Line #60 Main/ThemeSerialKiller


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5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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14	[[quoteright:325:[[Film/Se7en https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se7en.png]]]]
15	[[caption-width-right:325:I'm sensing a [[SevenDeadlySins theme]] here.]]
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17	->'''Moss:''' If you were a murderer, what would your nickname be? Mine would be "The Gardener" cause I'd always leave a rose at the scene of the crime.\
18	'''Roy:''' What would your murder weapon be?\
19	'''Moss:''' ''[beat]'' A hammer.
20	-->-- ''Series/TheITCrowd''
21
22	There are killers [[VisibleVictimology who have a specific type of victim]], and there are killers who leave behind calling cards.
23	But for some, this just isn't dramatic enough.
24
25	No, he has to pattern his kills after a famous set, like the {{seven deadly sins}}, or a work of fiction. The killer will choose victims who match up with the set and/or he will kill them in manners befitting the set. Note that the killer will avoid repeating methods of murder: each death will represent, in some way, another portion of the set or story.
26
27	The motives of the killer for choosing the set can vary. If the motive is revenge or punishing a sin, then the killer is also a PoeticSerialKiller. Compare {{Idiosyncrazy}}.
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29	----
30	!!Examples:
31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Comic Books]]
34	* In ''ComicBook/{{Azrael}}'', the Crusader murders members of [[AncientConspiracy the Order of Purity]] in ways based on the martyrdom of various Christian saints.
35	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
36	** The Joker once decided to kill everyone in Gotham whose name was a palindrome. Like most of Joker's crimes, this theme was selected on a whim.
37	** Another Batman villain, Calendar Man, loves to commit crimes relating to certain holidays. He helps Batman track down another holiday-themed killer in ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween''.
38	** Batman once fought a villain called the Inquisitor, who was killing priests using methods based on the seven deadly sins.
39	** The original version of Clayface was an actor who killed a series of actors in the same way their characters in a slasher film were killed.
40	* In an issue of ''ComicBook/TheMazeAgency'', a killer starts murdering members of the Ripperologists (a club of people interested in UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper) in an order based on Jack the Ripper's famous poem:
41	-->''"I'm not a butcher, I'm not a Yid,\
42	Nor yet a foreign skipper.\
43	I am your own lighthearted fiend,\
44	Yours truly, Jack the Ripper."''
45	* ''ComicBook/AMillionWaysToDieHard'': Mr. Moviefone, who murders people in a certain style related to certain movies. Examples including [[Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities beheading a man in Paris]], [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk killing an Egyptian man with snakes]], having a man [[{{Film/Spartacus}} crucified near the Roman Colosseum]], and [[spoiler: killing Hideki Takagi by [[KillItWithFire setting the whole first floor ablaze]] like in ''Film/TheToweringInferno''.]]
46	* Issue #14 of ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' features a [[CriminalConvention convention]] of {{Serial Killer}}s. While a variety of serial killer stereotypes are explored, one in particular fits this trope. At one point, two serial killers (one calling himself "Fuck You!" and the other calling himself The Connoisseur) are [[BodyCountCompetition comparing victim counts]], and when Fuck You laughs at The Connoisseur "score" (he's only killed eight people, as compared to Fuck You's 170+), The Connoisseur admits that he has very refined tastes when it comes to victims.
47	-->''"There was something about pre-operative transsexuals that fascinated the Connoisseur..."''
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Fan Works]]
51	* ''Fanfic/DanganronpaMementoMori'': The Kuchisake-onna serial killer that the students investigate in Chapter 3 not only [[GlasgowGrin cuts their victims from ear to ear]] with a pair of scissors, but also [[TheToothHurts rips out a tooth]].
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
55	* In ''Film/NineteenNinetyFourBakerStreetSherlockHolmesReturns'', a collection of people important to Lt. Ortega are all killed using {{Animal Assassin}}s connected to tigers: a tiger, [[PiranhaProblem a tank full of piranhas, a.k.a. 'tiger fish']], flesh-eating tiger beetles, and a tiger snake.
56	* ''Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes'' uses the Ten Plagues of Egypt to carry out his revenge on the doctors who failed to save his wife.
57	** In the sequel, ''Film/DrPhibesRisesAgain'', he has loosened his theme to a more generically Ancient Egyptian vibe.
