10. Ghostface (Scream)
“Do you LIKE scary movies?”
Yes – in the end he ends up being played by multiple actors, but the character exists as a single entity for so much of the film that I count him as being singular. What can you do when an entire genre of movies has so pumped the well dry that sand is all that remains. Do you abandon it, and try for a new well? You could – or you do what Ghostface does and show people that the sand has value it’s self. It’s the fact that the well has been drained, that we all have taken in the mythology of the slasher film that Ghostface exploits. We are familiar with the dangers and risks slashers pose, so he plays on that knowledge, and twists new dangers and deaths. Yes, sequilitits causes him diminishing returns, but the original stands the test of time.
“I’m Sam. Dave Berkowitz.”
The Summer Of Sam is Spike Lee’s take on the “Son of Sam” murders in New York City during the summer of 1977. Centering on the residents of an Italian-American South Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another. The compelling aspect of the movie is the curiosity of who the murderous killer actually is. While his face andidentity isn’t revealed until deep into the movie, the elusiveness of his crimes, the fear built on the unknowing, and the tension the movie builds makes DavidBerkowitz the most compelling and scary serial killer who doesn’t visually appear on screen. His crimes are as heinous as they come, but the mystery is what makes this “character” soprovocative.
8. Early Grayce (Kalifornia)
“No. Tell me something, big time. How are you going to write a book about something you know nothing about? “
The film focuses on a psychology student and his girlfriend who are traveling cross-country to research serial killers, when ironically the couple that they is sharing the ride on the trip is exactly what they are searching for. Pitt plays Early Grayce, the serial killer on the trip. Just losing his job at the mirror factory he is planning on leaving the state. His parole officer tells him if he doesn’t find a new job he’ll be arrested, so Early plans an escape after picking up an ad. In route he has aconfrontation with his landlord that ends in the landlord being killed and disposed of by Early, and thus a trip that involves carnage and destruction, not to mention an ending that you won’t forget. Brad Pitt is anything but the playboy heartthrob he’s considered as. In one of his best roles ever, he is diabolical and terrifying as Early.
“If you shoot someone in the head with a .45 every time you kill somebody, it becomes like your fingerprint, see? But if you strangle one, stab another, and one you cut up, and one you don’t, then the police don’t know what to do. They think you’re four different people. What they really want, what makes their job so much easier, is pattern. What they call a modus operandi. That’s Latin. Bet you didn’t know any Latin, did you kid?”
“fals-fals-fals-falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But -I-I don’t really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things. You know – taxidermy.”
Each time I watch Psycho, I look for subtle signs, moments where Norman shows he is a little crazy, but it never happens. The situations with “mother” make sense, but Norman was just as polite and insecure in ever scene, until the monster is revealed. The story of Norman Bates is horrific, but also tragic. His sweetness and eagerness to please is evident, but when the truth of who and what he is becomes revealed the character becomes more than a savage killer. It becomes completely melancholy, for all those that suffered because of Norman’s illness. Anthony Perkins was riveting in the role, and unfortunately for him never really got the opportunity to be another character outside Norman. Maybe his fate was somehow linked with Normans. Norman Bates is a character that will live on forever.
“OK, I see Helen. Nice try. You wanna know a little secret? Huh? I’m on to your trick. I won’t kill you fast no matter how much you’re gonna want me to.”
Mickey: I love you, Mal.
Mallory: I know you do baby, and I’ve loved you since the day we met.
3. Hannibal Lector
“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”
“There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable… I simply am not there.”
Talk about delusions of evil and ideas of grandeur. Patrick Bateman is the ultimate sociopath. His ability to blend so efficiently in society yet be so detached is the most compelling aspect of Patrick Bateman to endure. His fixation with Huey Lewis and Phil Collins showed an obsession with details and things, but an indifference to people and life. Obsessing over his business card and the best restaurant in town becomes an anxiety driven focus. His apathy towards the people that he was supposedly engaged with in friendships, relationships, or sexual partners with has moments of pure and utter amusement, but only because we are perceiving the situations from Bateman’s perspective. The impassive perspective of his vision of the world is strange and darkly enchanting. Even in his most grave moments of violence and reality being distorted, there is something gruesomely delightful about it all, but I guess that’s the point.
“Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? An obese man… a disgusting man who could barely stand up; a man who if you saw him on the street, you’d point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him; a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn’t be able to finish your meal. After him, I picked the lawyer and I know you both must have been secretly thanking me for that one. This is a man who dedicated his life to making money by lying with every breath that he could muster to keeping murderers and rapists on the streets!”
