Killer Instinct: Ten Psychotics With Style

Idea by Matt Keeley
With Contributions By . . .

Everyone knows that psychos in movies are good at one thing: killing. But honestly, that’s unfair. So many of these “homicidal maniacs” as some might call them have other interests. After all, are YOU just one thing? It’s time we set the record straight and give credit where it’s due, so here’s Popshifter‘s list of top multi-faceted murderers in alphabetical order because we don’t want to play favorites and take chances incurring their wrath!

Screencap from 99km

1. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)

Patrick Bateman is rigorous in his skin care and exercise regimes. He’s absolutely anal retentive about people using coasters on his coffee table or desk, has a closet packed with suits by top name designers, eats in only the trendiest restaurants, and does his drugs in the bathroom stalls of the hippest clubs. So concerned with having the best of everything, he even killed a co-worker for not only having a more refined business card but also for his ability to make reservations at a hot restaurant. As for Bateman’s music appreciation, while preparing to murder, he gives his victims dissertations on the merits of such ’80s artists as Huey Lewis and the News, Whitney Houston, and Phil Collins.
—Noreen Sobczyk

2. Norman Bates (Psycho)

To the unknowing eye, young Master Bates is a refreshingly clean-cut and well-dressed lad, with a genially handsome face and rangy figure. He likes sandwiches and milk and nice conversations. Oh, and taxidermy. With which he has festooned his charming parlor, among other places.
—Less Lee Moore

3. Brandon and Philip (Rope)

Two homicidal dandies in a classy New York apartment? Oh, yes, do tell me more! While Jimmy Stewart gets to be the skeptical, methodical hero of the story in a stiff-looking charcoal wool three-piece suit, John Dall and Farley Granger loll around and menacingly play piano in lighter weight bespoke ensembles in chocolate brown and midnight blue with a subtle chalk stripe. Pocket squares are crisply creased, and ties matching the suits are knotted just so; of course they can handle a little rope and a very twisted dinner party! It’s questionable which of the two is more handsome, or who has the better threads, but it’s Farley Granger’s Philip, in the brown alpaca, who can’t take the heat. Oh well; maybe the two lovebirds got to room together on death row.
—Jemiah Jefferson

Screencap from Screenmusings

4. Count Dracula (Bram Stoker’s Dracula)

The best artists always put some of themselves into their aesthetic, and what more appropriate for the great Count Vlad, than a photo of himself, Oscar Wilde-style, in his dining room. Then there’s the cinnamon-buns-with-fishtail hairdo (don’t know why that never caught on); his magical, gravity-defying collection of perfume bottles; and the swingin’ sixties (that’s EIGHTEEN-sixties, mind you) boudoir full of vampire hotties. He achieved his most romantic look when he exchanged those tired old red robes for a dove grey suit, flowing curls, tinted shades, and an incredibly dapper top hat.
—Less Lee Moore

Screencap from mertonfanatic

5. Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

Poor Leatherface. People never warmed up to him due to his poor speaking skills and he always seemed to have problems at home, getting yelled at to get more meat for the family business. Sure, his leather-working wasn’t the best (the real-life inspiration for Leatherface, Ed Gein, was much more thorough, having made full suits from his victims), but Leatherface really shined when it came to furniture design. In the first film, when Pam discovers that kicky sun room. . . who among us can say that they honestly didn’t want that great human-bone loveseat? Or the bone bird-cage? Or the skull sculpture? Instead of being killed (to come back again and again), he should have nabbed a decorating show on HGTV! Letting that eye for design go to waste, now that’s a REAL tragedy.
—Matt Keeley

6. Hannibal Lecter (The Silence Of The Lambs)

Hannibal Lecter is a man who appreciates the finer things in life. He pampers his skin with a rare hand cream. He listens to classical music and once killed a member of an orchestra for hitting sour notes and ruining the performance. One might refer to him as the Emily Post of serial killers since he prefers to kill “the rude.”
—Noreen Sobczyk [Ed.—Of course, TV’s version of Hannibal Lecter is the most stylish of all. Those suits!]

7. Lady Sylvia Marsh (The Lair Of The White Worm)

Sexy, charming, and always ready to flash a toothy smile (or spit poisonous bile on your crucifix), Lady Marsh even arouses intrigue when wearing a totally white ensemble: head scarf, coat, and three-corner hat. Underneath that snowy haute couture, however, lies a dark-hearted temptress, who might just use her spiked heel, thigh high, black patent leather boots to kick you into submission.
—Less Lee Moore

8. Pazuzu (The Exorcist)

For an old timer, Pazuzu is awfully ostentatious, with that whiskey-and-cigarettes voice always demanding attention. Pazuzu is EVERYWHERE it seems, showing up at the opening of an envelope or a gateway into hell, even making poor Regan McNeil leave graffiti on her own stomach. Perhaps the Bauhaus/Kabuki makeup look is just a foil for the remarkably minimalist décor with which Chris McNeil eventually feels compelled to decorate Regan’s room: everything draped in white drop-cloths, Christo-style.
—Less Lee Moore

Screencap by a75

9. Drayton “Cook” Sawyer (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2)

Another Martha Stewart of Murder is Drayton “Cook” Sawyer of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre clan. His fashion sense may not have been as flamboyant as Leatherface, but he was no schlub in the kitchen, even winning the Texas chili cookoff with his family’s special meat. When asked his secret by a reporter at the cookoff he answers proudly, “No secret, it’s the meat. Don’t skimp on the meat. I’ve got a real good eye for prime meat. Runs in the family.”
—Noreen Sobczyk

10. Mr.Slausen and his brother Davey (Tourist Trap)

I can’t imagine why “Mr. Slausen’s Lost Oasis” isn’t more popular. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hang out with animatronic mannequins whose skin feels remarkably like real flesh? That kind of craftsmanship is a lost art. And exactly how is it that they can laugh and make their eyes move? Sure, his brother Davey seems like he might be a little off, but he’s just trying to find a nice girl that won’t be distracted by Mr. Slausen’s rugged figure. All Davey wants is a girlfriend that he can hold on to, and perhaps suffocate in wax (at least she’ll never get wrinkles).
—Less Lee Moore