6 Real Serial Killers That Defined The Horror Film Genre

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.