Editorials
5 Favorite Serial Killer Films of ‘Found’ Director Scott Schirmer!
“It’s always tricky when you try to categorize movies by genre or theme,” Found writer-director Scott Schirmer tells us (more about his movie at the bottom). “What is a ‘serial killer movie,’ really? Are we limited to just true-life stories of actual killers? Do we want to include supernatural killers? And where is the fine line between ‘serial killer’ movie and crime drama?
“With all this in mind, and considering my first feature film involves a serial killer, here are five of my favorite ‘serial killer’ movies!“
Deranged (1974)
This movie may never get out from under the shadow of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (my favorite movie of all), which came out the same year and was also inspired by the horrific Ed Gein. And it’s too bad, because this is a terrific little flick. Like TCM, it is very low-budget and raw, which gives both films a verite feeling of authenticity. Deranged is more a character study than TCM, with Robert Blossoms delivering a wonderfully creepy performance as the Gein-like Ezra Cobb. The soundtrack is also very effective, a non-melodic mix of spooky sound design and moody underscore. The only element I didn’t care for was the inclusion of a reporter who pops up from time to time to narrate, poking holes in the movie’s otherwise enveloping sense of doom. I particularly enjoyed the plight of Mary, once she was captured in Ezra’s home, as well as the finale (great use of freeze-frame/slow-motion).
Cruising (1980)
Al Pacino plays a New York police detective who poses as a gay man to root out a serial killer preying on the patrons of local leather bars. Director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) stirred controversy for his over-the-top depiction of the leather subculture. But socio-political context aside, Cruising is so strange, I have to like it. The killer’s identity is never revealed — you catch a hand here, a boot there, a face in the shadows, a voice that becomes familiar. There are definitely shades of Hitchcock and Argento in the way the kill scenes are staged and in the tightly controlled color scheme. The entire film is looped (lip-synced), which further lends to the feeling of an Italian giallo. I also dug the synthesized score by Jack Nitzsche. Intriguing suggestibility arises from quiet moments with Pacino’s character and increasingly strange interactions with his wife (Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s Karen Allen). You can infer several possibilities — is something awakening in Pacino’s character as a result of his underground experience? Is he gay? Is he the killer? The film’s open-endedness is one of its best qualities.
The Hitcher (1986)
A teenager (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitcher (Rutger Hauer) in the middle of a rainy night and barely escapes to tell the tale. And that’s just the beginning, because Hauer’s character is relentless, pursuing the boy on the open road, framing him for murder, and forcing him to bear witness to one piece of carnage after another. Hauer is at his psychopathic best here — calm, cool, and methodical. The tension mounts exquisitely. Director Robert Harmon keeps you ill at ease for the entire duration of the film, breaking with convention enough to let you know nothing is sacred and anything goes. It’s a beautifully directed film with unusually high production values for a horror/thriller. Great cinematography by John Seale and a terrifically moody score by Mark Isham.
Manhunter (1986)
While I would say I love The Silence of the Lambs a bit more, this earlier Thomas Harris adaptation feels like a more ‘pure’ serial killer flick. Tom Noonan is unforgettable as the ‘The Tooth Fairy’ and the supporting cast features a couple of my favorite actors – Joan Allen and Brian Cox (as Hannibal Lecter). It’s also fun to watch a svelte, pre CSI William Petersen in the leading role. And where Jonathan Demme would go onto give Lambs a dank, dark, grungy feel, director Michael Mann almost takes the opposite approach with Manhunter. It’s crisp, colorful, sometimes downright romantic – and I dig that. This movie was remade as Red Dragon in 2002 (reclaiming the title of Harris’ book), and while that’s a decent version in its own right, I much prefer this one.
Se7en (1995)
Director David Fincher rebounded from Alien 3 with this seemingly innocuous serial killer flick penned by Andrew Kevin Walker. We’d seen buddy cop flicks and killers with gitchy modus operandis before, but characterization and style put Se7en over the edge. It’s a deeply creepy and unsettling movie centering around a seasoned detective (Morgan Freeman) and a rookie (Brad Pitt) who are paired in pursuit of a mysterious killer who’s patterning his murders after the seven deadly sins. Talk about your horror set-pieces. The scene where the detectives discover ‘Sloth’ contains one of the most memorable shocks I’ve ever experienced at the movies, and the way in which ‘Lust’ is played out also haunts my memories. Freeman and Pitt’s performances keep the story well grounded and relatable, while composer Howard Shore washes the movie in a brooding orchestral score that reinforces the film’s constantly claustrophobic atmosphere.
