The Best Serial Killer Movies and TV Shows on Free Services

What it's about: Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police also leads a secret life as a serial killer, hunting down criminals who have slipped through the cracks of justice.

Where to Watch: 2 episodes (2%) are available to watch free online (Showtime & ABC News). 96 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, fuboTV & Showtime). 96 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime). 96 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The true story of the investigation of the "Zodiac Killer", a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for three men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Plex, PopcornFlix & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (1%) are available to watch free online (FOX). 218 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu, Philo & fuboTV). 20 episodes (9%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (BBC America). 219 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: When the Police Service of Northern Ireland are unable to close a case after 28 days, Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson of the Metropolitan Police Service is called in to review the case. Under her new leadership, the local detectives must track down and stop a serial killer who is terrorising the city of Belfast.

Where to Watch: 29 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Tubi & Peacock). 24 episodes (83%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, BritBox, Hoopla & 1 other). 18 episodes (62%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?

Where to Watch: 37 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other). 37 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, HBO MAX, Hulu & 1 other). 37 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 3 services (Google Play, Vudu & YouTube).

What it's about: Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that one cannot even imagine and his victims range from young women to even children. The police have chased him for a long time, but were unable to catch him. One day, Joo-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state. Her fiance Soo-hyun, a top secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself to get this monstrous and inhumane killer.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla, Monsters Nightmares & Warriors Gangsters) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When Sally hears that her grandfather's grave may have been vandalized, she and her paraplegic brother, Franklin, set out with their friends to investigate. After a detour to their family's old farmhouse, they discover a group of crazed, murderous outcasts living next door. As the group is attacked one by one by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface, who wears a mask of human skin, the survivors must do everything they can to escape.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes the United States' first female serial killer.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 3 others), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A biopic of the writer, Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book, 'In Cold Blood'.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Christine Collins is overjoyed when her kidnapped son is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, the police captain has her committed to an asylum.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: After a 13-year imprisonment for the kidnap and murder of a 6 year old boy, beautiful Lee Guem-ja starts seeking revenge on the man that was really responsible for the boy's death. With the help of fellow inmates and reunited with her daughter, she gets closer and closer to her goal. But will her actions lead to the relief she seeks?

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PopcornFlix) & stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).

What it's about: Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & Hiyah) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed 'demons'.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Jack Terry is a master sound recordist who works on grade-B horror movies. Late one evening, he is recording sounds for use in his movies when he hears something unexpected through his sound equipment and records it. Curiosity gets the better of him when the media become involved, and he begins to unravel the pieces of a nefarious conspiracy. As he struggles to survive against his shadowy enemies and expose the truth, he does not know whom he can trust.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The son of a notorious serial killer becomes an acclaimed criminal psychologist who uses his unique insight into how killers think to help the NYPD.

Where to Watch: 4 episodes (17%) are available to watch free online (FOX). 6 episodes (25%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu, fuboTV & TVision). 1 episodes (4%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (FOX). 24 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A demented serial killer taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again. Based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King.

Where to Watch: 10 episodes (33%) are available to watch free online (Peacock). 20 episodes (67%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Peacock Premium & Hoopla). 20 episodes (67%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Vudu).

What it's about: While walking home one evening, Sam Dalmas, an American writer living in Rome, witnesses a violent struggle between a young woman and a black-coated figure in an art gallery. Dalmas attempts to intervene but is caught between the gallery's electronically operated glass doors, leaving the woman bleeding from knife wounds. Questioned by the police, the shocked author attempts to recall every detail regarding the incident. Convinced that there is an aspect of the crime he cannot recall, Dalmas begins his own investigation - putting himself and his girlfriend Giulia in line as the killer's potential victims...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & stream on a subscription service (Fandor & ConTV).

What it's about: A killer is released from prison and breaks into a remote home to kill a woman, her handicapped son and her pretty daughter.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is recruited by the Vatican to investigate the apparent return of the Illuminati - a secret, underground organization - after four cardinals are kidnapped on the night of the papal conclave.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Henry likes to kill people, in different ways each time. Henry shares an apartment with Otis. When Otis' sister comes to stay, we see both sides of Henry: "the guy next door" and the serial killer.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Vudu & PopcornFlix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Microsoft).

What it's about: The sequel to House of 1000 Corpses – the Firefly family are ambushed at their isolated home by Sheriff Wydell and a squad of armed men guns blazing – yet only Otis and his sister, Baby, manage to escape the barrage of bullets unharmed. Hiding out in a backwater motel, the wanted siblings wait to rendezvous with their errant father, Captain Spaulding, killing whoever happens to stand in their way.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex & IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.

Where to Watch: 12 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Crunchyroll). 12 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, HBO MAX & 2 others).

