What is the best 21st century serial killer film?

From methodical procedural hunts to unsettling character studies and visceral cat-and-mouse thrillers, these films explore the darkest corners of the human psyche. Which one haunts you most?

Zodiac

David Fincher's meticulous 2007 procedural follows the decades-long investigation into San Francisco's infamous Zodiac Killer.

1/12

No Country for Old Men

The Coen Brothers' 2007 Oscar winner features Anton Chigurh, one of cinema's most terrifying killers, in a bleak Texas noir.

2/12

Monster

Charlize Theron won an Oscar playing real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in this devastating 2003 character study.

3/12

Prisoners

Denis Villeneuve's tense 2013 thriller blurs the line between victim and monster as a father hunts for his kidnapped daughter.

4/12

Memories of Murder

Bong Joon-ho's 2003 masterpiece dramatizes South Korea's first serial murder investigation in a film that's both comic and deeply unsettling.

5/12

I Saw the Devil

Kim Jee-woon's 2010 Korean thriller pushes the revenge-killer dynamic to its most extreme and disturbing conclusion.

6/12

Extremely Wicked

Zac Efron plays Ted Bundy in this 2019 film told from the perspective of Bundy's girlfriend, who refused to believe the evidence.

7/12

Snowtown

Justin Kurzel's 2011 Australian film chronicles the true story of the Snowtown murders — the most prolific serial killing in Australia's history.

8/12

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel follows a journalist and hacker investigating a decades-old disappearance tied to a serial killer.

9/12

Frailty

Bill Paxton directs and stars in this 2001 supernatural thriller about a father who believes God has commanded him to destroy demons disguised as humans.

10/12

Catch Me If You Can

Steven Spielberg's 2002 film follows FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) in a decades-long pursuit of brilliant con man Frank Abagnale Jr. (DiCaprio).

11/12

The Frozen Ground

Nicolas Cage plays Alaska State Trooper Glenn Flothe hunting serial killer Robert Hansen (John Cusack) who abducted women in this 2013 thriller.

12/12