Best/Worst Serial Killer in TV/ Film

[BoosterBronze]

Since the Best/Worst Vampire threads were such a hoot, lets try this!

Who was the best serial killer in TV/Films?

Hannibal Lector seems an obvious choice, but he never did a lot of serial killing during those movies.

So my pick has to be Sid 6.0 from "Virtuosity." He may not exactly count, since he was a comptuer program, but Russel Crow was creepy, and oddly charming.

[Thorlief]

the one from Epitafios. He did about twenty killings in twelve episodes, and some of the most gruesome you could ever imagine.

awesome serie, deserves much more credit

http://seriesendvd.blogdiario.com/img/Epitafios.jpg

[Toku King]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Michaelmyers2007.JPG

[hoffmandu]

I vote for John Doe, se7en. That or Buffalo Bill from Lambs.

[Shellhead]

Depends on what you mean by "best." Highest body count? Most entertaining? Most realistic? Best costume or gimmick? Best box office numbers? Most sequels? Most original? The one who would win if all the serial killers had a big fight to the death?

[Legato]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Michaelmyers2007.JPG

I see you that and raise you Hannibal Lecter. I could see a nice crossover between both Silence of The Lambs and Halloween.

Mostly to see a conversation between Dr.Loomis and Lecter while they are both making an analysis on Myers.

[Toku King]

Lecter is nothing to the the Shape.

[Chiasm]

Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs since he's the most realistic one to be on TV. Thomas Harris molded Bill from two different serial killers. One was Ted Bundy as Ted's modus operandi was to fake an injury to get women to help him carry packages. The other was Ed Gein who built a pit in his basement to hold women so he could build himself a woman suit.

[BoosterBronze]

Depends on what you mean by "best." Highest body count? Most entertaining? Most realistic? Best costume or gimmick? Best box office numbers? Most sequels?

Intentionally a vague and indefinite description of 'best' to encourgage enjoyable discussion.

Most original? The one who would win if all the serial killers had a big fight to the death?

Hey! This aint no Rumbles board! :)

[Wenatchee the Hatchet]

I'm going with Peter Lorre's compulsive child molesting killer from M. Old-school but Lorre's performance just seemed to set the standard everyone else would have to build up from just to get noticed and as a psychologically plausible character you still can't help but hate and pity at the same time he's the most memorable killer I've seen in a film. Lector? Meh. I'm indifferent.

[Monty_Cristo]

Buffy? ................................

[joegottman]

Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote. Wherever she went, someone ended up getting murdered. The only reasonable explanation is that she was murdering them herself and somehow brainwashing her "suspects" to believe that they were guilty and should confess. She did this over 250 times and never got caught!

[Tobias March]

Tooms surely, because he had such a great gimic.

Course there was also Pierre Le Fou from Cowboy Bebop.

[Monty_Cristo]

Jack the Ripper - he's probably one of the most emulated - and you can't beat the name recognition

[The Mutt]

Count Chocula.

Oh wait. You said SERIAL.

[Donald M.]

Lecter is nothing to the the Shape.

Actually, Meyers and Lecter have a bit in common as both have been recently been destroyed by the revelation of their terribly uninteresting back stories.

That said, Meyers has a higher body count and an apparent and possibly supernatural immunity to death, but Lecter is still the more interesting character.

Lecter gets into your head. Meyers, in the end, is just a guy with a knife.

[Monty_Cristo]

Actually, Meyers and Lecter have a bit in common as both have been recently been destroyed by the revelation of their terribly uninteresting back stories.

That said, Meyers has a higher body count and an apparent and possibly supernatural immunity to death, but Lecter is still the more interesting character.

Lecter gets into your head. Meyers, in the end, is just a guy with a knife.

he got into Doc Loomis' head. he got into Laurie's head (H2O). he got into the head of his niece.

[StoneGold]

http://www.wrestlingworld.it/Speciali/Bio%20UT/Interviste%20UT/taker1.jpg

Lord only knows how many men he's buried alive in casket matches.

[The Mutt]

http://www.dvdworldonline.com/images3/Death_Wish_DVD.jpg

[Legato]

he got into Doc Loomis' head. he got into Laurie's head (H2O). he got into the head of his niece.

He pretty much ruined the lives of both Laurie and Jamie(His niece)

Jamie had a well adjusted childhood before Myers came into her life.

