6 Real Serial Killers That Defined The Horror Film Genre

3. Elizabeth Bathory

Both the oldest and only female name on this list comes in the form of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the Guiness World Record holder of the Most Prolific Female Serial Killer title. Bathory was murdering people before it was cool, committing her crimes between 1590 - 1609, and serves as an influence on the great Dracula story itself.

Supposedly killing up to 650 victims in her reign of terror, Bathory’s modus operandi to torture and kill young virginal women to drain their blood, which she would then bathe in an effort to retain her youth. Whilst records on this are unreliable, Bathory WAS convicted officially of 80 murders, and kept in prison until her death five years later.

Often referred to as vampiric in nature for obvious reasons, Bathory has become a part of Hungarian folklore, with her infamy continuing in countless forms even today - over 400 years after her death.

Films based on ‘The Blood Countess’ include many that title themselves on her name, as well as Chastity Bites, Mama Dracula, and Stay Alive. Almost all the films focus on her eccentric bloodlust, painting her as a sexually motivated vampire in most situations; though the truth may have been exaggerated in the centuries after.

In any case, the tortured peasant girls found in Bathory’s home were evidence enough of her villainy at time - and the accounts of her physical abuse towards them are deeply disturbed.