will die, and often quite violently. Casey's death is an all-timer, and it alone places Billy
05:40and Stu in the horror villain hall of fame. Number 5. Patrick Bateman,
05:50American Psycho. Like natural born killers, this is a film with deeper thematic ambitions
06:02than mere entertainment. Often seen as a black satire, American Psycho lets you know what you're
06:07getting from the very title. He's American, and he's a psycho. What more do you want? The psycho,
06:13of course, is Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie who moonlights as a serial killer.
06:20Patrick is truly deranged, obsessed with nothing but status and murder. He takes 17 lives throughout
06:28the course of the movie, including one dog, but he confesses to Harold that he's killed up to 40.
06:34Much of Patrick's eeriness comes through Christian Bale's dead-eyed performance,
06:38portraying a soulless husk of a man who has lost any semblance of humanity he may have once had.
06:50Number 4. Jigsaw, the Saw franchise.
06:56Sure, you can make the argument that John Kramer never actually killed anyone, but come on,
07:01that would never hold up in court. He's a serial killer through and through,
07:05a broken man who kidnaps people and subjects them to horrific...
07:10Let's put the biggest quotation marks possible around those words.
07:13Those who don't appreciate life do not deserve life.
07:17My son appreciates his life.
07:19Jigsaw has a truly warped mind, not only believing that what he's doing is right,
07:24but subjecting people to grotesque traps that often result in their painful deaths.
07:29Maybe we can sympathize with Jigsaw's tragic backstory, but what he did with it is,
07:34shall we say, a little difficult to digest. In fact,
07:38it is one of the most deplorable things we've ever seen in movies.
07:42I could use your assistance in locating some people that are in need of our services.
07:50Number 3. John Doe, Seven.
07:53Wait a minute, I thought all you did was kill innocent people.
07:58Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny?
08:00Fed up with the state of the world, John Doe orchestrated his murder spree around the seven
08:05deadly sins, with each of his victims representing a different sin. John claimed a total of seven
08:10lives throughout his spree, including Rachel Slade, who took her own life after John mutilated
08:15her face. Each of these deaths is devastating and horrific in their own right, but David Fincher
08:25saves the worst for last, delivering a crushing plot twist that has reverberated throughout
08:30pop culture. John Doe is the scariest type of killer, obviously apathetic and cruel,
08:36but also manipulative and very, very smart. And worst of all, he wins.
08:44He didn't know.
08:45Number 2. Norman Bates, Psycho.
08:48We all go a little mad sometimes.
08:50Anthony Perkins gives one of the all-time great villain performances,
08:54portraying the twisted Norman Bates. What makes Norman so scary is his deceptive charm.
09:00He's a very attractive and well-dressed man, and he comes across as very friendly,
09:04albeit with some major mommy issues. But that's obviously hiding a very violent reality,
09:13with Norman often dressing as his dead mother and killing the female guests of his hotel.
09:18He kills two people on screen, but the psychiatrist reveals that he's murdered
09:22four others, bringing his body count to six. Of those four, two were innocent women,
09:28and the others were his own mother and her lover.
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09:57Number 1. Hannibal Lecter, The Hannibal Lecter Franchise.
10:04And speaking of deceitful, here we come to the most deceitful villain of them all.
10:13Playing Hannibal Lecter must be an incredibly difficult assignment. Like Norman Bates,
10:18he's charming, but not so charming that you immediately lower your guard.
10:22No matter how friendly he appears, there's always an obvious undercurrent of darkness,
10:27whether it comes through in a malicious glance or an offhanded comment.
10:34In the Anthony Hopkins canon, including Hannibal Rising, Lecter has a confirmed 26 kills,
10:41not including a number of proxy deaths and attempted murders. And yes, most of these
10:46victims were cannibalized to some degree. He's an utterly terrifying figure, and Hopkins gives
10:52a masterful performance depicting his predatory behavior. Which of these killers scared you the
10:59most? Let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips
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