Serial Killer: Difference between revisions

Which [[Cop Show]] has one ''not'' appeared in?

 

 

* '''Visionary''' -- The killer suffers a break from reality, delusions, and/or hallucinations, that compel them to murder. They might believe [[God]] or [[Satan]], or simply voices, are telling them to kill, or that killing will prevent some kind of disaster. Tends to result from some kind of trauma and/or a mental illness like schizophrenia. The [[Insanity Defense]] will usually only apply to this type (though even this only counts if their mental illness impaired their sense of right and wrong), and as such if a killer is going for that defense, they will usually claim to be such—this very rarely works in [[Real Life]], and in fact is very rarely ''attempted'', probably because in practice there is only so much difference between being locked up in a jail cell for life for multiple murders, and being locked in an insane asylum for life for the same.

* '''Mission Based''' -- The killer believes that their actions are [[Utopia Justifies the Means|for the greater good]], or in the service of some higher purpose, because they are performing some kind of social, political, philosophical, or religious service, generally targeting people they blame for society's ills, or view as sinful, distasteful, or dangerous. Though they may be deluded, they are not psychotic like the Visionary killer, having a rough grasp on reality. Vigilante killers are a sub-type of this.

* '''Sexual Sadists''' are lust killers who torture their victims before killing them; the torture is usually more important than the actual murder. The torture may be psychological and can last for a matter of seconds or minutes, or it can last for hours or days, depending on the offender.

* '''[[The Sociopath|Antisocial]]''' killers are those suffering from [[Hollywood Personality Disorders|Antisocial Personality Disorder]]; impulsive, impatient sociopaths with deep-seated rage who pathologically violate social norms and values, such as repeatedly committing serious and petty crimes, and always social deviants. Serial murder is usually just one of many crimes they regularly commit, and they often do so in the course of other crimes, such as robbery, rape, and various forms of [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulation]].

 

Serial killers can further be divided into '''Organized''' and '''Disorganized'''. The former plan their crimes carefully and often well in advance, and are thus always premeditated. They may even hold a stable job and have a good education, and appear [[Evilly Affable|perfectly normal in every way]]. Such people are very likely to be [[The Chessmaster]]. The latter are much more impulsive and careless; their crimes may or may not be premeditated, and they are recklessly executed when they are, without due care for witnesses or leaving evidence. These tend to be poorly educated and not in steady employment.

* In ''[[Ibitsu]]'', Kazuki is horrified to learn, far too late of course, that he's not the first person approached by the "Strange Lolita" killer. The others who became the Strange Lolita's "older brothers" were never heard from again.

* ''[[Underdog (manga)|Underdog]]'': Naoto's first opponent, Masaya Hiuchi, is an 18 year-old who was just recently released from a mental institution after brutally murdering several of his female classmates in middle school. His first actions in the [[Deadly Game|tournament]] show that he's already up to his old tricks.

* Kabuto from ''[[Parasyte]]''. We don't know much about him, since by the time he first appeared he was already in jail, but a few flashbacks show that he used to be a big fan of mutilation, cannibalism, and necrophilia. He is brought to help the police catch parasites because he has the ability to see who is infected. It's implied to be because he sees other humans the same way parasites do—but at least the parasites ''need'' to eat humans to survive. He pretends that, deep down, everybody is like him, and he's just the only one who doesn't try to suppress his true nature.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]'' is about the hunt for the real-life Zodiac Killer.

* ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]'' pits [[Only Sane Man]] Mortimer Brewster against two separate serial killers: his old maiden aunts, Abby and Martha, who poison lonely old men as a "charity" and bury them in their cellar (falling under Visionary as they are clearly insane); and his older brother Jonathan, who is a psychotic murderer with kills all over the world (falling under Power/Control). When they discover each other's crimes, they wind up comparing notes, [[Body Count Competition]]-style, which is played for [[Dead Baby Comedy]].

 

== Literature ==

** The series also features a [[Villain of the Week|serial killer of the season]] that the police focused their attention towards.

*** Season 1/"Darkly Dreaming Dexter: - The Ice Truck Killer, dabbling in the murders of prostitutes by methods quite like Dexter's methods. {{spoiler|Turns out it's Dexter's own brother, Brian, who is later killed by Dexter.}}

*** "Dearly Devoted Dexter: - Dr. Danco, a former interrogation specialist and [[Mad Doctor|surgeon]] who was employed by the US government in El Salvador, who was sold out and starts to hunt down the people who caused it. A former comrade of Doakes. {{spoiler|Killed while experimenting on Doakes with Dexter tied down. Doakes comes out of it missing a few body parts. A lot of them. He gets slightly better.}}

*** Season 3 - The Skinner, a man known for, well... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|skinning people]]. {{spoiler|He kidnaps Dexter and tries to get him to tell where Freebo, an associate of the Skinner, was. Dexter snaps his neck and then throws him into the incoming path of a police car.}}

* ''[[Cause of Death]]'' is [http://causeofdeath.weebly.com/ pretty much all about this]. The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEFxSOVd6A very first episode] shows the nameless killer {{spoiler|bust into the victim's house and kill him...with a granola bar.}} There seems to be some mystery behind {{spoiler|who the woman is in the picture}}, but the story is ongoing.

* A [[Played for Laughs]] version from ''[[Echo Chamber]]'': In ''[[Terrible Interviewees Montage]]'', there was one terrible interviewee known only as [[No Name Given|"???"]] who ''might'' have been one. He had a large knife, seemed [[Axe Crazy]], and talked about a large freezer...

 

== Western Animation ==