58	* In ''Film/BasicInstinct'', a woman kills a retired rock 'n roll star during sex, in the exact same way that a rich novelist named Catherine Tramell described in one of her books. When the police suspect her, she points out how stupid she would be if she were to write it down in her book first. Eventually, they find the culprit: [[spoiler:police psychologist Beth, an old flame of Nick who was obsessed with Catherine. Then the last shot reveals Catherine as the real killer, making this an inversion.]]
59	* A not-obvious example occurs in ''Film/{{Copycat}}'', as the killer loose in the film is a JackTheRipoff who kills by mimicking the M.O.'s of already-famous serial killers but there's no obvious pattern like chronological order. The pattern becomes clear to the criminal psychologist protagonist Helen when, combined with the disconcerting realization that the killer is obsessed with her personally, she realizes that the killer is murdering victims according to the list of serial killers she gave at her last lecture before she was attacked several months prior.
60	* Stuntman Mike in ''Film/DeathProof'' kills with his [[TitleDrop death proof]] stunt car.
61	* In ''Film/HellraiserInferno'', the Engineer will murder people close to Joseph and then leave a finger behind from a boy he's keeping captive to complete a set of exactly 10 victims. [[spoiler:All three of them are in fact the same person.]]
62	* In ''Film/Madhouse1974'', the murderer uses the murders in the ''Dr. Death'' films of actor Paul Toombes as the theme for their killings. This leads a lot of people to figure that the killer probably is Toombes. Even Toombes himself (Creator/VincentPrice) starts to think [[TheKillerInMe he might be doing it]].
63	* In ''Film/MostLikelyToDie'', the victims are killed based on their phrases assigned on their school's yearbooks. And the Killer uses a Graduate motif.
64	* ''Film/TheRaven2012'' features a series of killings based on Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's works. As it's a 19th-century period piece, Poe himself gets involved in the investigation.
65	* In ''Film/RipperLetterFromHell'', the Ripper is picking off victims with the same initials as the victim of UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, and [[JackTheRipoff recreating the wounds Saucy Jack left on his victims]].
66	* Jigsaw from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is mostly a simple PoeticSerialKiller whose motives for each of his victims, while all sharing the status as a form of punishment on Jigsaw's behalf, tend to vary drastically. However, plenty of the scenarios he plans for multiple victims, particularly the longer ones such as the Nerve Gas House in ''Film/SawII'', the Fatal Five's Trial in ''Film/SawV'' and the Murderers' Trial in ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'', tend to have people whom Jigsaw targets for a specific type of reason or otherwise share something in common with one another. Many of his {{Death Trap}}s are also based on or resemble historical execution devices that fit together within his theme of justice.
67	* Johnathan Doe from ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' bases his victims and deaths on the seven deadly sins.
68	* In ''Film/TheatreOfBlood'', Creator/VincentPrice (playing a hammy [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespearean]] actor) kills theatre critics in the manner of various deaths from Shakespeare's plays. Including ''Madhouse'' and the two ''Dr. Phibes'' movies, this is the fourth Vincent Price movie to involve this trope.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Literature]]
72	* In the Creator/AgathaChristie novel, ''Literature/TheABCMurders'', the killer murders alphabetically, starting with a woman whose name began with A in an A town, then a person whose name began with B in a B town, etc. He always leaves an ABC Railway Guide next to the body. [[spoiler:But as in "A Pocketful of Rye", this is a red herring; the killer really did have a specific target.]]
73	* In ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', the deaths were patterned after the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme. (Also a case of PoeticSerialKiller as the victims were all chosen to die because [[KarmaHoudini they'd gotten away with murder]].)
74	* The killer in ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'' used the classic 4 elements as a theme to his murders... and for the locations. Earth, Fire and Water were easy; Air took a little creativity. [[spoiler:He punctured the victim's lungs.]]
75	* One of the earliest (if not the first) examples in English literature is S.S. Van Dyne's ''Literature/TheBishopMurderCase'', where the killer murders his victims based on classic nursery rhymes.
76	* The killer in ''Literature/TheBoneCollector'' bases his murders on turn-of-the-century crime novels.
77	* In ''Literature/TheDanteClub'' by Matthew Pearl, the killer mimics the punishments of sinners in Dante's ''Inferno'' in post-Civil War Boston.
78	* ''Creator/ElleryQueen'':
79	** In ''Ten Day's Wonder,'' the theme was the Ten Commandments.
80	** ''Double, Double'' used the children's rhyme Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggarman, Thief.
