Celluloid Serial Killers

Enter: Silence of The Lambs

After The Silence of The Lambs the serial killer movie floodgates opened and if anything was ever going to challenge it for riveting, edge of the chair, cop- tracking- down- a- serial-killer suspense, it was Episode 1 of the 1991 English TV mini series Prime Suspect (which went to video in 1996, as did the whole series) starring Helen Mirren as the tenacious Jane Tennyson, serial killer sleuth extraordinaire. Episode 6 in the series is also a superb serial killer thriller.

In 1992 came the sleeper Jennifer 8, which was mostly missed at the box office which was a shame because it is a serial killer classic with cop Andy Garcia hot on the trail of a killer who specialises in killing blind women. Deservedly so, Jennifer 8 has since created its own cult following.

Andrei Chikatilo

In 1995 there were more serial killer movies released than in any other year in history. There was Citizen X, the real-life adventures of a charming bit of work named Andre Chikatilo who murdered and ate children; Copycat about a serial killer with a difference who copies infamous American serial killers from the past such as Son of Sam and Ted Bundy, and the classic Seven which rates among the best serial killer movies of all time, a believable cops-track-down-serial-killer drama that has you hanging by your fingernails until the very end.

Oh yes, serial killer movies had arrived and 1997 saw the release of the screen adaptation of James Patterson's international best seller Kiss The Girls, a roller coaster ride thriller that introduces us to black cop Alex Cross whose niece has gone missing and Switchback which features the screen's very first serial killer of a certain type of human being. You'll have to see it to find out what I am referring to.

Summer of Sam, a 1999 release, is about the lives of fictional New Yorkers at the time that the non-fictional David Berkowitz, better known as the serial killer Son of Sam, was running around bumping off young couples in cars with a Bulldog ×44. Also in 1999 we saw The Bone Collector, a classy but grisly tale of a quadriplegic detective's pursuit of a signature serial killer on the loose in New York's underground.

Other serial killer movies of the late 90s include the forgettable Diary of a Serial Killer and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, an outer space serial murder mystery that should have stayed in deep space.

The 2000 screen adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis's book American Psycho was acclaimed by some reviewers and denounced by others. Some reviewers rated it among the top movies of the year and a serial killer thriller to rival The Silence of the Lambs. But the vast majority of serial killer movie buffs rejected it as a trashy, sensationalist, wall- to- wall-blood-and-guts piece of tripe that was an insult to the genre. You judge for yourself. But be warned before you spend your money. If you hated the book then the experts say that the movie is worse, if that is possible.

In 2001 the legions of serial killer buffs flocked to see Hannibal, the long awaited sequel to the Silence of The Lambs, and while it wasn't in the same class as the original (and it's likely that no serial killer movie ever will be), from all accounts few walked away disappointed. Director Jonathon Demme and Jody Foster were sadly missed but it still showed them that the good doctor hadn't lost his touch.

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Author's note

Celluloid Serial Killers: The History of Serial Killers in the Movies was researched over five years from the resources of Dr What's Video Emporium in Sydney's Bondi Junction, the largest video library in Australia with in excess of 25,000 titles. Hundreds of prospective titles were viewed and rejected as they either didn't fit into the serial killer category or were too absurd either as a documentary or a fictional title to seriously rate a mention.

The author realises that while every available title has been investigated in the pursuit of accuracy it is a definite possibility that titles may have been overlooked and not included in the list.