Serial Killer: Difference between revisions

[[File:Dexter Morgan 5399.jpg|link=Dexter|frame|[[Slices, Dices, and Makes Julienne Fries|He slices! He dices]]!]]

 

 

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

 

Note that the Real Life section below is only a very small sampling of well-known serial murderers. Also, many potential Serial Killers get caught quickly because they use an MO, and also because a lot of them are so sick and demented that they ''want'' to get caught—yes, they see it as some kind of game.

 

* Barry the Chopper from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is a comically violent serial killer even after his death. Incidentally, he serves as an evil counterpart to Al, who is also in the body of a suit of armor. Barry looks much more intimidating, however.

** That said, the images of his backstory are rather unnerving, and the only reason he stops killing is because of his involvement with the various conspiracies.

* At least one writer for ''[[The Punisher]]'' has described the character as a serial killer who kills criminals.

* ''[[Arkham Asylum: Living Hell]]'', in addition to regular ''Batman'' villains, introduces Jane Doe, who kills people to take their identity and life, and Doodlebug, who drains people of their blood for [[Mad Artist|his paintings]] {{spoiler|but also to free several demons trapped beneath Arkham Asylum.}}

 

== [[Fan Works]] ==

{{quote|'''Shadow:''' Eleven rapes, nineteen murders. And that's just what they caught me for.}}

** Scourge the Hedgehog is also a Serial Killer-Rapist, but with a much more Hedonistic motive.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[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 ==

* Subverted in the [[Agatha Christie]] novel ''[[The ABC Murders]]'', where [[Hercule Poirot]] receives a series of letters from 'ABC' threatening to kill a series of victims in alphabetical order and challenging Poirot to unmask him. {{spoiler|Alexander Bonaparte Cust is being used as a front by the real killer, who wants to murder his brother for the inheritance and plans to cover it up by disguising it as the act of a serial killer}}.

* A staple of the ''[[In Death]]'' series.

* John Dread from [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Otherland]]'' series is an excellent example. He was raised by a violent, drug-addicted mother who fulfilled her revenge fantasies against the world by intentionally turning him into a sociopath. He started killing as early as six, was moved from institution to institution and deemed "incorrigible", and finally escaped into society after [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] Felix Jongleur noticed his abnormal [[Technopath|psychic powers]] and began training him as a [[Psycho for Hire]]. He murders women for pleasure in fetishistic ways (basically acting out a [[Revenge Fic]] against his mother) and records all the killings in his private video library. He taunts the police by leaving bizarre clues at the scene and "fogging" security cameras with his "twist". He chafes at Jongleur's leash, and eventually breaks free by [[The Mole|infiltrating]] the heroes' group in Otherland and discovering how to break the network's security, upon which point he proves how [[Eviler Than Thou]] he is by going on a [[A God Am I|godlike]] [[Sugar Apocalypse|killing spree]].

* Serial killers are the main subject of ''[[I Am Not a Serial Killer]]''.

* ''Cat of Many Tails'' by [[Ellery Queen]] has Ellery being hired as a special investigator to assist the NYPD to catch a serial killer who has been terroising New York. Initially, the only pattern Ellery can find in the killer's targets, who vary in sex, race, and marital status, is that each victim is younger than the one before.

* Two stories in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Night Shift]]'' features a serial killer: "Springheel Jack" in ''Strawberry Spring'' and the hammer murderer in ''The Man who Loved Flowers''. {{spoiler|In both, the protagonist is the killer; in the former it's a case of [[The Killer in Me]], in the latter an extreme example of [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]].}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Most villains that aren't serial killers are spree killers (a slightly different classification, but one that still ends up with a ton of people dead). The sheer variety of them covered in the show is one of its most interesting aspects.

* Plenty in ''[[Wire in The Blood]]''

{{quote|"Wow. So you're like a serial killer."

"I'm not a serial killer."

* ''[[True Blood]]'': the main villain of the first season is a serial killer who strangles women {{spoiler|who are sleeping with vampires or use their blood as a drug. Also, it's Rene.}}

* ''[[Rizzoli and Isles]]'': Charles Hoyt.

 

== Mythology ==

** Cercyon, who would challenge passersby to wrestling matches, then kill them after they had lost.

** Procrustes, who would invite passersby to [[Inn of No Return|stay the night at his place]]. If they were too short for the bed, he would stretch their bodies until they fit. If they were too tall for the bed, he would chop off the excess. If they fit just right, he would smother the victims between the mattress and a specially rigged canopy.

