12 Movies Based On Real Life Serial Killers
Pennywise and Pinhead are frightful, but they're nothing compared to the real killers in our midst.
As an audience, we share a peculiar fascination with murder. Why do we love watching people meet an early grave in the most unsettling, nightmare-inducing ways possible? Who knows — we just want more of it! Horror movies, super-natural cinema, and edge-of-your-seat cat-and-mouse thrillers are constantly viewed around the world.
While the likes of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger are among the most famous fictional slashers to ever hit the screen, some of the most truly terrifying tales are those based on true stories.
Serial killers have walked among us for centuries. While some are pegged as "a little off", many of these individuals walk among us while we remain none the wiser. Naturally, the horrific crimes of these horrid individuals capture our attention, especially when their stories are translated to the silver screen.
Ghostface may give us a scream, but it's the real-life monsters like Bundy, Gacy, and Dahmer that make us really fear what goes bump in the night. Some of the most iconic serial killers have been the focus of fantastic pieces of cinema starring some of Hollywood's most recognizable faces.
12. Happy Face Killer (2014)
David Arquette may have been on the right side of the law in the Scream franchise, but one of his more recent outings saw him on the opposite side of the knife. In 2014, Arquette played the eponymous role in the Happy Face Killer as Keith Hunter Jesperson.
You'll be forgiven if this one slipped your radar. It was released as a Lifetime movie and has a 5.4/10 score on IMDB. This made for TV movie also starred Mr. Robot's Gloria Reuben, The L Word's Daryl Shuttleworth, and See's Josh Blacker.
The film follows Jesperson, a truck driver who embarks on a two-year killing spree resulting in at least eight victims. Throughout his killings, he taunts authorities with letters of confession signed with a happy face.
The real Keith Jesperson was an imposing figure standing at 6'8". Although eight victims have been verified, he claims to have killed dozens upon dozen more prior to his incarceration. Jesperson has been serving his multiple life sentences since 1995.