Also if one follows the novels instead of the movie Lecter ruined alot of lives himself, he destroyed Clarice's carrier and then got into her head so deep that he managed to win Clarice's heart.

Thare is also that one time when he convince a man to cut his own face off in Hannibal.

[DWEarhart]

Brian Cox's Lecter, to me, was much better than Anthony Hopkins's Lecter.

Rutger Hauer's Hitcher, I like.

Michael Rooker as Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

And most recently, Mr. Brooks. I loved that film.

Worst: Keanu Reeves in The Watcher.

[The Zapper]

Best - Michael Myers from Halloween. A classic and personal favorite.
Worst - Jigsaw from Saw. Crap character for a crap series.

[Toku King]

Actually, Meyers and Lecter have a bit in common as both have been recently been destroyed by the revelation of their terribly uninteresting back stories.

That said, Meyers has a higher body count and an apparent and possibly supernatural immunity to death, but Lecter is still the more interesting character.

Lecter gets into your head. Meyers, in the end, is just a guy with a knife.

Extremely wrong.
Myers may kill you physically, but with that comes a boom of confusion and mind blasting.
He gets into everyone's head, making them think that he's everywhere at once, and that there's no way out.
And to top it off, the character himself is far more interesting than Lecter. He's a complex puzzle of human nature that has no boundaries whatsoever. It's like he is a victim of some sort of disease. Like he was destined to just be evil. Everything he does is questionable, and everything he is is wrong.

[The Mutt]

You know, if the backlash against the glut of CSI vs Serial Killer TV shows is anything as bad as the backlash against Westerns after the Bonanza/Gunsmoke era, there's not going to be a cop show on TV for the next twenty years.

[jessecuster3]

Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs since he's the most realistic one to be on TV. Thomas Harris molded Bill from two different serial killers. One was Ted Bundy as Ted's modus operandi was to fake an injury to get women to help him carry packages. The other was Ed Gein who built a pit in his basement to hold women so he could build himself a woman suit.


I can't believe how long it took for someone to mention this one:


Michael Rooker as Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.


Much more realistic than Buffalo Bill.

[Indigo Al]

Worst: The idiotic professor from The Bone Collector

Best: "It's pretty hard to beat The King!"

[Karl J Barnes]

Brian Cox's Lecter, to me, was much better than Anthony Hopkins's Lecter.

Rutger Hauer's Hitcher, I like.

Michael Rooker as Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

And most recently, Mr. Brooks. I loved that film.

Worst: Keanu Reeves in The Watcher.

Quoted for truth. Michael Rooker's Henry was just plain scary without all the gimicks and quirks that you see in other Hollywood movies. I loved Mr. Brooks. Costner showed that he could act and the story didn't end in any way that you'd expect a Hollywood movie to end.

As to your worst,well..it IS Keanu!

[Jared]

Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote. Wherever she went, someone ended up getting murdered. The only reasonable explanation is that she was murdering them herself and somehow brainwashing her "suspects" to believe that they were guilty and should confess. She did this over 250 times and never got caught!


She wasn't a serial killer, she was Death itself.

Worst: I'm thinking of 'From Hell's' Jack the Ripper. I can't remember many specifics about the movie, just that I thought his motivation was ridiculous. He claimed he was going to "give birth to the 20th Century" and never explained what he meant.

[Indigo Al]

Worst: I'm thinking of 'From Hell's' Jack the Ripper. I can't remember many specifics about the movie, just that I thought his motivation was ridiculous. He claimed he was going to "give birth to the 20th Century" and never explained what he meant.

That's why the movie failed, and reading the graphic novel is important in order to understand.

[The Zapper]

That's why the movie failed, and reading the graphic novel is important in order to understand.

I agree. The movie was a major let down. Kind of like V for Vendetta.

[ultramandingo]

Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs since he's the most realistic one to be on TV.

........they did a"" Buffalo Bill " tv show ?!? ..............wait, it didnt have a puppet named doody did it ? or Dabney Coleman - id buy him skining corpse

[Toku King]

Of all of the serial killers television and movies have to offer, which do you think are the most frightening?

[Chiasm]

Of all of the serial killers television and movies have to offer, which do you think are the most frightening?

