![]() ![]() McCarty, whose "Movie Psychos and Madmen: The Definitive Book of Film Psychopaths From Jekyll and Hyde to Hannibal Lecter" will be published next year, also points to the "crazed killer, dead teen-ager" movies of the 1980's. "The splatter movies helped," says the author John McCarty, referring to gore films of the 1970's like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Mr. One production executive says he has listened to so many pitches for proposed serial killer films "that I'm beginning to feel like a victim." Among them was a parody that promised more jokes than "Naked Gun 2 1/2." It's a natural human tendency to want to see what those indulgences were. "Everyone leads a secret life of some kind," says Dennis McDougal, whose book "Angel of Darkness" profiled Mr. The idea that quiet neighbors might resemble Randy Steven Kraft, a computer operator who allegedly killed 67 people, seems to titillate the public. What makes these new villains so frightening is that they really exist, and they could live next door. "In the contemporary world, where the old myths have been played out, you have to look for new villains." "The reality of a Jeffrey Dahmer or a John Wayne Gacy is far worse than Dracula," says Mr. Reports of serial killings crop up regularly in the newspapers. The trend is indelibly linked to the headlines. Another current release, "Jennifer Eight," revolves around a detective, played by Andy Garcia, on the trail of a serial killer. The story is based on the case of Richard Trenton Chase of Sacramento, Calif., known as "the vampire killer." "Traces of Red" deals with a killer preying on prostitutes and cocktail waitresses. Another Halloween release, "Rampage," written and directed by William Friedkin ("The Exorcist"), follows a murderer through his blood-drenched crimes and the quagmire of the legal system. In "Candyman," released in October, the villain is a mythical killer with a hook where his right hand used to be. Serial killers are the subjects of four new features. And after the success of "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Basic Instinct" - two recent films that cashed in on serial murder plots - a big-screen onslaught is on the way. They seem to be everywhere - books, comic strips, television, even trading cards. ![]() No matter that experts on such matters maintain that the average American stands a better chance of being hit by lightning than by a serial killer. Meet the serial killer - popular culture's villain of the 1990's. Their relentless horror is real, and without apparent motive. Monsters of the New Age, they are immune to deterrents like garlic, wolfbane, crucifixes, silver bullets and sharpened stakes. ![]() THEY EMERGED FROM the shadows to tap into our deepest fears and nightmares. ![]()
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