The Vampire as Serial Killer

2011 ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Anne Billson
Keyword(s):  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
The Press ◽  
Buffalo Bill ◽  
Serial Murderers

This chapter introduces the term 'serial killer', which refers to someone who murders people one at a time and was reportedly coined by FBI Special Agent Robert Ressler in the 1970s. It recounts how the term 'serial killer' came into vogue around the time of the release of The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which featured the hunt for a serial killer called Buffalo Bill. It also reviews a number of serial murderers that have been called 'vampires' by the press, such as Peter Kürten who was charged with nine murders and was dubbed 'The Vampire of Düsseldorf '. The chapter discusses movie vampires, who tend to leave trails of drained corpses behind them, which qualify them as serial killers. It refers to Martin's youth in the film Martin, which marks him out as a missing link between Dracula and teen-orientated vampire movies, which would exploit the vampire's bad-boy appeal for younger audiences.

Almost famous: Peter Woodcock, media framing, and obscurity in the cultural construction of a serial killer

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-394
Author(s):  
Sean Hier
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Cultural Construction ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Criminological Research ◽  
Serial Murderers ◽  
Cultural Constructions ◽  
Social Circumstance

This article contributes to criminological research on cultural constructions of serial murderers by investigating the little-known Canadian case of Peter Woodcock. There is a tacit scholarly consensus that news media routinely sensationalize modern serial killers as celebrity monsters. The case of Woodcock aligns with a different theoretical trajectory geared toward explaining the relative obscurity of otherwise “made for primetime” serial murder events. Examining coverage in the local and national press, the article builds on the sparse literature concerned with absences in conventional explanations for how news media participate in the cultural construction of serial murderers. It does so by gleaning insights into the ways in which Woodcock was simultaneously framed as a sadistic sex maniac responsible for killing three young children in the 1950s and a victim of social circumstance owing to his troubled upbringing. Although Woodcock killed before the rise of the serial killer claims-making industry in the 1980s, the article concludes by reflecting on the curious absence of a retroactively reconstructed modern melodramatic storyline in light of the surreal characteristics of the investigation leading up to his arrest and the circumstances that enabled him to gruesomely kill again in 1991.

Representation of the Serial Killer on the Italian Internet

2001 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Villano ◽  
Paola Bastianoni ◽  
Giannino Melotti
Keyword(s):  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Italian Language ◽  
Psychological Profiles

The representation of serial killers was examined from the analysis of 317 Web pages in the Italian language to study how the psychological profiles of serial killers are described on the Italian Internet. The correspondence analysis of the content of these Web pages shows that in Italy the serial killer is associated with words such as “monster” and “horror,” which suggest and imply psychological perversion and aberrant acts. These traits are peculiar for the Italian scenario.

scholarly journals Os sentidos midiáticos da ordem e da monstruosidade em Dexter

E-Compós ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Ramos Brasiliense
Keyword(s):  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers

Neste artigo, abordamos a série televisiva Dexter, produzida desde 2006 pela empresa americana Show Time, para refletirmos sobre a construção do personagem principal, a partir da produção de sentidos estigmatizados em torno dos conceitos de ordem e monstruosidade que permeiam os ideais do senso comum. Na série, atualmente em sua quarta temporada, Dexter Morgan é um herói diferente, repleto de ambigüidades e contradições, atuando como um serial killer que mata serial killers. A partir desta abordagem inusitada no que tange aos programas do gênero, nos interessa pensar a relação entre a construção dessa personagem, os valores classificatórios acerca do bem e do mal partilhados pelo senso comum e as formas de representação que eles assumem no universo da cultura midiática contemporânea.

scholarly journals Women Serial Killers in a Climate of Changing Gender Norms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Benkart
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Regression ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Florida Gulf Coast ◽  
Time Period ◽  
American Society ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
The Waves

Existing research suggests that patterns of both men and women serial killers are hyper-gendered. In American society, however, gender norms for women have dramatically changed over time. This study proposes that the patterns of women serial killers reflect the femininity ideals of the time period in which they operated in. The shifts in gender norms are operationalized by three time periods representative of the waves of feminism. The Radford/Florida Gulf Coast University’s serial killer database is used to establish a sample of 1,321 serial killers. Using multivariate regression analyses and controlling for age of last kill, which could potentially alter the kill method but be unrelated to gender, women serial killers do appear to be impacted by the femininity ideals of their time period but not as clearly as initially anticipated. Men serial killers were also found to be affected by changes in femininity ideals. Both women and men serial killers had more feminine kill patterns during the first wave of feminism, but men serial killers had a very violent, hyper-masculine peak during the second wave of feminism that women serial killers did not have.

