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Serial Killer Films & TV

ramonmercado

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Some Serial Killer Films fit or may be shoehorned into other categories like Horror or Science Fiction but imho its time for a SKF Thread.

Starting with:

Solace: Anthony Hopkins pays a Psychic (Joe) who used to work with the FBI but who lives a reclusive existence since the death of his daughter. His FBI agent friend (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) along with another agent (Abbie Cornish) visits Joe, asking him to help with a troublesome case. Joe is reluctant and refuses. But his psychic powers are enhanced when he touches/is touched by someone. (Joe, who is a medical doctor, believes his powers are not supernatural; rather he has a "super-duper sense of intuition".) A casual touch by Cornish spurs a vision of her injured.

He changes his mind and agrees to help, maybe because of the vision or because Cornish reminds him of his daughter. But the killer (Colin Farrell) always seems to be a step ahead of them. Hopkins suspects that they may be dealing with another psychic.

Excellent thriller. 8/10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291570/
 
Head Cases: Serial Killers In The Delaware Valley: A faux documentary or rather faux docu-drama about how Wayne Montgomery committed 41 murders between 1979 (first being his babysitter when he was 9) and 2007, leaving behind an extensive library of his life's work consisting of video-tapes, sound recordings, photographs and journals.

His mother and his accomplices speak to camera. His acolytes include his stepson, wife and other young people. His stepson and others carry on Wayne's "Work".

Made on a low budget which shows at times but superior to a lot of found footage films. 6/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2240884/
 
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A Good Marriage: Based on a Stephen King story with a screenplay by King. A thriller rather than Horror but not too many thrills so best to concentrate on the Serial Killer angle. Joan Allen is married to Anthony LaPaglia for 25 years and suddenly finds evidence which suggests that he's a Serial Killer and a really brutal one at that. He admits to it and they enter a pact where she will remain silent and he promises to quit his nefarious activities. After all their daughter is getting married the next week and the scandal would ruin the reception.

Will he hold to his promise? Is Allen at risk? Who is the mysterious character keeping watch on their house? On Netflix. 6/10.
 
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A Good Marriage looked like a cheapo TV movie. Much better on the page.
 
Zodiac is a good film. A bit slow, perhaps... but then, so was the killer(s?).

A film made in 1971 in an attempt to draw the killer into a cinema is being re-released shortly on DVD.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4626838/Zodiac-killer-movie-released-July.html

"At the theater, filmgoers were invited to take part in a raffle for a Kawasaki 350cc motorcycle by writing their answers to the question: ‘The Zodiac kills because…’ and dropping them in a large box. One of Hanson’s comrades was inside the box comparing the written responses to the Zodiac’s hand-written messages to the media. If he found a match, he would send a message to another person hiding in a freezer, who would then look to identify the author of the note."
Believe it.
 
Wasn't the Zodiac Killer offended by Dirty Harry because of the depiction of the maniac as inspired by him? I think it was that film, correct me if I'm wrong.
 
henry portrait of a serial killer, memorable death by tv scene, the t-shirt of which i wore frequently while a student and still own ... man bites dog, black comedy euro classic
Man Bites Dog is a classic, he liked to start the week with a postman and could teach you how to make the bar drink "a dead baby float"

Henry ? .. I was an art student involved in an art course and introduced my lecturer to that less than happy go lucky film of Henry and Ottis, I had it on a bootleg VHS :),he made it part of his course after that .. the coke bottle rammed into that woman's face wasn't very nice though ...
 
Wasn't the Zodiac Killer offended by Dirty Harry because of the depiction of the maniac as inspired by him? I think it was that film, correct me if I'm wrong.
To the best of my knowledge, the zodiac killer still hasn't been caught ... hopefully I'm wrong ...
 
no he wasnt, arthur leigh allen passed away in early 90s (zodiac movie/graysmith book suspect) but he was a bit of a dolt, wannabe zodiac i reck

ps. i recall them as floating dead baby boys
 
Wasn't the Zodiac Killer offended by Dirty Harry because of the depiction of the maniac as inspired by him? I think it was that film, correct me if I'm wrong.
had to look it up, i was into zodiac in the 90s but havent kept up ... seems he mentioned the exorcist and badlands, but not dirty harry, at least not in any "verified"/"accepted" letter ...
 
had to look it up, i was into zodiac in the 90s but havent kept up ... seems he mentioned the exorcist and badlands, but not dirty harry, at least not in any "verified"/"accepted" letter ...

