Throughout time, members of society have encountered the worst of humanity in the form of serial killers in one way or another. Whether as unfortunate victims or as the brave men and women of law enforcement who eventually ended their reigns of terror. These vile creatures treat the treasure that is human life like trash, routinely ending it, and often without remorse. Television has given audiences a peek into the lives of these criminals, even though some of the shows veer towards the dramatic.
Not the ones on this list, though. They didn’t try to make things flashy or fun. Everything feels real, from the actors recreating documented speech patterns to the shows themselves capturing investigative details to a tee. All in all, these top 5 serial killer portrayals stood out because they respected real-life details instead of chasing cheap shock value.
1. Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story — Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters)
It’s almost inconceivable to mention serial killers without mentioning Jeffrey Dahmer, and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story gives viewers a clear glimpse into his life. It focuses on the crimes he committed and how many warning signs were ignored. It also spends time on neighbors who kept bumping into something clearly wrong but never got full answers.
Evan Peters, the actor who portrayed Dahmer, did an incredible job, considering he wasn’t loud or dramatic in his portrayal. He played Dahmer like a quiet, awkward guy who always seems a bit off, but never suspicious. His encounter with a deaf kid named Tony in Season 1, episode 6, “Silenced,” sums it up. Everything wrong and dangerous about this guy is right there. It’s hard to suspect someone like that, which kinda explains how the real Dahmer got away with killing over 17 men and boys before he was stopped.
2. Mindhunter — Dennis Rader / BTK (Sonny Valicenti)
Mindhunter follows FBI agents trying to understand the minds of serial killers by interviewing incarcerated serial killers. One of the serial killers was Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK killer. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but he sure made the little he got count.
Sonny Valicenti played the character with as much realism as possible, accurately portraying the different layers of the BTK killer. Sometimes he’s just a regular suburban guy, and at other times, like in the season 2 finale, he’s acting out his worst, violent tendencies. This guy was a church president, a city code enforcer, and a dad. But bizarrely, he was a monster of mythic proportions.
3. Mindhunter — Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton)
Ed Kemper is one of the interview subjects in Mindhunter, and Cameron Britton absolutely nails him. He talks calmly, cracks jokes, and even explains his crimes as if he is giving a lecture rather than confessing anything horrifying. For instance, there is a scene where he casually describes violent details of how he killed his mother while joking with the agents, and it throws everything off balance. Nothing about him feels like movie villain energy, more like someone who could sit across from you and still sound polite while saying something deeply disturbing.
4. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story — Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss)
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story tells the story of Andrew Cunanan leading up to the murder of Gianni Versace. Rather than focusing on the killings themselves, it focuses on who Cunanan was when no one was watching him. Watching Darren Criss play Cunanan makes it clear why he won an Emmy for his performance.
He perfected the metaphorical mask that the serial killer was famous for. One second, he’s all charming, and the next, he’s alone on a dirty mattress, rambling on about not caring about the money, only about being remembered. That scene, which happened in episode 4, tells viewers everything they need to know about the real Cunanan. He wasn’t stable, but he was good at pretending he was… until he couldn’t anymore.
5. The Deliberate Stranger — Ted Bundy (Mark Harmon)
Ted Bundy is probably the first name that comes to mind when people talk about serial killers. Given the number of productions (movies, TV shows etc) made about him, and there have been more than a few, it’s clear that the point of view has prevailed. However, none of those productions capture the essence of the man like the 1986 TV miniseries, The Deliberate Stranger. Starring Mark Harmon as Bundy, the miniseries shows how Bundy moved through the world at the height of his reign of terror. Even worse, he didn’t look like a creep. He looked like a law student, because well… he was a law student.
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