An interesting twist, we don’t see the actual killer until the end of the film, but it’s anticipated arrival did not let us down. John Doe, played by Kevin Spacey, was not only articulate but actually makes his argument for his deeds seem almost plausible, even agreeable. Like other movies on this list Se7en has at least “seven” noteworthy deaths in it’s film. Making the fat man eat till his stomach exploded for gluttony, or the awful torture of the lazy child molester, and even worse the brutal murder of the prostitute for lust, were just deaths that are beyond comprehension. It was the psychologically disturbing death of John Doe that was the most resounding of the heavily impacting film. When Detective Mills realizes John Doe has murdered his beloved wife and cut her head off and mailed it to him, his mind goes into a flutter of inconceivable insanity. I remember watching this for the first time and trying to keep the chunks from rising in my throat, the idea was so incredibly appalling. When he shot John Doe it wasn’t shocking he did it, but being the finale of his well thought out symphony was maniacal and utterly genius.HONORABLE MENTIONS: Leatherface, Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Mr. Brooks, Ed Gein, The Deliberate Strangler, The Scorpio Killer, Zodiac, Buffullo Bill, Carl Rudolph Stargher, Dead Calm, Monster, The Boston Strangler, and Chucky
Wow your honorable mentions have some LEGENDS in there, and also the No Country for Old Men killer was pretty raw too. But I love me some Juliette Lewis, you have no idea
. Great list, if only I was as innovative as you to have something like this on my blog 
oh well, I’m too lazy so int he meantime i’ll live vicariously through Movie Mobsters 
This is a really great list heather!
i can’t believe leatherface isn’t in the top ten. you really don’t have an eye for classic horror, though i do like john doe as your number one. and even though i didn’t really like american psycho that picture of patrick bateman is great.
Great picks! American Psycho, Seven and Natural Born Killers are tops in my list. I’ve seen NBK so many times that we used to just recite lines back and forth all the time between friends. Not to mention the numerous times I spent in my youth getting, ahem, intoxicated and listening to the soundtrack. Is it scary that so much of my younger days are characterized by violent films? HAHA!
I don’t know, but I think you are right. There is something about that generation. It was a time of David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino movies. I am completely enthralled by the concept of dark comedy, but I didn’t thoroughly develop it until my tween years when I became obsessed with the undead. Uber affection for vampires and Buffy made me a sucker for this kind of goodness.
Do you watch the show “Dexter”? If you don’t you should start right now, or I might die.
HAHA! Dexter is one of those shows that I know I should be watching, I want to be watching and yet I’m not watching. Hey, I just got caught up with True Blood so you’ve gotta give me some time. I’m kinda slow when it comes to television shows!
GREAT list, but I have to agree with Brad about Leatherface being MIA from the top ten. He could have easily replaced Ghostface or Berkowitz. Either way…….
Oh yeah, Hagi, True Blood is great and so is Hung, but I agree with Heather. Dexter is probably the best show on tv in the past five years easily.
I have heard sooooo many good things about true blood and I wanna start watching it, but i’d like to see season 1 first!
This is a really great list heather!
Dexter is amazing.
I love Seven.
Leatherface is just another horror film character that gets lost in the mix with all the others.
Nice site.
What an interesting post… Creepy, but cool. I’m gonna say “Ghostface” is my favorite from the list above ! The “Scream” movies found just the right balance of humor and horror.
Ghostface rules.
I don’t like Early Grace being on here and I didn’t particularly consider Kalifornia to reach the levels of achievement many believed it did. Brad Pitt’s performance was highly overrated in it as well. He just didn’t shower for a month and acted like an ass. Besides Juliette Lewis is a terrible actress and David Duchovney isn’t very talented either. I don’t understand why people think this movie is great at all.
Mickey and Mallory would be my number one.
This is a great list because it is about SERIAL KILLERS, not mass murders. Whoever was pushing for Leatherface needs to check the dictonary for the definition of serial killer.
I don’t have a suitable replacement, but I would love to see a real serial killer versus Ghostface from Scream.
Have you had a chance to read American Psycho, I highly recommend it. I often wondered in the book if the killings were a figment of his drug induced illusions.
Ahhhhhhhhhh……….as much as I love the movie, the book is FAR superior. One of my favorite reads of all time. Patrick Bateman is one of the most interesting fictional character of all time in all worlds.
Dexter is great but not cinematic. I have to put Bateman at #1… sorry!
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Dahmer would be another one… played by Jeremy Renner.
Kai B. Parker recently posted..THE HAPPY 101 AWARD