Ah, it might have been Badlands I was thinking of, thanks. I like to think he was offended by Dirty Harry nonetheless, you have to take these small victories where you can. He's probably dead now anyway.
 
Henry ? .. I was an art student involved in an art course and introduced my lecturer to that less than happy go lucky film of Henry and Ottis, I had it on a bootleg VHS :),he made it part of his course after that .. the coke bottle rammed into that woman's face wasn't very nice though ...

Can't recall if I've told this story here before, but I saw Henry (in its BBFC approved form, so no bottle) in Glasgow behind a couple of blokes who were not together. One was an American who kept moaning "Oh ma gawd!" and burying his face in a hanky, while the Glaswegian next to him made a point of laughing throughout in a hardman style. They nearly had a fight when the American admonished him "That's not funny!" and the reply came "Well, ah think it's funny, and ah think you're a wanker, pal!" but an usher stepped in before it got ugly. Or uglier. That's what I think of when I think of Henry, which is a really good film, incidentally. Based on Henry Lee Lucas, the self-aggrandising murderer.
 
Anybody seen the two parter Helter Skelter, with Steve Railsback as Manson, I have never watched it, yet
 
Manson wasn't a serial killer, he was an orchestrator of a massacre: he got others to carry out his dirty work. Apparently Quentin Tarantino is planning a film about the murders, which sounds awful in more ways than one.
 
The Invisible Guardian: Spanish Serial Killer film with a Fortean twist set in the Basque Province of Navarra. Amaia Salazar is a detective inspector in Pamplona who is posted to her home town to investigate the killings of young women. The town is in a mountain valley where local myths and superstitions live on, including that of Basajaun (Lord of the Forest) a Basque Big Foot. Some think Basajaun is responsible for the murders others see him as a protector. In Spanish, English and Basque, subtitled. On Netflix. 7/10
 
Not a reboot of the Raymond Briggs animation, this is the first movie based on the very gritty and dark Harry Hole novels by Jo Nesbo.

The Snowman: Better than reviews suggested but I reckon a lot was edited out. Toby Jones was only on screen for a few minutes, same with Chloe Sevigny & Val Kilmer. JK Simmons is also wasted. I reckon a lot of the action ended up on the cutting room floor. Also,a subplot about a fertility clinic wasn't explained. Michael Fassbender is good as the hard drinking Harry Hole and Rebecca Ferguson excels as his sidekick but this cannot save a badly hacked film from being mediocre./average. 6/10.
 
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Two good French Serial Killer mini-series' on Netflix:

The Frozen Dead (French: Glacé) is a French mystery thriller television series from channel M6,[1] set in the French Pyrenees. The six-episode series is an adaption of the novel of the same name by Bernard Minier.[2]

The story begins with the discovery of the headless corpse of a horse in the French Pyrenees town of Saint-Martin-de-Comminges that belongs to wealthy businessman Eric Lombard, and the case is then investigated by Commander Martin Servaz, assisted by local police Captain Irène Ziegler. The horse's head was then located and DNA found at the crime scene is determined to be that of serial killer Julian Hirtmann. Hirtmann, however, is a convict in a high-security psychiatric prison, where young psychiatrist Diane Berg is showing an unusual interest in him. The case is later found to be linked to the death of several girls some years earlier.

The Mantis (La Mante) is a French thriller miniseries, that debuted on Netflix on 30 December 2017.

In Paris, police search for a psychopath whose murders are inspired by Jeanne Deber, known as "The Mantis", a famous serial killer who terrorised the country 25 years ago. Jeanne Deber offers her expertise to the police in order to help hunt the copycat. Placed in solitary confinement since her arrest, "The Mantis" has one condition: to deal only with Detective Damien Carrot, her estranged son. Damien has no choice, for a serial killer is on the loose and could strike anytime, anywhere in Paris.
 
The Mantis (La Mante) is a French thriller miniseries, that debuted on Netflix on 30 December 2017.

In Paris, police search for a psychopath whose murders are inspired by Jeanne Deber, known as "The Mantis", a famous serial killer who terrorised the country 25 years ago. Jeanne Deber offers her expertise to the police in order to help hunt the copycat. Placed in solitary confinement since her arrest, "The Mantis" has one condition: to deal only with Detective Damien Carrot, her estranged son. Damien has no choice, for a serial killer is on the loose and could strike anytime, anywhere in Paris.
A bit above average, but apart from a nice performance from Carole Bouqet (as Deber) I thought it a little cliche'd and I struggled to keep interested after about episode 3.
 
