Netflix made some massive waves in 2022’s streaming entertainment pool with the release of its true-crime series Monster, which saw Evan Peters star as Jeffrey Dahmer in a creepy but curious performance of the notorious serial killer’s life from shy adolescent to killer and cannibal. Season two then focused on the Erik and Lyle Menendez, and the highly anticipated season three, which drops on October 3, will focus on the Butcher of Plainfield, Ed Gein. While its focus is intriguing enough, the main draw of Monster: The Ed Gein Story is Charlie Hunnam, of Sons of Anarchy fame, who’s taking on a whole new process in tackling this role.

Gein was known for robbing the graves of middle-aged women who resembled his dead mother, fashioning their remains into macabre keepsakes, like furniture and bowls. He even created masks and a “woman suit” from human skin, which he sometimes wore. Gein had a profound impact not just on the criminal psychology field but also on popular culture as the impetus for the hit films Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.

So, while you await the arrival of Netflix’s next true-crime hit, here are nine other creepy serial-killer shows and documentaries to get you in the mood for Monster season three—after, of course, you’ve binged seasons one and two, DAHMER and The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

9

The Serial Killer’s Apprentice (2025)

The Serial Killer’s Apprentice documents the one thing driving the criminal psychology field: the ways in which a serial killer can be created.

Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. was only 14 when he first met and became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll, infamously known as The Candyman Killer because his family owned a candy factory, and he used that reputation to lure young boys. Corll killed at least 28 young men with an accomplice that he, himself, manipulated and groomed. According to the documentary, Henley, Jr. is the first known serial-killer groomee to have murdered his own groomer.

Here, Henley, Jr. gives his first interview in over 50 years as the film explores the Houston Mass Murders of the 1970s, as well as Corll’s death and exposure. It also unravels Henley, Jr.’s chilling journey from manipulated, innocent teen to convicted killer and examines the terrifying truth behind the line between victim and predator. It’ll make you shiver.

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Listen to Elmer Wayne’s horrific story from the man himself in his first interview in over 50 years.

8

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)

I’m pretty sure everyone who has seen The Jinx has had the same reaction: shock and profanity. It is the most entertaining, fascinating serial killer documentary simply because we’re watching a serial killer in denial unravel in real time, without so much as an inkling of what he’s even doing. In attaching to ego, this killer fully jinxed himself.

The Jinx: The Life and Death of Robert Durst dives into the strange history of real estate heir Robert Durst, who was long suspected in the still-unsolved 1982 disappearance of his wife, as well as the subsequent murders of family friend Susan Berman and neighbor Morris Black. It features a decade of research by the filmmakers, who, in addition to unexpectedly capturing Durst’s confession on tape, expose police files, never-before-seen footage, private prison recordings, key witnesses, and thousands of pages of formerly hidden documents.

The Jinx is a jaw-dropping must-see, and not just because director Andrew Jarecki made history by capturing on tape just a few years later the confession of the very man he made a movie about in 2010. It’s a must-see because of Durst himself. The reality he has constructed is utterly dumbfounding.

7

The Confession Killer (2019)

For this writer here, The Confession Killer hits close to home as the perfect example of the effects of America’s exploding fascination with serial killers in the mid-1980s.

Back then, Henry Lee Lucas was known as America’s most prolific serial killer, having claimed and confessed to murdering about 600 people. While there was no direct evidence linking him to the crime scenes, he convinced authorities of his involvement by sketching victims’ portraits and citing brutal details of each attack. However, the legitimacy of his claims started falling apart, sending the media into a feeding frenzy. The Confession Killer is a shocking, compelling look at a complex figure entangled in a very flawed justice system.

This hits close to home for me because Lucas claimed to have murdered my brother-in-law’s father in the late 1970s, after serial killer Robert Lee Willie—the inspiration behind Sean Penn’s character in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking—confessed, then later recanted, in open court to killing the police sergeant. While Willie is still suspected of the murder, Lucas’s claim definitely threw a monkey wrench into countless families’ hunt for justice.

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Go inside the twisted case of Henry Lee Lucas, who confessed to nearly 600 murders.

6

Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein (2023)

Ed Gein is way overlooked when it comes to serial-killer history. He’s one of the most interesting early psychological cases, in addition to serving as the perfect example of a mother-son bond gone horrifyingly wrong.

Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein is a four-part docuseries that delves into the haunting origins and world of Ed Gein, whose crimes inspired some of the most iconic horror films in cinematic history. It features interviews with the killer wherein he reveals a disturbing family saga that includes a bizarre relationship with his mother. You’ll also venture into his gruesome house of horrors and inspect his macabre craftsmanship while being granted unprecedented insight into the depth of his depravity via shocking revelations.

Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein

Episodes: 4, Overall Runtime: ~ 3 hours

Release Date

2023 – 2023

Directors

James Buddy Day

5

Mindhunter (2017 – 2019)

Catching a criminal often requires the authorities to get inside the villain’s mind to figure out the psychology behind their actions, and that’s exactly what Mindhunter does as a hit crime drama series.

Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff star as FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench, who attempt to understand and catch serial killers by studying their damaged psyches to see what makes them tick. Along the way, they pioneer the development of modern serial-killer profiling. Mindhunter is one of Netflix’s best productions, with Oscar-nominated director David Fincher behind the camera.

Some notorious serial killers depicted in the series are Dennis Rader, the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) Killer; Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler; Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr., and Edmund Kemper, who murdered his parents at 15 and went on to murder seven women and one girl between May 1972 and April 1973. Actor Cameron Britton gives an incredibly convincing performance as a most nonchalant, charming, brutally terrifying psychopath that you must see to believe.

4

Memories of a Murderer: the Nilsen Tapes (2021)

From the executive producer of Don’t **** With Cats comes this unsettling documentary about a serial murderer who shocked a nation and became the most infamous serial killer in UK history.

On February 9, 1983, police were called to a North London address, where they discovered drains clogged with—brace yourselves—rotting flesh and bones. When suspected culprit Dennis Nilsen returned from work, he freely admitted it wasn’t just one or two bodies, but “15 or 16, I think.”

In Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes, serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell. Actor David Tennant gives a chilling, narcissistic portrayal of Nilsen in the true-crime drama series Des.

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Dive into the story of the UK’s most infamous serial killer, Dennis Nilsen.

3

Dr. Death (2021)

Based on the podcast of the same name, which I strongly encourage you listen to, Dr. Death follows the real-life stories of medical “professionals” who took advantage of their status, power, and situations, allowing their inflated egos to harm and even kill a multitude of patients.

Season one is about former doctor Christopher Duntsch, played by Joshua Jackson, a Texas neurosurgeon whose gross medical malpractice led to severe, life-altering injuries for 31 patients and death for two. What’s even more horrifying is that the medical board had received complaints about Duntsch and did nothing until other doctors got involved to stop him and bring him to justice.

Season two covers the story of disgraced former surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, played by Edgar Ramirez. Macchiarini was a charismatic but fraudulent surgeon who knowingly performed dangerous experimental surgeries on patients, ultimately becoming known as the “miracle man.” The season’s narrative is split between the medical community’s growing suspicions about his work and his romantic relationship with investigative journalist Benita Alexander, played by Mandy Moore.

2

Conversations With a Killer (2019 – 2025)

While Conversations With a Killer is not an anthology series but rather stands alone in focusing on four different serial killers in four different installments, I’m combining them here for the sake of space. To date, the installments are The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019), The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes (2022), The John Wayne Gacy Tapes (2022), and The Son of Sam Tapes (2025).

Bundy was one of America’s most notorious serial killers, using his charm and good looks to kill more than 30 women before being caught in 1978. Dahmer, well, you know about him. Gacy—the mercurial fictional cousin to Stephen King’s Pennywise—was a part-time clown whose smiling exterior hid his status as a sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978, and the “Son of Sam” serial killer is David Berkowitz, who terrorized New York with a .44 caliber revolver from 1976 to 1977, killing six people and wounding seven others in a series of random attacks.

Conversations With a Killer blows open each case and explores the different mindsets of these killers, combining never-before-heard audio tapes of interviews with each killer, with analyses of their psyches, pasts, motives, tactics, and more. Just be sure to watch some funny sitcoms before hitting the sack!

1

BTK: Confession of a Serial Killer (2022)

BTK: Confession of a Serial Killer tracks the horrific crimes and attempts to explore the complex psyche of Dennis Rader.

Infamously known as the BTK Killer—i.e., Bind, Torture, Kill, Rader is responsible for a series of murders in Wichita, Kansas, over a span of 17 years. He evaded capture for over 30 years, despite his taunting letters to the media and to law enforcement. He was a family man who worked in various jobs—including security—and he was active in his church and community.

BTK provides unprecedented access to Rader, who is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences, as he talks about his transformation from American boy to American monster. You’ll hear intimate details of the killer’s past and gruesome murders while also gaining insight as to how criminologists and law enforcement can better identify and potentially deter extreme violent offenders in the future.

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BTK provides unprecedented access to Dennis Rader, who transformed from American boy to American monster and evaded capture for 30 years.

Of course, the most important thing you should be watching in the coming weeks is the Monster serial-killer series. Its fourth season will focus on Lizzie Borden. If you’re craving more true-crime documentaries and series, I recommend The Act and Candy on Hulu; Netflix Originals The Staircase, Chaos: The Manson Murders, and This is the Zodiac Speaking; and No One Saw a Thing on AMC+ and Prime Video. Welcome to Fall, y’all.