 

== Music ==

* [[Alice Cooper]]'s 2008 concept album "Along Came A Spider" is all about a fictional serial killer who wraps his victims in silk and cuts off one their legs to construct a flesh spider. {{spoiler|His rampage is quelled when he falls in love with his eighth victim and finds Jesus.}}

* [[Beck (musician)|Beck]]'s [[Lyrical Dissonance|cheery and catchy]] "Girl" takes the POV of one.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

*** Brute/Mask: Mickey from ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' gets off on killing so much that he trades all that makes him human—language, literacy, the ability to be around others—to become [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason Voorhees]], unkillable but lurking in the woods for the pain human contact causes.

*** Charmer/Psycho: Reverend Powell from ''[[The Night of the Hunter]]'' gets by on the thin veneer of humanity for so long that it eventually turns inside out and he becomes the freak you can't help but stare at, not unlike [[The Joker]].

*** Genius/Maniac: [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]] [[Hannibal Lecture|tells people how much they suck so many times]], he comes to believe he's the model example for mankind and goes on a [[Se7en|John Doe-esque]] killing spree with a message.

** Over in the [[Old World of Darkness]] are the Euthanatos of ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'', an entire group of the mission-based style. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] to some extent as there really ''are'' a number of [[Complete Monster]]s out there, and they're warned against judging too quickly.

*** Although they have to be careful and not turn into the hedonistic type, otherwise they might become one of their colleagues' next targets.

* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' has a spirit that manipulates people into this - Jack-a-Knives, the Murder Spirit.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' had a serial killer sub-plot essentially identical to the ''Dragon Age II'' one, except the killer was trying to build a new body for his dead sister rather than dead wife.

* ''[[Kara no Shoujo]]'': There are three serial killers, though one has disappeared from the police radar a few years back. They all appear to be a mix of type one and two.

 

== [[Visual Novel]] ==

 

* ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'': The Doctors confronted a magical serial killer in their "Messenger of Death" chapter. The murderer killed several shamans using summoned spirits of his own; finding out what spirits were used to determine the character profile of the murderer was the main focus of the plot.

* ''[[Achewood]]'': Nice Pete, who combines type 1 (visionary) and type 4 (power/control) with a thoroughly creepy dead-eyed stare.

* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120829045451/http://jared.smackjeeves.com/ Jared]'' features four serial killer characters. Mary and Shia are more Headonistic, while Lilac seems to like the power. Jared is more of an antisocial killer.

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', [[Base Breaker|Vriska Serket]] and [[Dirty Coward|Eridan Ampora]] were both serial killers well before the story even started (although both [[I Did What I Had to Do|had their]] [[Horror Hunger|excuses]]). Much later, {{spoiler|[[The Stoner|Gamzee Makara]] goes [[Ax Crazy]] after a major crisis of faith and ends up killing a couple minor characters.}}

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[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 ==

* An episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' dealt with the "Fat Guy Strangler", who [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|strangled fat men]]. It turns out to be Lois' brother Patrick (voiced by [[Robert Downey, Jr.]]), who was sent to an insane asylum as a child after being traumatized by seeing Jackie Gleason having sex with his mother, and from there concluded that all fat people were evil and so went on a killing spree.

** An earlier episode had The Mass Media Murderer, who specifically targeted members of the press. Another episode briefly featured a Quahog encyclopedia of crime, which mentioned such figures as "The Berserk Hobo" and "The Golden Autumn Day Strangler".

* A couple of ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'' episodes dealt with serial killers, in "Most Wanted" the duo hunt for a serial killer with a tattoo on his forehead of the word "KILLER" whom we later find out is named Tom, so they can collect the prize money. They end up encountering him in their backyard and he attempts to kill them but due to their stupidity they think he is also looking for the killer. He becomes friends with them because Beavis is just as crazy as he is and as a reward he gives them tattoos of butts on their butts, we see him in a later episode calling a dating service to invite women over to his jail cell so he can kill them.

** Another episode "A Great Day" they encounter another serial killer whom resembles real life killer Jeffrey Dahmer after following a trail of blood to his house he gives them 20 bucks to forget what they saw, later on he can be seen loading a dead body into the trunk of his car and the duo present him with the body of a canary presumably belonging to the victim that had been stabbed to death he again tells them to forget what they saw and gives them another 20 bucks.