Traders (2015): Harry Fox (Killian Scott) and Vernon Stynes (John Bradley) are left penniless when their company goes under in the economic crash. Harry takes work as a minimum wage data-entry clerk, Vernon returns home to mum to work on a business plan. A colleague who can't take the stress drives his car into a tree so that his family will get the insurance money.

Vernon comes up with the idea of Trading: you fight to the death with each participant putting up an equal stake. You double your money each time and bury the body of your opponent, each having taken turns digging the grave beforehand. Literally survival of the fittest. Harry excels and racks up the kills and accumulates capital. Ken (Barry Keoghan), an eighteen year old combatant complicates the story as criminals attempt to move in on the business. Orla (Nika McGuigan) is Vernon's neighbour and unrequited love interest but now Harry gets involved. But nothing is ever quite straightforward in this quirky Irish thriller which is veined with very dark humour.

A macabre take on the aftermath of the Crash in Ireland, never before has Dublin looked so desolate nor have so many bleak burial sites been located. I a particular irony, abandoned building sites are the arenas for many of the combats and also supply the grave sites. Good acting all round particularly from Scott, Bradley and Keoghan. Co- Directed and written by Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy this sharp thriller was under-appreciated on it's release. 8/10
 
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Beast: A Serial Killer is stalking Jersey and has just claimed his fourth victim. Moll (Jessie Buckley) is celebrating her birthday but the event is upstaged by her sister Polly (Shannon Tarbet) announcing that she is pregnant with twins. Moll heads off to a local disco, ending up with a guy who gets forceful after they leave. Pascal (Johnny Flynn) appears and frightens him off. Subsequently Moll provides Pascal with an alibi, saying that they had danced all night and left the club together.

Moll has shadows in her own past, when she was 13 she stabbed a school bully resulting in her mother Hilary (Geraldine James) quitting her job to provide home schooling. Hilary uses this to control Moll, treating her more as a child than a 27 year old adult. She is also expected to mind her niece and look after her Alzheimer's stricken father. Given her toxic home environment Moll is eager to seek adventure with the free living Pascal who hunts and works as a handyman. He is the antithesis of her upper-middle class family who seem to be an exemplar of rich immigrants who look down on the locals and show contempt for itinerant Portuguese crop pickers.

Moll in a voiceover speaks of killer whales as she practices her smile in a mirror, reflecting on how they smash their teeth against tank walls in captivity as they try to escape. She continues in her escape and escapades with Pascal in spite of being told of his past criminal record by Clifford (Trystan Gravelle) who has feelings for Moll. More suspicion falls on Pascal and an English detective (Olwen Fouéré) interrogates Moll attempting to shift her evidence. While there is all round good acting in the film, this supporting role by Fouéré is a stand out performance.

There are many twists in this dark tale of insular Island life in this convincing tale directed and written by Michael Pearce in his feature film debut. 9/10.
 
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The Invisible Guardian: Spanish Serial Killer film with a Fortean twist set in the Basque Province of Navarra. Amaia Salazar is a detective inspector in Pamplona who is posted to her home town to investigate the killings of young women. The town is in a mountain valley where local myths and superstitions live on, including that of Basajaun (Lord of the Forest) a Basque Big Foot. Some think Basajaun is responsible for the murders others see him as a protector. In Spanish, English and Basque, subtitled. On Netflix. 7/10

Just watched this recently and really liked it, very atmospheric. I'm now reading (and enjoying) the book and getting ready for the other books in the series.

I can just see Hollywood getting its paws on this and remaking it in the Pacific Northwest.
 
The Snowman: Better than reviews suggested but I reckon a lot was edited out. Toby Jones was only on screen for a few minutes, same with Chloe Sevigny & Val Kilmer. JK Simmons is also wasted. I reckon a lot of the action ended up on the cutting room floor. Also,a subplot about a fertility clinic wasn't explained. Michael Fassbender is good as the hard drinking Harry Hole and Rebecca Ferguson excels as his sidekick but this cannot save a badly hacked film from being mediocre./average. 6/10.

Bit of a disappointment. I think it would have worked better as a TV series with the story spread out over four or five episodes. Nesbo's novels tend to be a bit too big and convoluted to fit in with a movie timeline.
 
Criminal Minds: tonight's episode was about "the hum" driving a guy to become a driller-killer. Sonic weapons and the Diplomats in Cuba were referenced.
 
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