Even in its most exaggerated and outlandish forms, art may be said to always represent reality in some form. This is probably why no matter how atrocious, dangerous, and downright evil killers in movies can be, many of them often retain a degree of charm and even likability that makes them popular with audiences. The unsettling truth about many notorious real-life serial killers is that they often used traits such as good looks and almost hypnotic personalities to sometimes literally charm the pants off their victims.
For example, most people now know the horrendous acts that were committed by one of the world's most infamous serial killers, Ted Bundy, however, by all accounts, before Ted's inner monster was exposed, he was considered a charming, intelligent, handsome, and charismatic person by people who encountered him — including his victims. Through an exploration of this phenomenon of killers often being suave and even likable, here's a ranked list of the most charming killers in thriller movies.
10 Stuntman Mike in Death Proof
In one of Quentin Tarantino's lesser spoken-of films, Death Proof, the brilliant director weaves together two separate and very distinct stories that have one person linking them together. That person turns out to be a ruthless and depraved individual known as Stuntman Mike in the film. Played by Kurt Russell, before Stuntman Mike is revealed to be a psychotic killer who uses a modified stunt vehicle to brutally murder young women, at first, he's actually kind of charming in his own weird way.
He's able to convince a young lady he meets at a bar to get into his car on the pretext of giving her a lift home. Stuntman Mike is admittedly pretty dodgy and kind of creepy from the start, but he still retains enough charm to meet his sadistic goals. Although Tarantino's well-known mastery for imbuing his films with tension keeps an ominous tone building up in the foreground around Stuntman Mike, he's still charming enough to successfully lure a young, beautiful woman into his car, ultimately leading her and a car full of other women to their bloody deaths.
9 The Vampires in The Twilight Saga
The Twilight films, based on the wildly popular Stephenie Meyer novels, became a global phenomenon that brought in millions of adoring fans. Broadly a vampires vs. werewolves franchise, one of the largest attractions of the films were the vampires. In the books, and later in the highly successful films, the vampires are always depicted as being almost hypnotically beautiful, whether they were male or female.
However, as the films' most popular vampire, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) reveals, their physical beauty has a very chilling purpose when he tries to push away Bella, his love interest, who falls prey to his unnatural charms.
"Everything about me invites you in: my voice, my face, even my smell. As if I need any of that. As if you could outrun me! As if you could fight me off!"
In this important scene, Edward explains to Bella that vampires are physically beautiful and alluring as this gives them an added advantage to kill their victims. Although they are physically stronger and faster than human beings (their food source), by being so attractive and enticing, vampires can essentially charm human beings into wanting to be close to them.
8 Jigsaw in the Saw Franchise
The Saw movie franchise has grown into a massive series of films that encompass nine movies and a tenth on its way. The films' original storylines depicted how a brilliant engineer ended up so disillusioned with life that he became a killer who finds sadistically ingenious ways to torture his victims.
However, the character known as the Jigsaw Killer is essentially just an old man with a rather unique take on life. In a morbid way, his outlook on life can even be admired. He believes that most people become so consumed with banal or destructive things in life that they lose their appreciation for the gift that life truly is. In that sense, despite his horrific acts, his most charming quality is that, in his own twisted way, he actually has good intentions.
He always places his victims into situations that offer them a chance to escape, and in the process, attempts to teach them a valuable lesson that can help them better appreciate the lives they had, and ultimately become better people. Another distinct fact about this killer is that he never actually kills anyone himself, but rather places them in crudely designed situations where their own choices decide whether they die or not. Having said that, his methods rarely end with victims escaping, and they have to endure brutally horrific torture and psychological damage, whether they live or die.
7 Patrick Bateman in American Psycho
The psychological thriller, American Psycho, was a pivotal role in the career of Christian Bale, as it first showed what a talented and committed actor Bale is. In the film, he plays Patrick Bateman, a wealthy and highly narcissistic investment banker who secretly moonlights as a serial killer.
Despite Patrick mostly casting himself as a truly unlikable person for his yuppie lifestyle and terrible deeds, he's also a handsome and successful man who has many attractive qualities. His wealth and career allow him to keep up an extravagant lifestyle but also show that he has great style, sophistication, and taste. In this way, it's easier for him to lure unsuspecting victims into his sadistic world.
