Man is indeed the cruelest animal, and a blind scroll through Netflix will reveal any number of films that explore the evil humanity suppresses or projects. How else to explain the existence of Mr. Deeds?
If you're a fan of subjecting yourself to films about deranged killers, complicated sociopaths, and everyday evil—and contributing to a nice bout of insomnia—here are eight movies and shows you can stream right now.
1) Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer
This film by documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield is a bookend to his 1992 film, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, which explored the corruption running through the trial of one of Florida’s most infamous serial killers. A decade later, Broomfield returned to Florida, called as a witness before her execution. Perhaps inadvertently, he becomes a character in his own film, and the cast of supporting characters surrounding the trial is quintessentially Florida. His interactions with “Dr. Legal,” aka Stephen Glazer, Wuornos’ one-time, cable-access–famous lawyer, are the film’s comedic relief. Wuornos was also on death row at the time of filming (she died by lethal injection in 2002), and Broomfield is able to extract her come-to-Jesus monologues, though they do little to illuminate who Wuornos truly was.
2) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
John McNaughton’s 1986 film is a very free sketch of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas and his associate, Ottis Toole. It’s pulpy, campy, and disturbing, and there are elements of 1980’s slasher film Maniac as well. The scenes of murder are so casually framed, there’s a certain “Is this a dream?” quality to the whole film. Michael Rooker’s dead-eyed portrayal of Lucas doesn’t help, but we do get glimpses of something resembling empathy, especially in exchanges with Toole’s aimless sister, Becky.
3) The Silence
The visuals and cinematography in this film by Swiss director Baran bo Odar are absolutely stunning, which makes the evil underneath all the more unsettling. The rape and murder of a young girl sets the plot in motion, and we fast forward 23 years as another girl disappears. The film doesn’t make us wait for the reveal: Peer (Ulrich Thomsen) is the murderer and Timo (Wotan Wilke Möhring) was the bystander, the whisper of a golden wheat field the only sound that pushes us into the present. Two decades later, Timo and Peer meet again, and the dread surrounding the new disappearance is deafening. If you’re looking for a movie where the bad guy gets caught and justice is served, The Silence is not for you.
4) The Fall
This is a Netflix original series, but it certainly unfolds like a movie. Jamie Dornan stars as Paul Spector—family man by day, a serial killer with very distinct tastes by night. Gillian Anderson melts the screen as steely detective Stella Gibson. In season 1, Gibson and Spector perform a very delicate dance of cat and mouse. In season 2, Gibson locks in on Spector’s fetishistic tendencies, but she also leaves herself vulnerable and has no problem expressing herself as a sexual being. Anderson’s character is one of the most interesting and complex on TV right now, and it’s refreshing that the female characters on The Fall are more than just plot-advancers for the men.
5) Manhunter
Michael Mann’s 1986 film is the precursor to Silence of the Lambs. Here, Hannibal Lecter is played by Brian Cox, and William Petersen plays obsessive detective Will Graham, who’s in telepathic pursuit of a new serial killer (he’s already hunted down Lecter). Mann is pretty heavy-handed with the surreal, two-tone ’80s imagery and soundtrack (this film came out two years after Miami Vice debuted), and there’s a cringe-worthy action-movie scene in which Graham crashes through a glass window in slow-motion, but not enough is said about Tom Noonan’s performance as fantastically named killer Franics Dollarhyde, and “Innagadadavida” has never been used to such perfect effect.
6) I Saw the Devil
In this 2010 film from Kim Jee-woon, Choi Min-sik (star of another revenge thriller, Oldboy) plays a serial killer who tortures and kills women, and the first murder we see is that of the fiancée of a National Intelligence Service agent named Soo-hyun. Once he tracks down the killer, a game of catch and release begins. The hunter becomes the hunted, and Soo-hyun relishes in torturing and letting his prey go, until the line between revenge and sadism blurs in a bloody mess. “Your nightmare’s only getting worse,” he whispers to the man after one particularly festive torture session that should definitely have killed him. At one point, an associate of the killer who’s also a casual cannibal remarks: “You’ve created a monster. How interesting.” You will be in a constant state of tension wondering who will “win,” so probably don’t watch it before bed like I did.
7) Lady Vengeance
South Korea has cornered the market on revenge thrillers. In the third film in Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy (which includes Oldboy), Choi Min-sik once again plays a sadistic killer, only this time he’s a teacher who pinned the blame for a child’s murder on woman named Geum-ja Lee. After spending 13 years in prison, she quietly re-emerges and sets out on a precisely planned revenge tour involving the families of children he killed in the past. There’s also some very dark humor; the film ends on an act of physical comedy that’s somehow quite touching. Charlize Theron was reportedly producing a remake, but you’ll want to see this one first. See also: Kill Bill.
8) Funny Games
This 1997 Michael Haneke film was remade with Naomi Watts and Tim Roth in 2007 by the same director, but nothing beats Haneke’s first take. It’s essentially a home invasion thriller before those were all the rage, and point of view is everything here. The killers—two affable young men dressed in white—address the camera as the tension grows, essentially asking the viewer if they should go ahead with whatever sadistic “game” is next. Further upending with the typical horror-movie formula, most of the violence takes place off screen. Haneke is addressing us directly: Are you upset you didn’t see this family murdered? If so, why?
Screengrab via I Saw the Devil/Netflix