Television often tends to lend more range and depth to its characters due to its long runtime. While there are a few films that have birthed memorable characters, television has richer characters since they get a lot more footage when compared to their counterparts in films. While television has gifted us with a lot of happy-go-lucky characters, seeing the bright side of everything life has to offer, it is also responsible for some of the most terrifying serial killers that at first glance look deceptively docile, but as the show progresses bloom into first-degree torture artists. Here are some of TV’s most terrifying serial killers, ranked.
10 Joe Carroll - The Following
Joe Carroll from The Following is a bonafide serial killer responsible for a string of murders. A well-versed professor by day and a serial killer by night, Carroll used his charm and charisma to amass an army of like-minded, cult-like serial killers that killed for fun.
9 Bloody Face aka Dr. Thredson - American Horror Story: Asylum
Bloody Face is Dr. Thredson’s alternate ego in American Horror Story. Thredson doubled up as a spooky psychiatrist-turned-serial killer who began his reign of bloodshed during the early '60s. His main motive for killing stemmed from his search for a surrogate mother in all of his victims. If he felt they fell short of his expectations for an ideal mother figure, he would don the mask of Bloody Face and kill them.
8 Dexter Morgan - Dexter
Dexter Morgan puts a just twice on the concept of serial killing. The talented forensic expert leverages his vast knowledge of medicine by targeting the most heinous perpetrators, who have somehow evaded the law and bringing them to justice, in his own way. Even though Dexter’s list consists of the ‘bad guys’, his propensity for killing and the precision he deploys makes him one hell of a scary killer.
7 Errol Childress - True Detective
Errol Childress is True Detective’s main antagonist. Childress is a member of the Tuttle Cult, a powerful and influential family that ruled Louisiana for decades and was responsible for sexually torturing and trafficking dozens of children. Childress himself is one creepy-looking killer, who prides himself on being a proud worshiper of the Yellow King, assuming free rein to kidnap and torture as many people as he can get his hands on.
6 Marty Whitly - Prodigal Son
Another wildly sinister killer, disguised in the form of a dignified civilian. Marty Whitly took a lot of pride in making a game out of killing, endowing him with a certain sense of power, to the point where he doesn't even spare his son, Malcolm. Marty has heavily indoctrinated Malcolm, making him dance to his tunes while also traumatizing and torturing him every chance he gets.
5 Norman Bates - Bates Motel
NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho, Norman Bates is one of the most well-known serial killers in the world of film and television. A momma's boy right from the start, Bates Motel captures Norman’s early years with his mother as they run the motel together. The show works as a prelude highlighting Norman’s innate insanity and the impact it has on the people around him.
4 El Cuco - The Outsider
Based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel of the same name, The Outsider, tells the tale of a shape-shifting, otherworldly entity known as El Cuco or The Outsider. While there is some debate about the child hunter’s demon-like qualities, it is clear that the entity takes up the form of a human being to carry out his sinister tasks giving him the tag of a sinister serial killer with otherworldly powers.
3 Joe Goldberg - You
On a surface level, Joe Goldberg from You comes across as a serial killer with a rational mind, letting the audience be a part of his rationalizing process, almost romanticizing the killing part of his personality. But after a deep dive, his sheer insanity seeps out for all to see. Goldberg’s line of reasoning doesn’t hold water when compared to his brutal acts of cold-blooded murder.
2 Hannibal Lecter - Hannibal
Hannibal Lecter is another dangerously sinister killer garbed in white-collar clothing. Lecter doubles up as a surgeon while having a cannibalistic affinity for devouring his victims. The iconic character also makes an appearance in the film Silence of The Lambs, where the mad surgeon is played by Anthony Hopkins.
1 Henry Drax - The North Water
An embodiment of everything evil, Henry Drax (Collin Farell) is one of the most creepy serial killers to ever enter the realm of television. A murderer, rapist, and all-out psychopath, Drax works as a harpooner who joins a crew of whale hunters on a voyage into the northern waters, in the mid-nineteenth century. As the crew are surrounded by ice and short on time, Drax begins mercilessly playing mind games, killing anyone who doesn’t serve his whims or fancies. While speaking about Drax’s carnal brutality, Farell went on to state that Henry was one of his toughest roles to date.