Criminology and the legacies of Clarice Starling

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Serial Murder ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
Offender Profiling ◽  
American Popular Culture ◽  
Police Investigations ◽  
Student Interests ◽  
Popular Novel ◽  
The Mind

This chapter explores the enduring myths about the phenomenon of serial murder generally and serial killers in particular, in Britain between 1960 to the present. The Chapter argues that many of these myths have been created and continue to be perpetuated by the print and broadcast media. It is suggested that this process was ignited by American popular culture about serial murder, to the extent that many British students engaged on university courses do so because they want to emulate the heroine of the popular novel The Silence of the Lambs and become the fictional character, Clarice Starling. This observation is used to explore other myths about offender profiling, the role of the profiler in police investigations and the idea that this involves entering the mind of the serial killer by the profiler. Based on his own applied work with serial murderers and on police investigations and after their conviction, the chapter reveals the realities of the phenomenon of serial murder, serial killers and the limits of offender profiling. The chapter uses a number of situations encountered during police investigations and with serial killers to illustrate its arguments. It concludes that we need to harness, rather than dismiss, student interests in this territory in more productive ways. It adopts a structural/victim perspective about serial murder, as opposed to a relentless focus on what might motivate the serial killer to kill. The chapter suggests how this might be done both within the academy and, more broadly in public policy.

Serial Killers

2014 ◽  
pp. 115-136
Author(s):  
Paul Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Main Thrust ◽  
Crime Film ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Serial Killing ◽  
Jack The Ripper

This chapter assesses the British serial killer cinema. British cinema has been noticeably reticent about depicting its serial killers. Aside from Jack the Ripper, who has appeared in many films since the 1920s, British killers are not nearly as ubiquitous as their Hollywood counterparts and where they are depicted they are often allied more to realism than horror. Like all areas of the crime film, British serial-killer cinema is inextricably linked to Hollywood; however, it also strives to distance itself, drawing on quintessentially British histories, images, and texts. The chapter looks at three films where serial killing is the main thrust of the narrative: Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger (1927), Richard Fleischer's 10 Rillington Place (1971), and John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986).

Making Horror Respectable

2013 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Barry Forshaw
Keyword(s):  
Serial Killer ◽  
Horror Film ◽  
Similar Function ◽  
Film Genre ◽  
Academy Awards ◽  
Buffalo Bill ◽  
Film Making

This chapter assesses how Jonathan Demme's adaptation brought about a seismic change in the horror film genre of the 1990s; it performed a similar function for the crime narrative. The acclaim that the film enjoyed, both critically and commercially, was unprecedented. Particularly noteworthy was the recognition from the staid, conservative members of AMPASS, the industry body whose membership is responsible for bestowing the Academy Awards. It would be easy to say that these wins were exclusively due to the exemplary film-making on display in the film, but not quite accurate — such an impressive use of the medium as was evident would not alone have seduced the conservative Academy members, given the disreputable nature of the horror medium. One factor dictating this sea change in terms of Oscar recognition was the contribution of the actor Anthony Hopkins. Ultimately, what elevates The Silence of the Lambs above its cinematic predecessor is the balancing of the two principal (interlocking) plots: the pursuit and capture of the serial killer Buffalo Bill, and the growing uneasy relationship between the monk-like Hannibal Lecter and his novice ‘pupil’ Clarice Starling.

Test

2021 ◽  
pp. 132-142
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Personal Consequences ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact

This final chapter explores yet further examples of how the principles of testing can be applied within the social sciences. As with the previous chapters, the authors begin by asking students to Google questions and then use the results Google provides to ask more sophisticated questions about the impact and personal consequences of the question. They begin by asking a question about how serial killer, Harold Shipman, was able to escape suspicion for as long as he did. They then take up a question about the common traits of serial killers, paying attention to the effects of the traits and how these traits may have personal connections to students. They conclude the chapter with a section about how we might make the decision to eat a third candy bar.

The Preference for Strangulation in a Sexually Motivated Serial Killer

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 781-796
Author(s):  
Mark Pettigrew
Keyword(s):  
Important Determinant ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers

The existing literature on the killing method of choice for sexually motivated serial killers suggests strangulation as the preferable means of homicide, when the victim is female. When homicide victims are male, however, existing research suggests that firearms and blades are preferable methods of causing death. A case is presented here of a sexually motivated male serial killer who exclusively targeted males and who chose strangulation as his means of killing. Analysis suggests that not only is the psychological constitution of the killer an important factor in understanding how they kill victims but, also, the nature of the sexual act is an important determinant in the method of killing in male on male sexually motivated killing.

A Psychological Profile of a Serial Killer: A Case Report

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Dogra ◽  
Antoon A. Leenaars ◽  
R. K. Chadha ◽  
Mehta Manju ◽  
Sanjeev Lalwani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Report ◽  
Forensic Medicine ◽  
The United States ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
India Institute ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Psychological Profile ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
The Mind

Serial killers have always fascinated society. A serial killer is typically defined as a perpetrator who murders three or more people over a period of time. Most reported cases of serial killers come from the United States and Canada. In India, there are few reported cases. We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first Indian case in the literature. The present case is of a 28-year-old man, Surinder Koli. The Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delphi handled the forensic study. We present a most unique psychological investigation into the mind of a serial killer.

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