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Because it would be boring to watch? Victims are normal average joe people that are not interesting.

Not as interesting as the killers for obvious reasons.

Its not very interesting since they (usually) are normal people with normal lives.

If you are referring to Dharma then a great deal of the series concentrated on some of the victims, I think they struck a really good balance considering the fact that a lot of people find serial killler stories fascinating and the overwhelming majority tuned in just for that story

The victims of Jack the Ripper would be - Liz Stride and Mary Kelly especially.

(And no, "From Hell" doesn't count, it's a work of fiction based on a theory)

Watching someone go to work, shop, eat, sleep, work, shop, eat, sleep then murdered.

Are you really asking something like that? Its an entertainment business not a justice no profit organization.

They totally should but it should follow the same rules as the serial killer movies and shows.

All the victims should have cool names like The Zodiac Killed, or Buffalo Bob.

The victims should write notes to the police taunting them about not finding out who killed them.

And there should be a movie about the FBI hunting for the first serial victim who has been killed by multiple killers across 4 states.

I'm trying to imagine what that would be like.

If there were a drama film about someone navigating a normal life,balancing their career and family responsibilities and then out of nowhere a serial killer murders them and the film ends.

Not going to lie, it would be fucking bold. I'm not sure if it works though...

Not a serial killer but IRT watching a movie about victims Prisoners was really darn interesting.

About to say that. We all know Jack the Ripper. That name alone will get bums on seats for a film or TV documentary. But now let’s say Annie Chapman the Victim. Everyone will have no clue and maybe some will google it. She was one of Leather Aprons victims the name alone will do nothing for views.

I don’t disagree but the victims are nearly always just normal people with lives no more interesting than you or me. It just wouldn’t make for an interesting movie. Maybe the minutes leading up to the attack. You would still need to do all the back story on the serial killer to flesh it out. So the film maker will most likely just use the serial killer to bring in the views.

smh at these stupid posts. the victims want to be left alone and are not a subject for your fucking entitled entertainment. stick to DOCUMENTARIES.

I’m guessing there is a couple reasons: •shock factor, regular people are boring •we want a happy ending/conclusion, if the movie was done from the victims perspective, the victim is killed and the killer still out there

The Patient (limited series) just ended on Hulu. It is as much about a victim as it is about the killer. It's also really good.

From a technical standpoint you can't construct a narrative around victims, because by virtue of the fact they're victims and the only time they're relevant to the overarching story of the serial killer is at the point they are killed.

Also, the prospect of using artistic licence by delving into their personal lives in order to pad out the narrative of the victim could result in something which is equally offensive.

But I do get the growing concern of the increasing fetishization of serial killers.

The only situation this would work in is the victim actually being someone higher profile and not a completely normal civilian like 99% of victims tend to be.

Yet when you talk about serial killer shows everyone defends themselves watching by saying things like, "It's not the excitement as much as self-preservation. And they're respectful to the victims..."

I think you hit the nail on the head: killers are exciting and consequently a form of entertainment to us. There's nothing altruistic about liking Dahmer, it's exciting is all.

Someone is living a normal everyday life. One random encounter with a murderer. Welp, show's over.

Serial killers are the most boring people on Earth; there's nothing happening inside them and nothing interests them, even killing is just a series of impotent disappointments. They are not Hannibal Lecter. Serial killers are nobodies who know that they're nobody and use murder as a vain attempt to be real for one moment.

You're just morbid.

> From a technical standpoint you can't construct a narrative around victims, because by virtue of the fact they're victims and the only time they're relevant to the overarching story of the serial killer is at the point they are killed.

This is something along the lines of how I feel about it and wanted to say. The whole reason we're talking about them at all is because their lives were taken away, yes they're complete human beings their entire lives before and should be respected as such, of course. But the killers are the reason the stories are happening and are just naturally what makes for a more interesting story.

Victims of serial killers aren't interesting people. Serial killers are interesting, because how they think and see the world is a mystery to us.

Additionally, when you watch a character that you know is a serial killer, you often feel a sense of dread because you know he's luring a victim into a situation where he can subdue them. Our mind goes to into our fears to fill in the blanks about what horrors may follow.

Nobody knows Jack the Ripper, what we know is the police investigation, the media buzz, the social effects of the notoriety, and the victims.

You're getting badgered for no reason over this question because most people accept the norm of movies interested in narrativizing violence instead of approaching it in other ways. Your question is valid imo

Did anyone see Des, with David Tennant as Denis Nilsen? Brilliant.

The interest lies how dull and self-justifying he is, there's no explicit depiction of the crimes, it's just the police investigation and to some extent, an examination of the society that produced him.

What event in the victims' lives would you watch a movie about?

Why do we make depraved random violence interesting and exciting

Serial killers, by definition, have multiple victims. Bundy had 20, Gacy had over 30, and Ridgeway had over 40. To make a movie focused solely on their victims lives wouldn't be possible in even a three hour movie. For Bundy that would be about 12 minutes per victim. A lot of people are fascinated by serial killers, mainly to try and understand what and why they did it.