The ones that seem real. In other words the ones that are nothing like Hannibal Lecter but rather like the other serial killer in Silence of Lambs whose name if I recall was Buffalo Bill. He was scary because he was a composite of two actual serial killers - Ted Bundy (his method) and Ed Gein (what he did with his victims and why). There has never been a serial killer like Hannibal Lecter which is why he's not scary because he's not real. Profilers have certainly gone to interview serial killers about how and why they did what they did but they don't go back to serial killers for advice on current case.

[rick]

For me it's a real toss-up between the highly realistic, Henry, from Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, and the highly overboard, Firefly Family from The Devils Rejects.

What makes both so scary is that none of them has even a touch of the romanticism that the likes of the Hannibal Lector just exude.

Both Henry and the Fireflies are just old school white trash maniacs.

[Tobias March]

Alec Baldwin channeling Hannibal Lecter in 30 Rock (http://youtube.com/watch?v=J-reInEo3lU).

Brrrr.

[Julusnc]

The Ice Man Documentary.

The Mafia hitman was the scariest SOB I have ever seen on tv or read a book about.He has no remorse.He has no feeling.He is just a killing machine.

[The Mutt]

The Governor of Texas.

[Thorlief]

http://www.tvmasmagazine.com/mayo_junio2006/images1/temacentral_f.jpg

I bet I'm the only one though

[Toku King]

Michael Myers from the first few movies. He's just evil. No horrible backround, no cults, no shared pain, nothing. He was a human being just like us, that was just born pure evil. Like a freak genetic accident.
And not just that, either. Michael could be anywhere at anytime, and you couldn't stop it. Heck, he never even runs after his victims. He just casually walks, plotting, waiting for the time to strike. Michael was physically a beast, and was smart enough to become a force of evil.
Michael isn't just some kind of crazy killer that is really just a stupid weeny with a knife. Michael is smart, fast, strong, and has absolutely no care in what he does to people. He's more of a killing machine than an actual human being.

[DDM]

http://www.tvmasmagazine.com/mayo_junio2006/images1/temacentral_f.jpg

I bet I'm the only one though

Who is he?

[Scorpion13]

Probably that Dexter guy.

[Jade_GL]

John Doe from Se7en.

[Donald M.]

Probably that Dexter guy.

Uh . . . no.

The pic comes from a Spanish language site, so I'm guessing he's the killer from Epitafios, a show I've never seen but have heard good things about.

[Thorlief]

you got it. Everyone should watch that show, I was blown away by the sheer amount of great acting, good plot, twists and GORE

don't let the Buenos Aires scenario fool you, guys. Epitafios (Epitaphs) is, in my opinion, the freaking best mini of the last five years

[ultramandingo]

..... Terry O'Quinn in the way underrated The Stepfather , thou i got a fealing Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men is going to blow every one outa the water - check out Bardem in ( the way underrated ) Dance with the Devil - that guys way scary good!

[Legato]

Im going to say Dexter. I saw a trailer for No Country for Old Men and Javier Bardem has potential in that movie.

[ultramandingo]

.......it be weird seeing Michael C. Hal in something were he plays a normal guy instead of a uptight mortician or serial killer

[Gary Joyce]

Michael Booker in Henry : Portrait of a serial killer hands down.

Honourable mention for Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates though.

[Jinxer]

The Minature Killer from CSI.

[jesse_custer]

John Doe from "Seven"

As for greatest serial killer mythology, you gotta go with Jack the Ripper.

[Ben Morgan]

In film? Michael Myers
In TV? Dexter Morgan

[saintsaucey]

I agree. The movie was a major let down. Kind of like V for Vendetta.

zapper i could kiss you for agreeing with me on how suck the v for vendetta movie was i thought i was the only one who hated it.

[Thorlief]

I actually thought there wasn't s single person loving it..in my little perfect world anyway. Not even gorgeous Natalie could save it

[Pól Rua]

zapper i could kiss you for agreeing with me on how suck the v for vendetta movie was i thought i was the only one who hated it.

Hello.

Also throw me in as being a big fan of Brian Cox' Hannibal Lector. Far, far superior to Anthony Hopkins rather arch and hammy take on the character.
And did someone say hammy? I'll throw in some love for Doctor Anton Phibes, who I'm surprised rick didn't bring up.

[Gary Joyce]

Agree with the Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter comments he was far superior to Hopkins hell Manhunter was far superior to Silence Of The Lambs too.

[hellokittykat]

Christian Bale in 'American Psycho' was interesting-at least until they suggested that he wasn't really a psycho.

