A very short history of Serial Killers in films

Many people may be shocked to learn that the history of real life and fictional serial killers in the movies dates back to the early 1940’s – though in those days the villains weren't called ‘serial killers’.  That specific term wasn’t created until the early 1970’s by the FBI.  Back in the 1940’s, film villains that today would easily be called ‘Serial Murderers’ were labeled as psychopaths, psychotics, sex criminals, maniacs or mass killers.

 

It’s believed that the first ‘serial killer’ movie ever made was in 1943, by none other than the original master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. It was called Shadow of a Doubt and it depicted the story of the Merry Widow Murderer.

In that same year, a movie called Arsenic and Old Lace was released.  It was a light-hearted comedy about two senior citizens who murdered vagrants and buried their bodies in the cellar.  The curious fact was that in the movie they weren’t labelled as psychopaths or insane, but simply as two concerned New Yorkers doing their civic duty by pushing forward the inevitable and perhaps saving the city the cost of the funeral.

Another curious fact that few people realize is that in 1947 Charlie Chaplin released a movie called Monsieur Verdoux, which was a black ‘comedy of murders’ about a Parisian Bluebeard who murdered his wives for their money.  The movie was widely rejected by audiences, and laughed at (not in a comedic way) by the critics, which caused the movie to rapidly fade into obscurity.  Today that same movie is acclaimed as a masterpiece.

Considered at the time, and for many years later, the scariest movie ever made, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho hit the screens in 1960, and it is considered the first genuine modern-day serial killer movie. Few people know that just prior to the film’s release, competitions were held in major cities throughout the world to find couples who were confident enough to view the movie, alone, in a pitch black theatre, at midnight.  If they didn’t come running out of the movie theater screaming and scared senseless, they’d win a prize.  No one volunteered.

Inspired by Psycho, several other ‘serial killer’ movies were released in the 1960’s, including three sequels to Psycho, as well as the disturbing Peeping Tom, and The Boston Strangler, the first movie/documentary of the activities of a real serial killer.

It was only in 1971, with a film titled 10 Rillington Place, that portrayed the true story of the horrors committed in London in the early 50’s by the fiendish serial killer and necrophiliac John Christie, that audiences fainted in the aisles and left the theatres in tears and absolutely terrified.

Despite this, many critics consider that the golden age of serial killer movies started in 1980 with the film Cruising, starting Al Pacino.  After that, several notorious serial murderers were portrayed by various great actors on the silver screen. However, it was only in 1991, with the screen adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel, The Silence of the Lambs, that the term ‘serial killer’ became known all over the world.

The impact of The Silence of The Lambs film was a worldwide phenomenon, and Hannibal Lecter and the term ‘serial killer’ became household words overnight.  With that, the serial killer craze had well and truly arrived, instigating a revolution in fictional crime films and books to satisfy the ever-growing legions of salivating serial killer fans.

I must admit, I was, and still am, one of those fans.

Chris Carter is the author of the Robert Hunter series, The Crucifix Killer, The Executioner, The Night Stalker, The Death Sculptor