The Best Serial Killer Movies on Free Services

What it's about: Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (fuboTV) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 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: 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: The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 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: 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 (PlutoTV & 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: An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes America's 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 $0.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

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: 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: 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 & Plex), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 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 (Kanopy & Monsters Nightmares) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Following the death of his mother, J finds himself living with his estranged family, under the watchful eye of his doting grandmother, Smurf, mother to the Cody boys. J quickly comes to believe that he is a player in this world. But, as he soon discovers, this world is far larger and more menacing than he could ever imagine. J finds himself at the center of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns the family upside down.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

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

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, PlutoTV & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Tribeca Short List) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A psychological thriller about a man who is sometimes controlled by his murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego.

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

What it's about: Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But when teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911, Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save her, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.

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

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: 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: 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 popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Plex) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 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 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 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 & Plex), stream on a subscription service (Tribeca Short List) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 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, Plex, Vudu & 2 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Microsoft).

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: 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: Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled - he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn't come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects.

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: 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 & 1 other), 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: 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: 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: 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: Forensic psychologist Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.

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

What it's about: When a teacher kidnaps a girl from a prestigious school, homicide detective, Alex Cross takes the case and teams up with young security agent, Jezzie Flannigan in hope of finding the girl and stopping the brutal psychopath.

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

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), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

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 & Tribeca Short List) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

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, 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, Vudu & 2 others).

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), stream on a subscription service (Tribeca Short List) & rent or buy from $2.99 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 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, Hoopla & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

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: 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).

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

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 4 others), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Microsoft).

What it's about: Set in Stalin-era Soviet Union, a disgraced MGB agent is dispatched to investigate a series of child murders -- a case that begins to connect with the very top of party leadership.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: One rainy night in an arms factory near Shanghai, a young female worker accused of stealing a box of bullets from the ruthless Boss Ding (Liu Kai Chi) is violently killed in a game of Russian roulette. Half a month later, a series of inexplicable deaths takes place in the factory, where the victims are shot but no bullets are found. Rumors of a deadly curse begin to spread in the factory, terrorizing the workers there. So, eccentric police inspector Song Donglu (Lau Ching Wan) and his hot-blooded, gunslinging partner Guo Zhui (Nicholas Tse) are sent in to investigate the mystery of the phantom bullets...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & YouTube).

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, Hoopla & 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: When a group of tourists on a New Orleans haunted swamp tour find themselves stranded in the wilderness, their evening of fun and spooks turns into a horrific nightmare.

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