Not the best/worst serial killer but it was a funny movie.

[The Zapper]

zapper i could kiss you for agreeing with me on how suck the v for vendetta movie was i thought i was the only one who hated it.

I actually thought there wasn't s single person loving it..in my little perfect world anyway. Not even gorgeous Natalie could save it

Hello.

Every single one of my friends loved the movie, and talked about how great it was going to be 3 months prior to release. Not a single one of them has ever read the book:rolleyes:

As for the serial killers go, some of the nominations don't really seem like serial killers, but I don't think it really matters.

[BoosterBronze]

Every single one of my friends loved the movie, and talked about how great it was going to be 3 months prior to release. Not a single one of them has ever read the book:rolleyes:

As for the serial killers go, some of the nominations don't really seem like serial killers, but I don't think it really matters.

Posts like this make me want to be a serial killer.

The "Decapitates Fools who Didn't Like 'V For Vendetta" Killer

[jesse_custer]

Agree with the Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter comments he was far superior to Hopkins hell Manhunter was far superior to Silence Of The Lambs too.

I don't know if I would say that Cox is better than Hopkins, but he definitely interpreted the character in a very different, interesting way.

However, I have no problem saying Manhunter is better than Silence.

[hoffmandu]

I don't know if I would say that Cox is better than Hopkins, but he definitely interpreted the character in a very different, interesting way.

However, I have no problem saying Manhunter is better than Silence.

Would you go as far as to say that Manhunter deserved a Best Pic nod?

[Thorlief]

Posts like this make me want to be a serial killer.

The "Decapitates Fools who Didn't Like 'V For Vendetta" Killer

you're not going to win, there are too many of us

and I'd change that definition to "People who think V for Vendetta was one of the worst adaptations ever and also a ugly movie", at least for me

[jesse_custer]

Would you go as far as to say that Manhunter deserved a Best Pic nod?

Hell yeah. It's Michael Mann's greatest achievement.

[Toku King]

I have to say that out of all of the movies and television that I have seen, one of the most terrifying and nightmarish killers of all I have seen tonight on season 3 of "Boston Legal".
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with one of the only serial killers to ever terrify me to this day(right next to Michael Myers): Lincoln Meyer.
http://bostonlegal.wetpaint.com/page/Lincoln+Meyer?t=anon
http://image.wetpaint.com/wiki/bostonlegal/image/1AD487W1LqRL5pwK2fmnfQg==12519/GW265H207
Going from a peeping tom to a sick and degenerate killer, Lincoln Meyer was everything wrong in this world rolled up into one monstrous human being.

[Toku King]

you're not going to win, there are too many of us

So too many means five or six out of every two hundred, now?

[StoneGold]

I have to say that out of all of the movies and television that I have seen, one of the most terrifying and nightmarish killers of all I have seen tonight on season 3 of "Boston Legal".
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with one of the only serial killers to ever terrify me to this day(right next to Michael Myers): Lincoln Meyer.
http://bostonlegal.wetpaint.com/page/Lincoln+Meyer?t=anon
http://image.wetpaint.com/wiki/bostonlegal/image/1AD487W1LqRL5pwK2fmnfQg==12519/GW265H207
Going from a peeping tom to a sick and degenerate killer, Lincoln Meyer was everything wrong in this world rolled up into one monstrous human being.

He's not a serial killer. He only killed Judge Hooper and Judge Potts. You need three to be a serial killer. If he nailed the hat trick with either the attack on Gracie Jane or on Shirley, then he'd work.

[Thorlief]

So too many means five or six out of every two hundred, now?

I don't get your point

[Pól Rua]

Hell yeah. It's Michael Mann's greatest achievement.

I'd disagree.
I'd say the first season of 'Crime Story' is Michael Mann's greatest achievement.
But 'Manhunter' comes pretty freakin' close.

[Toku King]

He's not a serial killer. He only killed Judge Hooper and Judge Potts. You need three to be a serial killer. If he nailed the hat trick with either the attack on Gracie Jane or on Shirley, then he'd work.

And you got this 'three kills' info from....

[Toku King]

I don't get your point

Everyone liked it but a few purists.

[Thorlief]

Everyone liked it but a few purists.

the mass liked it, which is by no means a indication that V is a great movie

[ultramandingo]

And you got this 'three kills' info from....


"A serial killer is someone who murders three or more people in three or more ... "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer


.....so you know its true