XLrator Media is behind the August 15 theatrical, VOD and iTunes release of Found, a coming-of-age slasher about a fifth grader (Gavin Brown) grappling with the secret knowledge that his beloved older bro (Ethan Philbeck) is a serial killer.
“Marty is the ideal fifth grader. He gets good grades, listens to his teachers, and doesn’t start trouble in class. But a darkness is beginning to fall over Marty’s life. The kids at school won’t stop picking on him, his parents just don’t seem to understand him, and now Marty must grapple with a terrible secret that threatens to destroy life as he knows it — his big brother is a serial killer! Brotherly love is put to the ultimate test in this emotional coming-of-age story that descends into unspeakable horror.“
“Elevated Horror.” Of all the combinations in the English language, that one is the most insufferable.
It represents almost a decade of scary movies that, for the most part, took themselves too seriously. Horror responds to the moment, so its “why so serious” lean makes sense as we scuttle through the “worst of times” equation of Charles Dickens’ famous opening lines. But there’s still an opening and a need for a lighter approach; one that not only has fun with its audience but takes the piss out of a genre that is seemingly letting its newfound “respectability” go to its head.
Wes Craven believed devotees see horror films to let out their fears one primal scream at a time. At their core, these movies are roller coasters; they bring us as close to the edge as possible before pulling us back into a safety net of reality. The need for a bigger and badder coaster increases during times when the size of that net decreases.
There’s a thrill that comes from imagining being in a foot race with a madman, or outthinking the hordes of zombies on the other side of the door, plus the scavenger humans coming behind them. There’s even a rush that comes from imagining how one might deal with possession to see good triumph over evil in the end. It’s all about building tension and releasing it through catharsis. That cathartic release usually sounds like screams followed by laughter, which signals relief. Genre heavy hitters over the past 10 years offered very little of that respite when the credits rolled. Films like Hereditary, The Witch, Talk to Me, and even Smile (pick one) keep that tension going after the screen fades to black.
Hereditary
As the genre became obsessed with creating trauma metaphors, that lack of release made sense. Anyone with even a small sample size of traumatic experiences knows those emotions don’t magically resolve themselves in an allotted run time. But how much trauma can one take? Especially when there’s a mess going on outside that few of us can escape from. Movies offer that off-ramp, no matter how short.
Everything can’t be, nor should it be, “elevated.” Audiences need thoughtful explorations of life’s ills via monsters as much as they need murdering masked maniacs with kitchen knives. And no, it doesn’t have to go any deeper than that. Sometimes, a knife is just a knife, and it’s still worth our time and respect. As weird as it sounds, that simplicity is comforting not in spite of the trauma but because of it.
The worst of times should manifest more than just anguish. People need to laugh just as much as they need to think seriously about this moment in time. Even the Scream franchise forgot the meta rock upon which it built its church when the latest foray sacrificed the subtle comedy for serious drama. Scary Movie returned at the perfect moment. It provides the necessary laughs, but it’s not a cure-all.
This isn’t a call for Scary Movie imitators but a return to a mainstream landscape where Killer Klowns from Outer Space sat with The Serpent and the Rainbow, nestled neatly with the latest Nightmare on Elm Street, which took nothing away from The Vanishing.
They Live
Even They Live, John Carpenter’s horror sci-fi satire sandwich, kept its tongue firmly in cheek while discussing serious ideas still relevant in 2026. Yes, a film about aliens taking over the world through subliminal messaging only visible through coded sunglasses is, in fact, a tad silly. Carpenter understood that mainstream horror can’t become so self-important that it never looks itself in the mirror and laughs at that inherent silliness.
The thing is, horror historically excels at poking fun at itself. Most of the Scream franchise, The Cabin in the Woods, or The Blackening show adoration without kowtowing. They recognize tropes and trappings but invert them for an audience already in on the joke, but one that also finds solace in said conventions. This keeps the genre on its toes; once something gets parodied, it’s usually time to evolve. That breeds new ideas and fresh filmmakers, which not only strengthen the genre’s collective voice but also amplify it.
Get Out, as “elevated” as some critics want us to believe it is, is a cathartic, populist scary movie that spoke to an untapped audience rather than speaking down to them. Backrooms is one of the biggest horror hits in years, partially because it’s fine-tuned for modern-day teenagers instead of their parents. Movies like these tell everyone the genre is open for business; open for innovation and, yeah, open for new ways in which people can lovingly poke fun at with a wink and a nudge.
Horror needs dread as much as it needs laughter.
Catharsis is just as important as tension, and pulpy populism has the same merit as more high-brow material. Respectability shouldn’t come at the expense of an experience akin to walking through a haunted house. At a time when joy seems in short supply, horror should look to its past to map out its future, and make things just a tad brighter for audiences.
Backrooms
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