The Best Serial Killer Movies and TV Shows on Kanopy

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 stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, CBS All Access & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

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, Hoopla & 2 others) & rent or buy from $1.99 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: A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex, Vudu & 1 other), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

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: After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (fuboTV, Showtime & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Summer is usually a time for fun and games, but some teens get much more danger than they bargained for after beginning to suspect their neighbor is a serial murderer.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Shudder, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 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), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Prime Video).

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) & rent or buy from $4.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Following two death-obsessed teenage girls who use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small Midwestern town into a frenzy and cement their legacy as modern horror legends.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out murder spree as relatives and friends attempt to reduce the inheritance playing field, complicated by some teenagers who decide to camp out in a dilapidated building on the estate.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).

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: Martha Beck, an obese nurse who is desperately lonely, joins a "correspondence club" and finds a romantic pen pal in Ray Fernandez. Martha falls hard for Ray, and is intent on sticking with him even when she discovers he's a con man who seduces lonely single women, kills them and then takes their money. She poses as Ray's sister and joins Ray on a wild killing spree, fueled by her lingering concern that Ray will leave her for one of his marks.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared. Soon after the disappearance, she's approached by Harley Temple, a police investigator who believes her friend has been murdered by a serial killer who uses personal ads to find his victims. Temple hatches a plan to catch the killer using Sandra as bait, and Sandra agrees to help.

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

What it's about: In the summer of 1979, gay porn producer Anne sets out to film her most ambitious film yet, but her actors are picked off, one by one, by a mysterious killer.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

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, Hoopla & 2 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A man bumps into an old crush and becomes obsessed. After several failed attempts at winning her over, he kidnaps her and holds her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works.

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

What it's about: On February 15, 1992 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, one of the world's most infamous serial killers, was convicted of 15 counts of murder and sentenced to 937 years in federal prison. This movie is based on events from his life. Certain characters and events are fictional.

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

What it's about: Barney Thomson, awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber, lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer.

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

What it's about: A frustrated Boston detective searches for the maniac responsible for mutilating a number of university coeds.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: This slasher movie follows a relentless killer who is out to avenge the death of a young girl who died after being bullied and teased by four of her classmates. Now high-school students, the guilt-ridden kids have kept their involvement a secret, but when they start being murdered, one by one, it's clear that someone knows the truth. Also coping with the past are members of the dead girl's family, most notably her prom-queen sister, Kim Hammond (Jamie Lee Curtis).

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 4 others), stream on a subscription service (Shudder, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy & Full Moon) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Google Play).

What it's about: Strippers in Manhattan are being stalked and murdered by a psycho. A hard-nosed police detective and a conflicted ex-boxer-turned-private-eye, hired by the strip club owners, set out to find him before he strikes again.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, PopcornFlix & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Kanopy & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (Google Play, Microsoft & YouTube).

What it's about: A woman with psychic powers has a vision of a murder that took place in a house owned by her husband.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Kanopy).

What it's about: In 1974, Terry commits a murder and pins it on his twin brother, Todd. Ten years later, Todd escapes from a mental institution on the same day as Terry’s murderous instincts resurface.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Between 1978 and 1979, the inhabitants of the Oise are in fear of a maniac who kills several hitchhikers and escape the police. He was then dubbed "the killer of the Oise" is actually a shy young policeman who will investigate his own murder, only to lose control of the situation.

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

What it's about: In the fragmented opening we see snapshots of modern urban life including the savage knife murder of a prostitute, committed (or so it would seem) by executive Marco. Outside the city, Marco runs a sprawling, cutting-edge chicken farm with his wife, Anna, while pretty young Gabrielle tends to their secretarial needs. Their moneyed existence produces all forms of monstrosities including a plan to bump off Anna between the adulterous Marco and Gabrielle, professional paranoia thanks to the suspicious activity of the plant’s advertising head, debauched dinner parties, and an automated factory nightmare that results in pulsating, David Lynchian chickens without heads or wings. Soon all the deceptions and murderous plotting come to a head, though not quite in the way you'd expect.

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

What it's about: A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long dead strangler.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A pseudo-documentary edited from the home movies of serial killers Wayne & Andrea Montgomery, presenting a look into their quiet, suburban lives...as well as the graphic & disturbing details of their horrific crimes.

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

What it's about: A sprawling, psychedelic ensemble piece that follows several serial killers over the course of a single night.

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

What it's about: Lee Hyun-min, who works reconstructing faces from skull, quits his work in a institute to stay with his Beta-allergic daughter Jin that was submitted to a transplant of heart by the specialist Dr. Yoon. The newcomer researcher to the institute Jung Sun-young comes to his house bringing the skull of a victim of a serial-killer that had her whole body melted down with acid by the murderer. Hyun-min refuses the assignment, but he is haunted by the ghost of the victim and scared he decides to reconstruct the face of the woman. When Jin has trouble with the transplanted heart, Hyun-min requests the donor case history to Dr. Yoon, but the doctor refuses to give the information, claiming confidentiality issue. Dr. Yoon becomes the prime suspect of Detective Suh, who is in charge of the investigation of the murder cases, and he discloses the identity of the victim based on the reconstructed face...

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A police officer makes a terrible discovery during the investigation of a series of murders: Each victim has a transplanted organ from the same man.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).