The 30 Best Serial Killer Movies of All Time

'Serial Killer Movies' is an interesting term, because it's not a cut and dry genre to define, like, say, 'comedy' or 'horror.' When you hear about a serial killer movie, your mind could go in a few different directions. It could go, first, to a masterful telling of a real-life serial killer, like David Fincher's Zodiac. It could also go a different direction, to something veering closer to fiction, like John Carpenter's original Halloween or the campy Friday the 13th. It's not a real genre, but there are a lot of different interpretations of what a 'serial killer movie' can be.

Sometimes you're looking for that intense mood, maybe based on a true, unsolved story. And sometimes you want to watch a horror villain do his thing. It doesn't make one less chilling and disturbing, and it doesn't make others any less fun. These can co-exist, and the nuance between them is part of why we love movies—different projects, and different moods, can look at similar topics and handle them so very differently.

And that's why we did the heavy lifting for you, and rounded up the best serial killer movies of all time, with some funny, some scary, and some based right here in our own reality.