81	** In ''A Cat of Many Tails,'' the murderer [[spoiler:was a doctor who was systematically killing the people whose birth he had presided over.]]
82	* In ''The Executioner'' by Jay Bennett (no relation to [[Literature/TheExecutioner the Mack Bolan series]]), four drunken youths are in a car crash, which kills one of them. A mysterious killer enacts his revenge by plotting the murder of the three survivors, the first one by fire, the second one by water, and the third by earth.
83	* The ''Literature/InDeath'' series has quite a few serial killers, but the most interesting one would probably be from ''Imitation In Death''. In this, the serial killer imitates other famous serial killers, in methodology, victim selection, and any famous 'quirks'. The first killing is a prostitute, with her uterus removed, and a taunting note is sent to Eve Dallas once she's identified as the investigator: Jack the Ripper. The second killing is identical to the Boston Strangler, another to Ted Bundy. The author eventually switches to fictitious killers, once to provide an opening for Dallas to act, and another who specializes in police officers to up the danger quotient - and yes, the killer intended to imitate the latter in order to take out Eve, as his final 'triumph'.
84	* ''Literature/KovacAndLiska'': The SerialKiller "Doc Holiday" is known as such for performing acts of murder on holidays.
85	* The killings in ''Literature/{{Lestrade}}'' by MJ Trow are all based on the cautionary tales in Heinrich Hoffmann's ''Literature/ShockheadedPeter''.
86	* Parodied in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' with the [[LIsForDyslexia Dyslexic]] Alphabet Killer, who only got as far as A and W.
87	* The killer in Boris Starling's ''Messiah'' murders his victims based on the apostles. A man named Philip is hung, a James is beheaded, a Peter is crucified upside-down and so forth.
88	* In ''Literature/TheNameOfTheRose'', the killings follow symbolism from the Literature/BookOfRevelation. [[spoiler:Subverted, as the pattern is coincidential, then double subverted after the killer hears the hypothesis and decides to run with it.]]
89	* The Literature/MissMarple novel ''Literature/APocketFullOfRye'', which has the deaths based on the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence". [[spoiler: Subversion, as this is really a RedHerring.]]
90	* C J Sansom's ''Revelation'' uses imagery from the Literature/BookOfRevelation for his killer's inspiration.
91	* The killer in ''Literature/Ripper2014'' was abused as an infant and [[DepartmentOfChildDisservices mistreated through the foster care system]]. He is later victimized via the juvenile court system. All the people he murders later on (with one exception) were all directly involved in his TraumaCongaLine.
92	* ''Literature/ShadowPolice'': The killer in ''Who Killed Sherlock Holmes?'' uses the murders in the Sherlock Holmes stories as their theme.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
96	* ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}'': Kit Nelson, one of the escaped inmates from Alcatraz, was a [[WouldHurtAChild child killer]] who always performed the same ritual to imitate the way that [[SiblingMurder he murdered his own brother]], who was his first victim. He only targeted preadolescent boys, breaking into their rooms at night to kidnap them, then force them to participate in his brother's favorite pastimes. Eventually, he would strangle them and drop off the bodies back in their room with a flower in their hand.
97	* ''Series/TheAlienist'': The killer's pattern corresponds with Catholic Feast Days, [[spoiler:likely a result of his messed-up religious upbringing]], which enables Kreizler's team to predict and track his attacks.
98	* There was an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' where the killer based his killings on those in Bones' recent book, but the manner of the killings was different each time. [[spoiler: It turned out it was a StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder.]]
99	* The serial killer in ''Series/TheBridge2011'' who kills people in media-attracting ways to highlight social problems in Scandinavia, from class wars, poverty, those weak and vulnerable in society (children and the mentally ill), corrupt police forces, etc.
100	* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}''
101	** Penn, a vampire in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' constantly reenacted the killing of his own family while under the wing of his sire, [[EvilMentor Angelus]]. When Angel encounters him a century later, he's still at it (calling it his "art") and Angel mocks him during their fight for the lack of imagination in sticking to the same pattern all this time.
102	** Back when he was Angelus, Angel had something of a theme, too. He enjoyed setting up twisted, "romantic" scenes for his victims- Giles notes that his most famous killings were done on Valentine's Day, and one involved nailing a gift puppy to something. Upon losing his soul in Season 2, [[spoiler: he recreates this formula by killing Jenny, then arranging her house to make it seem like she was preparing for a date night with Giles]].
