Acting seems like the easiest thing to do, until you actually try it. Having said that, different genres of acting have their own challenges. While comedy is all about timing, drama has a lot to do with getting under the skin of the character. But one of the most challenging and unnerving facets of the craft lies in playing someone who’s mentally unstable.
In order to play someone who’s a serial killer, barely “trying” to act menacing and evil isn’t enough. You’ve got to approach the character by getting under their skin, deciphering why they do what they do and staying in that zone till the duration of the shoot. In some cases, this extensive approach in the pursuit of perfection has large negative implications, with actors jeopardizing their sanity in exchange for giving fans a performance that will stick with them for a lifetime and maybe beyond.
10 Ross Lynch – My Friend Dahmer (2017)
This isn’t the first time that a film about Jeffrey Dahmer has been made. And an educated bet would hedge that this isn’t going to be the last time, either. What makes My Friend Dahmer stand out from its peers is Ross Lynch. Lynch, as the sinister serial killer Dahmer, is the lifeblood of the film, as he has come leaps and bounds from his Disney days. Following in fellow Disney superstar Zac Efron’s footsteps, Lynch’s film is deeper, darker, and a lot more empathetic than Efron’s rendition of Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
9 Michael Rooker – Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Based on the true story of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, AKA The Confession Killer, John McNaughton’s film is an exploration into the art of killing. Aptly titled, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, the film throws light inside the everyday insanity of a killer’s mind, as Henry and his roommate and fellow killer Otis are addicted to the life of dealing with death, while also navigating common emotions like attraction and belonging.
8 Gunnar Hansen – The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Gunnar Hansen’s performance as Leatherface is constricted due to his mask of human skin that covers his face, but that only adds to his horrific appeal. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a cacophony of blood and gore that eventually culminates into a ballad of horror and screaming madness, where all you can hear are screams and the roar of Leatherface’s chainsaw.
7 Choi Min-sik – I Saw the Devil (2010)
Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw the Devil is a mediation on violence that’s powered by the cop and criminal duo of Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik. The film plays out as a dizzying merry-go-round that sees special officer Kim Soo-hyeon (Lee Byung-hun) engage in a cat-and-mouse game with his fiancé’s killer, Kyung-Chul (Choi Min-sik). Upon catching the crazed psychopath, Soo-hyeon tortures him and sets him free, creating a toxic cycle of torture and hope, eventually riling Kyung-Chul up to a point of madness.
Despite being scary and abhorrent, Choi Min-sik is the spine of the film, as he goes from scary to scared, providing fans with a well-deserved sense of revenge and retribution.
6 Anthony Perkins – Psycho (1960)
Hitchcock’s affinity for the voyeuristic gaze perfectly sets the tone for Psycho, as the film begins with a peeping shot where Marion Crane is having an afternoon rendezvous with her boyfriend, Sam. Later, we reveal Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) peeping in at Marion’s room at the Bates Motel, before Hitchcock takes us on a journey to peep inside Norman’s insanity hidden beneath his medical condition.
Norman is extremely unsettling because he’s unpredictable, erratic, and clinically immature. Adding to that, his psyche is ill-formed, making him lending him the sensibilities of a child in the body of a man.
5 Charlize Theron – Monster (2003)
Charlize Theron’s portrayal of prostitute turned serial killer Aileen Wournos was appreciated by fans and critics alike, with Roger Ebert calling it “one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema”. Theron doesn’t barely play the part, she embodies it, as she doesn’t kill the seven men for pleasure, but more in principle. Her killing is a form of rebellion, an attempt to break free from the clutches of fate and strive to be a better person than was intended by her destiny.
4 Peter Lorre – M (1931)
Despite playing the role of a serial killer that preys on children, Peter Lorre’s Hans Beckert has something that pulls the audience towards him in a deeply dark and twisted way. For most of the film, Beckert is in the shadows, on the peripherals of society, going through his own internal churning while reveling in the influence he has on the rich and powerful, as they’re petrified at the thought of losing their children. But when alone, he’s just a scared man with a pathological need to kill. This dual contrast is the steam engine that powers Fritz Lang’s M right into the history books of cinema.
3 Kevin Spacey – Se7en (1995)
In Se7en, John Doe (Kevin Spacey) says to Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt), that in order to make people listen to you, you need to hit them with a sledgehammer. And that’s precisely what Fincher’s film does. An assault with a sledgehammer. Complimenting the narrative base of John Doe’s reason to kill and torture, Fincher flips the power dynamics giving a powerful appeal to Doe, while portraying Detective Mills to be twitchy and erratic, despite being on the right side of the law. This interchange of power breaks the conventional norm attached to cops and criminals, and comments on the fact that law, or the lack of it, has nothing to do with a man’s internal wiring.
2 Christian Bale – American Psycho (2000)
23 years later, Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman is still relevant, as the ’80s yuppie’s culture has now been replaced by “modern-day woke culture”. Cementing his transition from child actor to a certified performer, Bale conceals many personas and masks within Patrick Bateman, perfectly simmering and sautéing his emotions before culminating into a boil that burns the whole house down.
1 Anthony Hopkins – The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
It’s funny to mention Anthony Hopkins‘ performance in The Silence of the Lambs as the best serial killer performance, despite him not being the original killer in the movie. Not taking away from Ted Levine’s brilliant rendition of Buffalo Bill, Hopkins barely had any screen time in the film, but managed to creep and captivate whenever he appeared on-screen. The lopsided match-up between Hopkins’ Lecter and Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling is so uneven and unsettling that it comes across as more terrifying than the original crimes of Buffalo Bill himself.