6 Lestat in Interview with the Vampire
The early '90s vampire film Interview with the Vampire, based on the very popular Anne Rice novel, was a huge commercial success starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in its main roles. The pair play two vampires known as Lestat and Louis, respectively. While Louis is turned against his will and often vehemently resists being a vampire and having to kill, Lestat is the opposite. Lestat relishes the thrill of the kill and enjoys hunting, stalking, and charming his prey. He's also very good at it since, like the Twilight vampires, Louis and Lestat are considered to be very beautiful and alluring to their prey.
Lestat uses this trait to great effect as he teaches Louis how to charm high-society women into submission, so the pair can feed on them. The fact that the characters were played by Cruise and Pitt at a time in their careers when both actors regularly traded places when being considered the sexiest man alive only added to the charm of both. However, make no mistake, Lestat, as charming and good-looking as he could be, was a sadistic killer who reveled in taking down his victims. The story is so popular, it's now also been adapted into a series.
5 Esther in Orphan
The thriller-horror films Orphan and its prequel Orphan: First Kill were both disturbing films as they portrayed how ruthlessly disarming some killers can be. The films center around a woman named Esther who suffers from a growth disorder called hypopituitarism that causes her to still look like a child, despite being a fully-grown adult.
By being able to pose as a child, and an orphaned one no less, Esther masterfully charms adults in orphanages and adoptive families into loving her. However, behind her charm and seemingly loving ways, Esther is actually a psychopath who never hesitates to kill anyone who gets in the way of her twisted schemes.
4 Charles Cullen in The Good Nurse
In the frightening biographical thriller The Good Nurse, Eddie Redmayne is at his charming and brilliant best. In the film, he plays Charles Cullen, a nurse who, for years, gets away with murdering dozens of patients by secretly euthanizing them. A large part of why Cullen got away with it for so many years was down to administrative red tape, negligence, and shocking risk aversion policies practiced by the medical field and the hospitals that employed him.
However, Charlie Cullen's most useful trait as a killer was how easily he was able to charm his patients, employers, and even his colleagues — one of whom fell in love with him, but was ultimately the one who figured out what he was doing and helped take him down. The story of Charles Cullen was made more chilling by being based on a true story and a real person who actually did these things.
3 Charles Manson in Charlie Says
There have been many famous films and documentaries that have chronicled the life and actions of the infamous Charles Manson. However, the lesser-known, smaller-budget film Charlie Says, arguably does a better job than most of them in depicting why Manson was so successful with his horrific deeds.
Manson is infamous now as the leader of a cult, and his role in orchestrating the shocking murder of actress, Sharon Tate, and others. However, long before his murderous actions, Manson was known for his charm — so much so that he was able to build a cult and lead find devoted followers into doing anything for him, even committing murder.
Charlie Says is told from the perspective of Leslie "Lulu" Van Houten's life as a Manson Family cult member, and the work it took to deprogram her, Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel, and Susan "Sadie" Atkins after they participated in the murder of Tate and many others. It displays how effectively Charles Manson managed to inculcate his twisted ideals into the minds of his followers, using charm and charisma that ultimately brainwashes them.
2 Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Ted Bundy is probably one of the most famous (and infamous) serial killers in the world. Aside from the public's morbid fascination that surrounded the details of his horrific murders, what captivated people the most about Bundy was how normal he seemed to be. Beyond normal, he was actually known to be very handsome, charming, intelligent, and likable — traits that made his killing spree more terrifying since so many people could envision themselves also falling for a person like him.
Bundy also famously studied law and attempted to defend himself when caught and placed on trial. In the film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Bundy was ably played by Zac Efron — an actor whose own good looks and electric personality added more realism to how scary, but charming Bundy could be, despite also being a serial killer.
1 Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs is a legendary film for many reasons. It was a brilliant psychological thriller that forever etched Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster into the minds of movie lovers as screen legends. At its heart, it told the story of an FBI Agent's time with a brilliant but sadistic serial killer named Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Despite being a murderer, Lecter is also a brilliant psychiatrist who is so adept at using his advanced intelligence for manipulating and charming people, that this usually became his chief modus as a killer.
The exchanges between Agent Starling (Jodie Foster) and Lecter as she reluctantly approaches him to help her profile the suspect in a current investigation of hers have become some of cinema history's most legendary scenes. In the process, despite his horrific nature as a killer and the fact that he's a cannibal too, Hannibal Lecter is often one of the most popular and well-loved movie killers in history. The character is so popular that the original films, and the book it was based on, spawned many sequels, and a television series based on him.