103	* The pilot episode of ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}'' features a murderer that patterns his killings after ones detailed in the titular author's mystery novels. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the actual murderer was only doing it to frame another character and cover up his own crime.]]
104	* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has had a few of these:
105	** A man who targeted people he considered having escaped justice by calling themselves victims of society, public hysteria, or anything else.
106	** They did the "crimes based on a work of fiction" plot in "Empty Planet."
107	** Also did a Dante's Inferno-inspired killer, someone who was obsessed with [[BurnTheWitch witch hunting]], and a ''Cinderella'' killer. They love this trope.
108	* ''Series/CriminologistHimuraAndMysteryWriterArisugawa'' has a WholePlotReference to ''Literature/TheABCMurders'', with a serial killer targeting people based on the letters of the alphabet. Their first victim is Kazuki '''A'''sakura in '''A'''ndoucho, then Romi '''B'''ando in '''B'''itoucho, and so on. [[spoiler:This is revealed to be a cover-up, as the killer only actually wanted to kill the fourth "D" victim, and killed the rest to obfuscate their intent.]]
109	* ''Series/{{CSI}}'':
110	** Paul Millander, who chose victims based on their birthdays. Grissom was to be his last victim at one point. And then later it's revealed that he chose them because [[spoiler:their birthdays were the same day his father died.]]
111	** The Miniature Killer, who left scale model replicas of the crime scene ''at'' the crime scene. The team soon realized that said models were designed and placed before the deaths actually happened, and at one point the killer had to return to the scene in order to "fix" the model after the victim died in a way different from what they'd predicted.
112	** The killer in the two-parter "Skin in the Game/The Devil and D.B. Russell" uses Dante's nine circles of Hell as a theme.
113	* ''Series/CSICyber'': In "5 Deadly Sins", the killer uses the so-called '5 deadly sins' of social media (Hate Speech, Porn, Violence, Drugs, & Trolling) as their theme: killing victims guilty of these sins in a manner appropriate to the sin.
114	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had Shane Casey, whose targeted victims had been involved in his brother's conviction, dress them in cryptic t-shirts containing numerology symbols. (See also PoeticSerialKiller.)
115	* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'':
116	** The Trinity Killer, who kills people in ways that mimic how his sister, mother, and father died, although it turns out [[spoiler:that [[NonIndicativeName his nickname is non-indicative]]. He actually kills in fours, starting every cycle with kidnapping and killing a boy, who is supposed to represent himself]].
117	** The Ice Truck Killer chops up prostitutes and leaves their parts scattered [[spoiler: because he watched while his mother - and, by extension, Dexter's - met the wrong end of a chainsaw at the hands of drug dealers]]. On top of that, the bodies are carefully drained of all blood [[spoiler: because he and Dexter spent three days locked in the shipping container where their mother died, wallowing in her blood]].
118	** The Doomsday Killer kills his victims based on his interpretation of the Literature/BookOfRevelation. He believes that if he can complete the sequence on a certain day, he will bring on the Apocalypse.
119	* ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'':
120	** In "Muse", Morse investigates a series of murders where the victims are killed using methods inspired by Biblical murders as depicted in Renaissance art. Small wonder that Morse does not twig to the theme until he sees several paintings reproduced in the same book.
121	** In "Fugue", a WickedCultured opera-themed serial killer seems to be choosing the names of his victims in the order of the notes of the treble clef, EGBDF. [[spoiler: While he is doing that, more specifically he's killing people who were involved with his original trial, or were related to those who were.]] He also murders them in ways that are based on death scenes in operas.
122	* In the ''Series/{{Forever\|2014}}'' episode "The Frustrating Thing About Psychopaths" a serial killer painstakingly recreates a different famous murder for each kill. It starts with Jack the Ripper's brutal murder of Mary Kelley, which [[TheAgeless Dr. Morgan]] just happened to have been consulted on. A Black Dahlia comes next. [[spoiler: Turns out he's actually basing his kills on a graphic novel that gave details of each murder, rather than the murders themselves.]] The killer is attempting to recreate a Boston Strangler kill [[spoiler: when Henry interrupts; the ensuing fight takes long enough for Jo to arrive and stop him more permanently.]]
123	* A recurring threat in ''Series/{{Hunter\|1984}}'', appearing in episodes such as the three part "City Under Siege", "Lullaby" and the two part "Fatal Obsession" (a.k.a. the one where Molenski gets killed).
