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Unsettling classic The Silence of the Lambs turned 35 on Valentine’s Day, preceding the arrival of new serial killer horror thriller Psycho Killer in theaters this Friday. Both exemplify the real-life terror they evoke, hitting far closer to home than supernatural threats. Serial killers are scary; it’s not just their heinous acts that unsettle, but the cunning human intelligence behind them.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to serial killer horror movies that induce fear and revulsion, especially of the psychological variety.
Here’s where to stream them.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
The Collector – Fandango at Home, Hoopla, Midnight Pulp, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Roku Channel, Screambox
Vigilante serial killer Jigsaw and his entire Saw franchise inspired this feature from Saw mainstays Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. It follows Arkin (Josh Stewart), an ex-con plotting a heist at his rich employer’s home so he can pay off his ex-wife. It just so happens that a menacing masked killer known as The Collector has also targeted the same family, rigging their home with deadly traps. It’s a battle of wits and lethal traps in this brutal horror movie. Unlike John Kramer, The Collector has no moral code.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer – Fandango at Home, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Screambox
Much like Angst, this loose telling of real-life murderers Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole proved too dark for many to handle, and as a result, it struggled to find distribution and, subsequently, an audience. Director John McNaughton’s psychological horror film stars Michael Rooker in the eponymous role. Rooker delivers a bone-chilling performance as the stone-cold killer who drifts in and out of lives, killing with careless ease. It’s a profile of a killer meant to shock and disturb, and Henry more than succeeds.
The House That Jack Built – AMC+, Hulu, Kanopy, Roku Channel, Shudder
Jack (Matt Dillon) is an unrepentant and highly intelligent serial killer. Using Dante’s Inferno as a metatextual guide to chronicle the twelve-year period over which Jack commits grisly murders, the film employs a lot of dark humor to endear viewers to an unfeeling, sociopathic killer. The twisted comedy is necessary, as things get downright gruesome for Jack’s victims. When all the other films on this list create sympathy for their monsters, this one spares none. It makes its destination all the more satisfying, and Dillon’s portrayal certainly helps.
Maniac – AMC+, Kanopy, Paramount+, Pluto TV
This remake of the 1980 film dials up the sympathy for Frank Zito, thanks to a far meeker rendition by Elijah Wood. Frank is a troubled individual with a traumatic past, and he tends to scalp women to keep his one happy childhood memory alive. Enter Anna, a photographer with whom Frank is so smitten that he attempts to get his act together. Too bad this is a horror movie, and a happily ever after isn’t on the menu for these surprisingly sweet characters. Frank Zito commits heinous acts, and yet you desperately want him to find the help he needs. This remake also takes the killer’s perspective literally, framing everything from Frank’s point of view.
Thesis – AMC+, Shudder
Before scaring audiences stateside with the ghostly shocker, The Others, in 2004, Alejandro Amenabar emerged as one of the best Spanish directors of the ‘90s with the psychological thriller Thesis. The plot revolves around Angela, a film student doing a thesis about violence, who discovers a snuff film of a girl being tortured to her death. The girl happened to be a former student at her school. It’s a masterful example of the psychological mysteries that reveal twist after twist that Spain does so well. A clever thriller that introspects on snuff and violence in media, while giving us characters you’re invested in and a killer that’s tough to predict.
