The best of the best fictional serial killers are written and sometimes acted well enough to escape some, but rarely all, of the below problems. Fiction just can't reflect the true horror of reality in the case of serial killers, no matter how much they make you, the audience member, squirm.
1. In fiction, there isn't enough shock in the discovery of hidden horrors.
2. In fiction, the serial killer is glorified.
3. The extended efforts everyone makes to try to understand why is, for the most part, absent from fiction.
4. In fiction, the slow development of the killer and his crimes is cast aside for sudden gory awakenings.
5. The mix of victim and killer often present in the serial killer's personality and experience is underplayed or non-existent in fiction.
6. The serial killer's often overpowering, disturbing personality and misfit nature is ignored in fiction for the killer's ability to blend in and appear normal.
7. The serial killer's dysfunctional psychology is underplayed in fiction for a functional pattern of behaviour that leads to a repetition of kills.
8. The unplanned and rather opportunistic nature of many of the real serial killer's kills is lost for a pattern and a comprehensible reason to kill.
9. The lasting filth and bodily remains surrounding a serial killer is often left out of the fiction for a focus on initial gore and a clean disposal that justifies why everyone around them didn't notice.
10. The physical appearance of the real serial killer is often far less attractive, though frequently normal enough, than those of fictional killers.
