When I think about my favourite movie psychopaths, my mind, like many, jumps instantly to the likes of Hannibal Lecter. Or Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Or Kevin Khatchadourian in We Need To Talk About Kevin. Tom Noonan’s portrayal of Francis Dolarhyde in Manhunter still haunts me. If you think of real-life serial killers, you can very quickly rattle off a few names like Manson and Bundy and Dahmer and Gacy…
Feels like a bit of a boys club, doesn’t it? It seems like we are missing out on the most dangerous of all. The ones who fly under the radar. The ones who, instead of throwing punches, throw shade. The wicked women.
Marla Singer – Fight Club
She’s not technically a killer as we never see her take anyone’s life. There are theories out there that suggest she may not be real, that she is another form of Tyler Durden. I’m not sure I buy this but, either way, there is something psychopathic about a woman attending a support group for testicular cancer…
In the pillow talk scene, Marla says to Tyler, ‘I haven’t been f***ed like that since grade school.’ A great line. But in the original book version she tells him, ‘I want to have your abortions’, which I think sums up the state of her mind perfectly.
Annie Wilkes – Misery
She’s a fan. Kind and helpful and wholesome. And she loves books. People who read lots of books are alright, aren’t they? There is such a quiet malevolence to Kathy Bates’s portrayal of this literary superfan that I still double-take every time a notification pops up in my social media direct messages.
When Patrick Bateman traces the path of the prostitute down the stairs with a chainsaw he eventually drops onto her, he revels in the kill. It’s the exact opposite reaction Annie Wilkes has when she hobbles her favourite author with a block of wood and a sledge hammer to the feet. It’s his fault for trying to get out of bed, she was only trying to help him. Chilling.
Aileen Wournos – Monster
Yes, this film is based on real-life female serial murderer, Aileen Wournos. Even Lecter, it was eventually told, was based on real life killer surgeon, Alfredo Balli Trevino, so she makes this list.
Wournos is not like the other wicked women. She is not subtle. A victim of abuse herself, she is thrown to fits of rage that cannot be controlled. All aimed at men. It’s refreshing but also striking because you know that it really happened.
It’s known that many serial killers eventually want to be caught – it’s the only way they can stop. But Wournos stopped for love. She didn’t want her former girlfriend and love of her life to go to prison for knowing about the murders and struck a deal to keep her out of trouble. It makes her seem human, which makes her crimes worse. Because she wasn’t a monster.
Alex Forrest – Fatal Attraction
This spawned the term bunny boiler to refer to any woman showing an ounce of jealousy or hysteria. Alex Forrest doesn’t kill anyone, either, but she is the perfect example how a woman inflicts damage quietly. Stalking and persistent and with nuance.
The film struck fear into men who contemplated cheating on their partner, which is exactly the brilliance of the female psychopath. There’s a finality to death but torment endures.
The original ending to the film saw Alex frame the lover who spurned her before brutally taking a knife to her own throat. Sure, in the final cut there’s that ‘jump’ moment in the bath before Alex is shot but, I feel, the catharsis of the audience superseded the authenticity of the psychopath and the film is worse for it.
Hedra Carlson – Single White Female
I couldn’t leave this out. I wanted something where the woman’s psychopathy was directed towards another woman because it’s so often aimed towards an unfaithful man. There’s a feeling of disquiet throughout. The audience knows a little more than Hedra’s obsession but it all changes in that moment where she has bleached her hair and styled herself to look exactly the same as the woman she adores. Creepy brilliance.
