Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Serial Killers in Movies

10. Leslie Vernon

   Leslie Vernon is a budding serial killer.  Somehow he finds a documentary film crew willing to follow him through the process of his first massacre.  Well done for a low-budget film.  A darkly funny parody of the slasher films of the 1980's.
Body Count: 10

9. God Bless America

   Written and directed by Bobcat, this dark comedy is just as depressing as it is funny.  Frank has given up on life when he decides to take a few choice people out with him, including reality TV stars, a political commentator and some religious extremists who like to picket funerals.  Almost cathartic for us cynics, really.
Body Count: 40
Roxy: 8
Frank: 32

8. Sweeney Todd

   Todd and his landlord are a bit desperate when they decide that they best money-making scheme is to murder people and sell them in pies.  It's Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, so you know it's directed by Tim Burton.  They don't whistle while they work, either.  No, they sing show tunes.
Body Count: 10+

7. Paul and Peter

   Even the audience is helpless against these two, from the German film, Funny Games.  They break the fourth wall and address the audience.  One of them pauses the film from inside it and has a do-over.  They're polite and charming, and just want to play some games.
Body Count: 3

6. Henry

   Henry, of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is smart.  He knows how to avoid being caught and he is very, very good at what he does.  You can see his pleasure at the horrors he's perpetrated on the screen.  Maybe less twisted than his partner-in-crime, Otis, but Henry takes care of the problem of Otis before the end of the movie.  Based on real-life serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas.
Body Count: 11?


5. Mick Taylor

   Mick Taylor, the psychotic redneck from Wolf Creek (Are they called rednecks in Australia?  No, they're called "bogans."  The more you know...) is based on Australia's very own serial killer, Ivan Milat, the Backpacker Murderer.  So called probably because, you know, he targeted backpackers.  So Mick basically invites some random kids back to his murder shack and from there it gets scary.  One of the two girls is raped, the other is stabbed in the back to make her a "head on a stick."  Her spine is broken, paralyzing her, but she is still conscious and aware of what follows (the audience is not shown what follows, which is probably a good thing.
Body Count: 2 (Way more implied)

4. Firefly Family

   This is an entire family of people who gleefully murder strangers.  This family genuinely loves what it does for a living and seems to kill as many people as they can get their hands on.  Some seriously twisted characters from the mind of Rob Zombie, whose wife plays Baby.
Body Count: 12
House of 1000 Corpses: 7
Devil's Rejects: 5

3. John Doe

   John Doe, the antagonist from Se7En shows up on this list for one very important reason: creativity.  All the other villains are out there stabbing or strangling and John Doe, played by an emotionless Kevin Spacey, decided to force a morbidly obese man to feed himself to death.  All his kills are specifically targeted to punish the seven deadly sins.
Body Count: 8
Gluttony- A morbidly obese man is forced to feed himself to death.
Greed- A defense attorney must pay for his sin of greed with a pound of flesh or be killed.  He fails and     bleeds to death
Sloth- A pedophile is tied to his own bed, kept barely alive for one year.  By the end of that year "his brain is mush.
Lust- A prostitute is raped to death with a bladed dildo.
Pride- With her face brutally mutilated, a young model is forced to choose between killing herself or being disfigured for life.
Spoiler: John Doe kills Mills' wife, Tracy, then allows himself to be shot multiple times by Mills to atone for his sin of envy.

2. Michael Myers

   Certainly the most prolific serial killer on the list with more than one hundred direct kills, Michael Meyers of the Halloween series missed out on number one on this countdown for one reason: lack of personality.  It's part of what makes him so scary.  There's nothing behind the mask.
Body Count: 111
Halloween- 5
Halloween 2- 9
Halloween 3- 0
Halloween 4- 17
Halloween 5- 12
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers- 16
Halloween H20- 6
Halloween Resurrection- 10
Halloween (2007)- 18
Halloween 2 (2009)- 17
Halloween: 10 Years Later- 1


1. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter

   Three men have played Hannibal Lecter, Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, and Gaspard Ulliel.  Anthony Hopkins is perfect for this role.  Charming, suave, and highly intelligent, Lecter is the perfect predator, attractive yet deadly.  His modus operandi involves killing obnoxious people (he calls it the "free range rude"), and making gourmet dishes from their body parts.  Based on a character created by Thomas Harris, I liked the character before Harris gave Lecter a reason for his insanity in the disappointing prequel, Hannibal Rising.
Body Count: 12
Hannibal Rising- 6
Manhunter- 0
Red Dragon- 0
Silence of the Lambs- 3
Hannibal- 3


Honorable Mention: I didn't put Patrick Bateman on this list simply because I already addressed American Psycho in this post.