“Based on a true story” may be the perfect introduction to a show or movie — it adds that extra edge. It’s a reminder that the feelings you experience while watching are ones someone real also may have felt. The POV we get from a fictionalized account of a true story puts the viewer inside the action, at the scene of the crime, and with all the artistic details that make it a full-sensory experience.
True crime has its merits, but let’s face it — sometimes the talking heads, cheesy reenactments, or fuzzy found footage make you crave the smooth editing and tailored performances that only a dramatization can provide. Sure, some of the finer points may be embellished, exaggerated, or entirely fabricated — but at its heart, the show or movie is based on reality.
What might otherwise be like a news report about a serial killer is transformed into a suspenseful cinematic experience. These movies and shows inspired by real serial killers and murderers depict some of the most depraved humans to come out of the woodwork, diving into the kind of history only some of us can stomach. So if you are among the brave few who want to go deeper, read on for the best fictional serial killer thrillers based on true stories.
Ted Bundy may just be the serial killer with the most movies, shows, and documentaries about him. According to this movie, he’d probably love that kind of attention. Zac Efron plays Bundy, highlighting the killer’s charismatic nature. The focus is on his long-term relationship with Elizabeth Kendall (Lily Collins), and Bundy is portrayed as a devoted boyfriend and doting figure to Kendall’s daughter. As accusations pile up, then arrests, then jail time and jailbreaks (yes, two), Liz’s faith in Bundy’s innocence falters. Efron offers a unique take on Bundy’s life before his downfall, simulating the persona of a sane man, with flashes of the monster who lurks beneath the surface.
This series is based on what was once known as the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. It was lauded for adding to the fledgling field of criminal psychology with a technique for identifying serial killers that would later be known as profiling. In Mindhunter, special agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), as well as psychology professor Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), decide that the best way to understand killers is to go straight to the source. Ford and Tench travel to various prisons, meeting with notorious mass murderers. Over the course of two seasons, they talk with over a dozen convicted serial rapists, killers, and even one cult leader by the name of Charles Manson (Damon Herriman). The serial killer featured most is Ed Kemper, the “Co-Ed Killer,” played brilliantly by Cameron Britton, whose transparency about his criminal urges and past crimes is crucial to the work of the BSU.
The latest in Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster anthology series, this installment takes on the serial killer credited for inspiring some of horror’s most vicious villains — including Buffallo Bill, Leatherface, and Norman Bates. Charlie Hunnam plays Ed Gein, a quiet man living in the rural town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, in the late ’50s with his overly religious mother. His obsession with his mother, his exposure to pulp magazines depicting gruesome crimes, and the secluded location of his family farm are all factors in the tragic events to come. Gein commits murder, becomes a grave robber, and experiments with sewing projects using human skin and body parts. By the end of this series, you’ll understand why he was dubbed the “Butcher of Plainfield.”
Murphy and Brennan’s first deep dive into the lives of the world’s most frightening killers is a chilling look at how sinister people live among us undetected. Evan Peters plays Jeffrey Dahmer, a sometimes quirky but not altogether threatening child of divorce living in Milwaukee in the late ’70s. By the time his parents notice his hobby of killing and dismembering small animals and his occasional violent outbursts, it’s too late. Jeffrey is already headed down a path of wickedness and deceit, which results in over a decade of murder and dismemberment of 17 boys and men. Dahmer’s observant neighbor, Glenda Cleveland (Niecy Nash), is suspicious of him, and the noises — and smells — coming from his apartment hint at the malevolent goings-on.
They may not be serial killers, but the Menendez brothers gained notoriety for their parents’ gruesome deaths and the highly publicized murder case that resulted. In this second installment of Murphy and Brennan’s series, we travel back to 1989 when, in Beverly Hills, two young and rich brothers claim to have come home to a murder scene — both their parents shot repeatedly with a shotgun. Afterward, under the scrutiny of the public eye and wary detectives still looking for suspects, Lyle (Nicholas Chavez), 21, and Erik (Cooper Koch), 18, spend their parents’ money lavishly on trips and businesses and cars. But it isn’t long until the boys begin to buckle under the weight of their secrets.
So technically, Ratched isn’t based on a real-life murderer, but her character is still based in reality. In this series developed by Ryan Murphy, Sarah Paulson plays Nurse Mildred Ratched, a prequel version of the character who first appeared in Miloš Forman’s 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Ken Kesey, and Kesey has stated that Nurse Ratched was inspired by a nurse he worked with as a night orderly in the psychiatric ward of a veterans’ hospital. In Ratched, we see how this well-meaning caretaker would go on to be the power-wielding, sociopathic, lobotomy-loving monster now immortalized in pop culture.
Inspired by one of India’s most shocking cases, the Noida serial murders of 2006, this film isn’t for the faint of heart. Prem (Vikrant Massey) is a servant in the home of a wealthy businessman in Sector 36, a slum outside Delhi. The area has had missing children reported for several years, but the local police are corrupt and turn a blind eye. When one officer has a close call with his own daughter, he feels compelled to finally look into the reported kidnappings. His search leads him to Prem, whose bad deeds are numerous — and who shows no remorse for the heinous acts he’s committed.
This six-part Mexican series is based on the 1977 novel Las muertas by Jorge Ibargüengoitia, which was inspired by the true story of sisters María de Jesús and Delfina González Valenzuela in the 1950s and ’60s. The sisters ran a brothel, trafficked women, and are responsible for the murder of at least 91 people. In the series, the sisters are called Serafina and Arcángela Baladro (played by Paulina Gaitán and Arcelia Ramírez, respectively). We see the rise of their sex empire, the corruption of the police they paid to turn a blind eye, and the deceitful tactics they employed to lure in unsuspecting women who were disposed of when no longer useful. The series shows how passion and aspiration can lead to very dark paths.
It’s especially harrowing when a murderer is also part of the medical community, breaking their oath to do no harm. This is the case with Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), a nurse who starts a new job on the night shift with fellow nurse Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain). They quickly become close friends, but when a patient dies unexpectedly on their watch, and Amy starts to notice insulin is being administered to patients who don’t need it, she looks into Cullen’s past. She discovers that wherever he goes, Cullen is surrounded by death. The most chilling aspect of this film — and the man it’s based on — is just how unremorseful Cullen was for the 29 deaths he was later convicted of, with authorities estimating the count could have been closer to 400.
This one will have you looking over your shoulder while on vacation. Tahar Rahim plays Charles “the Serpent” Sobhraj, who earned his nickname by how slippery he was in eluding authorities. In the mid-1970s, Sobhraj preyed on at least 20 backpackers who were traveling the hippie trail, aka the overland, a path through Southeast Asia. He’d befriend the travelers, offer to sell them drugs, and then overdose them. Sometimes he’d leave them to die in the bathing suits they wore while lounging, giving him the secondary nickname of the Bikini Killer. Then he’d steal their identities and valuables with the help of his girlfriend Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman). In this eight-part series we see Sobhraj’s artful dodging before he’s ultimately brought to justice.
It’s a tale so far-fetched, it’s almost impossible to believe it’s a true story: A woman goes on a dating show, meets three contestants, and in the end chooses the one who is secretly a serial killer. But in 1978, that’s precisely what happened. Making her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick stars as the ill-fated participant, Sheryl Bradshaw, who agrees to go on the dating game show to further her acting career. As she asks questions to her three unseen suitors on the show, the film flashes back to the many times Contestant No. 3, Rodney Alcala, wooed and murdered young women. At the time of the dating show taping, Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), was in the midst of a murder spree, and Bradshaw’s instincts prevented her from being his next victim.
