10 Best Killers Movies

By: Amber Dubois

Break Studios Contributing Writer

Any article listing the 10 best killers movies would be wildly inaccurate unless it focused on movies with real-life plausibility. his list takes into consideration  those killers who could possibly exist in real life rather than casting the net into the supernatural realm.  To be included on the list, these movies had to show what happens when people cast aside the veil of humanity and unleash the best within.

  1. "Friday the 13th" (1980) - Jason is the best movie killer of all time.  Not only did he slaughter innocent campers by the dozen, but he's proved nearly impossible to kill.  In fact, if you credit "Jason X" at all, he'll be killing well into the future—which means that as long as there are stupid teenagers, there will be someone out there willing to slaughter them.
  2. "Halloween" (1978) - Mike Myers has to make this list, not just for body count, but for sheer believability. Could a deranged murderer escape a psych ward and go on a killing spree? Absolutely. It's happened—if you really want to stay awake tonight, go look up "escaped mental patient murders". Good luck sleeping after.
  3. "Silence of the Lambs" (1991) - Two killers for the price of one! You've also have to love that Buffalo Bill is based on real-life serial killer Ed Gein. Because that's not creepy at all.
  4. "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977) - Cannibal hill people are always terrifying. Always. This is why long road trips through deserted areas with sketchy cell phone coverage are always a bad idea. Nothing good comes from road trips. Just horrible terror filled death by cannibal nuclear mutants.
  5. "American Psycho"(2000) - This movie almost didn't make the list—after all, in the last few minutes, you have to wonder if Patrick killed anyone at all. It doesn't really matter, even if it was entirely manufactured by a delusional mind, Patrick Bateman was horrifying—the scene in the movie where he's dangling the chainsaw over the staircase? Freak show.  
  6. "Se7en" (1995) - Doesn't it seem like every statement on the social condition would be much more impressive if it were doled out in the same messed up way that John Doe did it? And with such a brilliant ending: "Become vengeance, David. Become wrath."
  7. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) - Another movie involving a family of cannibals and a road trip-but this time, the lead murdering cannibal likes to take his victims and dissect them to use them in his freaky art and furniture decoration endeavors.  This just proves the earlier point-road trips are bad juju.
  8. "The Devil's Rejects" (2005) - There's only one thing to say about this movie: Captain Spaulding wears clown face. The only thing more terrifying than a murderer is a murderer who is also a clown. And the only thing more terrifying than that is an unrepentant murdering cop. Rob Zombie is one jacked up dude.
  9. "Saw" (2004) - We may be able to argue about when the "Saw" franchise jumped the shark, but we can all agree that the first was everything a good horror/suspense movie needs to be. True, Jigsaw never actually killed anyone—but strapping someone's head into an explosive device and requiring her to cut a guy open to get the key and unlock it before time runs out totally counts.
  10. "Psycho" (1960) - Norman Bates is a killer who truly stands the test of time. Psycho is just as scary now as it was back when it originally premiered in the 60s—so much so that it's still inspiring movies today. You can see shades of Norman in killers like Buffalo Bill and Leatherface—both seriously traumatized men who like to dress up like Mommy a little too literally.
Posted on: Nov. 27, 2010