What it's about: What starts as a poignant medical documentary about Deborah Logan's descent into Alzheimer's disease and her daughter's struggles as caregiver degenerates into a maddening portrayal of dementia at its most frightening, as hair-raising events begin to plague the family and crew and an unspeakable malevolence threatens to tear the very fabric of sanity from them all.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder & ConTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. During his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he was to become.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Peacock), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $4.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A mentally unhinged factory worker must decide whether to listen to his talking cat and become a killer, or follow his dog's advice to keep striving for normalcy.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Plex) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A group of family and friends travels to a secluded island for a destination wedding. They've come to laugh... to love... and, though they don't know it... to die. As the wedding festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed as a murderer claims victims, one by one, transforming the wedding week of fun and celebration into a terrifying struggle for survival.

Where to Watch: 13 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (PlutoTV). 13 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 13 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: A seemingly mild mannered man -- who has just murdered his entire family -- quickly adopts a new identity and leaves town. After building a new relationship with a widow and her teenage daughter, he struggles to hide his true identity and maintain a grip on reality.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (HBO) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 3 services (Google Play, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: A unique look inside the mind of an infamous serial killer with this cinematic self-portrait crafted from statements made by Ted Bundy, including present-day interviews, archival footage and audio recordings from death row.

Where to Watch: 8 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Tubi & IMDb TV).

What it's about: Rookie cop, Amelia Donaghy reluctantly teams with Lincoln Rhyme – formerly the department's top homicide detective but now paralyzed as a result of a spinal injury – to catch a grisly serial killer dubbed 'The Bone Collector'. The murderer's special signature is to leave tantalizing clues based on the grim remains of his crimes.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A picture perfect middle class family is shocked when they find out that one of their neighbors is receiving obscene phone calls. The mom takes slights against her family very personally, and it turns out she is indeed the one harassing the neighbor. As other slights befall her beloved family, the body count begins to increase.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Slightly disturbed and painfully shy Angela Baker is sent away to summer camp with her cousin. Not long after Angela's arrival, things start to go horribly wrong for anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A journalist duo go on a tour of serial killer murder sites with two companions, unaware that one of them is a serial killer himself.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

What it's about: Based on real-life events, this psycho-thriller is set in the provincial Hungary of the 1960s, when a series of atrocious murders shock the small town of Martfü. A psychotic killer is on the prowl, who continues to slaughter young women while an innocent man is wrongly accused and sentenced for crimes he could never have committed. A determined detective arrives on the scene and soon becomes obsessed with the case while under pressure from the prosecutor to see a man hang. Stuck in the suffocating social, political and psychological world of socialist Hungary, we soon find ourselves entangled in a web of intricate conspiracy and disturbing drama.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A serial killer kidnaps a young boy after murdering his mother, then raises him to be his accomplice. After years in captivity, the boy must choose between escaping or following in his captor's bloody footprints.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: When hundreds of videotapes showing torture, murder and dismemberment are found in an abandoned house, they reveal a serial killer's decade-long reign of terror and become the most disturbing collection of evidence homicide detectives have ever seen.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Epix) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix).

What it's about: A reporter and a blind retired journalist try to solve a series of murders. The crimes are connected to experiments by a pharmaceutical company in secret research. The two end up becoming targets of the killer.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Three college students, Phil, Ed, and Henry take a road trip into Mexico for a week of drinking and carefree fun only to have Phil find himself a captive of a group of satanic Mexican drug smugglers who kill tourists and whom are looking for a group of new ones to prepare for a sacrifice.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 2 others), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A former nazi child-killer is confined in an iron lung inside an old mansion after a suicide attempt. His wife hires him a full-time carer, a mysterious young man who is driven slowly mad by the old man's disturbing past.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & stream on a subscription service (Shudder).

What it's about: A martial arts instructor working at a police academy gets imprisoned after killing a man by accident. But when a vicious killer starts targeting martial arts masters, the instructor offers to help the police in return for his freedom.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Hiyah) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of monsters are hiding from humanity.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Peacock), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: Rachel, a rookie cop, is about to begin her first night shift in a neglected police station in a Scottish, backwater town. The kind of place where the tide has gone out and stranded a motley bunch of the aimless, the forgotten, the bitter-and-twisted who all think that, really, they deserve to be somewhere else. They all think they're there by accident and that, with a little luck, life is going to get better. Wrong, on both counts. Six is about to arrive - and All Hell Will Break Loose!

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Shudder) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Microsoft).

What it's about: Three people driving into Los Angeles for a Dodgers game have car trouble and pull off into an old wrecking yard where they are held at bay by a bloodthirsty psycho and his crazy girlfriend.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.00 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).