Serial killers are glamorized in the media and I don't necessarily agree with that. At the same time, everything in movies is glamorized, thats what they do to sell seats. Theaters don't exactly play movies that are documentaries. There are some things to check out if you are interested in more of the victims backround. I think the Morbid podcast does a good job on giving detailed backgrounds on victims leading up to their demise.

It's a reflection of what happens in society : often, the killers are well taken care of, but the victims are rapidly treated and forgotten.

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Watch Unbelievable. Great series propelled by finding the serial rapist but at its core is about the victims. The main character is played by Kaitlyn Dever, whom no one believes. It’s devastating to see the consequences of the crime through her eyes. All the victims’ lives fall apart.

I feel how you do about real life killers, if I had my way we wouldn't even know their names or faces anymore. Fictional serial killers and fictional victims are another story, and I feel like you're blurring the line between the two here when there is a distinction.

It sounds harsh for characters that already had the worst happen to them but it just feels like outright lying to pretend the most major thing that happened to them wasn't their murder. Nothing in a victim's story is going to outweigh what their fate was, everything will then be colored by their demise, everything will seem sadder. Saving it until the end is just disingenuous and cheap really, like their entire life amounted to a gruesome twist ending.

100% - I really enjoyed the Netflix Dahmer series because it tended to be more victim oriented.

Episode 6 about Anthony Hughes was worth the cost of admission. That episode was spectacular.

Black phone is exactly this

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I take it this is a reference to the new Dahmer mini series? I went into it expecting the worst but was surprised that they covers the victims and witnesses quite a bit.

This is not directed at you but in general I think most of the people that are complaining about the series might need to watch it first before deciding to be offended by it.

Random factoid: it wasn’t mentioned in the series but apparently he used to frequent a fantastic , famous Chicago house club called Shelter back in the 90s so there’s a good change I either saw him there or even interacted with him. Yikes.

I saw that episode last night and it immediately sprang to mind when I read this post.

It's pretty common to have stories about fictional characters dealing with killers as the antagonists. (thousands of horror films, thrillers)

What isn't common is anyone making a film centering around the life of a real person who died by the hands of, say, the Green River Killer.

Fruitvale Station was a movie about a victim though. But once you make a movie about the real-life victim? The movie becomes a statement, it's not so much an investigation into the why and how of humanity.

That could work. Movie starts off with the stories of 7 people going about their business staggered a little but each one getting a couple of minutes. Daily lives kinda stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary. But in the background tv/newspapers/general talking about a serial killer on the loose. Have some of them run into each other. But 20 minutes into the movie their stories start their murder so quick 20 second clips of being kidnapped or knocked out from their perspective so never focusing on the killer. Just make it about the victim. Everyone dies. 2 endings - 1 the movie seems to start over with a new batch of people. 2 you see the final killing but never the killer and just the see their shoes walking away as the you are watching through the victims eyes as they close shut.

All movies are statements.

Well, sure, they're all on a spectrum of what they're trying to convey, but you can certainly see the difference of intent between The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie and Detroit.

not really a solution, just a glorification of the killer like the alien in ALIENS. The cast of victims serve only to create suspense and make him seem scary.

Hellraiser

Because we like bad things.

You should read From Hell.

From Hell, the graphic novel by Alan Moore is to a large extent about the victims, although Jack the Ripper is also heavily featured.

(The work is a work of fiction despite getting many historical details right, the man who is Jack the Ripper in the book is almost certainly not the real Jack the Ripper.)

It's a great book because it uses the historical case of the Ripper murders to comment on society.

There is a movie adaptation but the movie pretty much lacks everything that makes the book great and is very different.

Psycho has her taking a dump…

Important plot details

This happens with serial killers and tv shows because you can't have an episodic narrative about a guy getting killed over and over again. Maybe you could go episode by episode showing each victim to a specific serial killer - that would be interesting but it lacks a protagonist for the wider series unless you have some detective character or something.

As far as movies go, they often are about victims - if not the considerable majority of the time. In a typical slasher film, the main character isn't the killer but a normal person being targeted by the killer. The killer is the villain.

Cus we are human and we like unsettling fiction

Because those don't sell well

Storytelling is about motivation. Getting killed unexpectedly is hardly anybody's goal.

You may as well ask, why are there no news about all the horrible things that did not happen?

Edit: interesting how you phrase that question to begin with - why don't WE make movies...

Well then...why don't you?

Irreversible is about the victim instead of antagonist but is about a rape instead of serial killer.

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Because then that would be a movie about everybody else just like you and me. And I'm not ashamed to say that our lives really aren't that interesting. But it is much more interesting to read or watch a serial killer who does horrible things that we would never do

because that would just be a movie about a normal average person who dies at the end. not much interesting in that unless you just want some emotional manipulation.

Evolutionary we are probably designed to be fascinated with cold blooded killers for safety reasons. Learning more about these dangerous predators is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s why true crime is so popular.