6 Real Serial Killers That Defined The Horror Film Genre
Because reality creates the most frightening stories.
We all have a sick fascination with serial killers to some degree.
It’s undeniable that there’s a morbid magnetism around people that have committed the unthinkable, something that inspires us to try and figure out what exactly drives someone to kill - and to kill over and over again. We can be disgusted, horrified, downright frightened - but there’s still that human curiosity that will make you sit for 14 hours in front of Netflix binging murder documentaries as you try to break down twisted human psychology.
It makes sense then, that plenty of filmmakers have had a fair bash at unraveling the mystery of serial killers, or at least have dipped into the world of their crimes to bring us a cinematic rendition of some of the scariest real-life stories to date.
From furniture made from skin to bodies in barrels, there’s an alarming amount of truth to some of our very favourite films out there. Whilst there’s plenty of intriguing documentaries on the subject, it seems even more scary when seemingly entertainment-based, fictional films have a grounding in reality.
What else are you going to do when you have writer’s block?
6. John Bunting
Surprisingly drawing only one filmic adaptation, the Snowtown Murders were some of the most widely publicised in Australian history, with the nation shocked to the core by the bodies-in-the-barrel killings.
Operating between 1992 and 1999, John Bunting was the leader of a group of murderers that took the lives of those they considered to be “weak”, often assuming paedophilia or homosexuality in their victims as an excuse for their death.
The film Snowtown functions as a gruelling experience of Bunting’s manipulation of those around him, and subsequent cult-like murder of men in his town. An endurance test as much as a piece of cinema, director Justin Kurzel captures the truly dark nature of John Bunting and his cohort in graphic detail.
It’s really not a nice watch, but stands out for its hard-hitting filming that truly reflects a terrifyingly broken man.