124	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in ''Series/TheITCrowd'', where Moss says if he was a themed killer he'd go by the title of "The Gardener" and he'd leave a rose at the scene of the crime as his calling card. When Roy presses him for what his murder weapon would be, he thinks for a {{beat}} then answers ''[[ZigZaggedTrope "...a hammer."]]''
125	* Subverted in ''Series/JonathanCreek'', where a series of murders are linked by the media because the victims were all women with flowers for names. The media obsess over the psychology of the SerialKiller (and terrify all women in London with flower names) while it turns out that the killer was actually a disturbed individual killing at random and the flower names thing was a coincidence. Worse, a different, premeditated killer is able to (temporarily) get away with a murder because his intended victim had a flower name and fitted into the other killer's false "pattern".
126	* Expect a killer with the FreudianExcuse to choose victims who remind him of his parents, like the CriminalMindGames killer of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', as well as Fin's step-son.
127	* In the finale of ''Literature/LessonsForAPerfectDetectiveStory'' the serial killer known as the Amateur Detective Serial Murderer kills amateur detectives.
128	* ''Series/{{Lewis}}'': In "Magnum Opus" the killer associates each murder with a stage of a four-part alchemical procedure.
129	* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'', "Off the Record": Kavitsky specifically targets high-profile {{Hypocrite}}s, whom he kills in a manner that matches what he considers their "crime". An environmentalist who secretly owns a private airplane is drowned in jet fuel, and so on.
130	* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'':
131	** In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS5E4 Ring Out Your Dead]]", the murderer kills the village bell ringers as per the nursery rhyme "Ding Dong Bell".
132	** "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS14E3 Echoes of the Dead]]" features a killer who based his murders on old murder cases, such as George Joseph Smith.
133	** In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS15E4 Death and the Divas]]", the killer's theme is the horror movies of a particular actress.
134	** In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS17E3 The Ballad of Midsomer County]]", the killer leaves items associated with the eponymous folk song with the bodies of his victims.
135	* Plenty of ''Series/Millennium1996'' episodes revolve around this type of killer.
136	* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': In "Murder Under the Mistletoe", the murderer uses 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' as his theme.
137	* ''Series/Mouse2021'': Jae-hoon chooses his victims to act out fairy-tales associated with the SevenDeadlySins.
138	* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': In one episode, [=McGee=] realizes that a series of murders being committed are based on the book he is currently writing, and all the victims are patterned off the characters (who themselves are based on himself and his coworkers, placing the whole team at risk). [[spoiler: The culprit is the barista at the coffee shop [=McGee=] often writes at, who became obsessed with [=McGee=] and the story to the point he believed the story was real, and was killing "characters" he believed posed a threat to the "protagonist" ([=McGee=]). Realizing this prevented the killer from killing Abby, who the killer believed planned to kill [=McGee=] over being rejected romantically]].
139	* A SerialKiller on ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'' chose victims with the same names as the 12 apostles and killed them in the way each apostle died. Some of them were pretty gruesome, too.
140	* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': [[Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents "Mr Yin Presents ..."]], in which the killer's murders are staged to model scenes from Creator/AlfredHitchcock's films. Some [[PropRecycling props from the original films were used in the episode.]]
141	* ''Series/TheSandman2022'':
142	** [[HumanoidAbomination The Corinthian]] prefers to kill young gay males, often seducing them first, and once they're dead [[ImAHumanitarian removes and eats their eyeballs]].
143	** [[IronicName The Good Doctor]] kills people by removing their organs.
144	** [[WouldHurtAChild Fun Land]] "hunts" prepubescent children at amusement parks.
145	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': The murders in [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E05MonsterMovie "Monster Movie"]] are modeled after old monster movies from Creator/{{Universal}} while the murders in [[Recap/SupernaturalS08E08HunteriHeroici "Hunteri Heroici"]] are themed after Animation Tropes and reference western animation.[[spoiler: In "Monster Movie", the culprit is a shape-shifter who found solace in his status as a monster through the old Universal monster movies and sought to emulate them. In "Hunteri Heroici", the culprit is the nursing home doctor of a senile octogenarian psychic. The psychic has major PowerIncontinence and spends all day watching ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoons, so he has an area of effect where everything within several miles of him functions on CartoonPhysics, which the doctor exploits to rob banks, steal from the other nursing home residents, and kill anyone who gets in the way]].
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
149	* A scenario in the ''Blood Brothers'' supplement for the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG involves a killer murdering his victims in ways that symbolise the nine muses of Myth/GreekMythology.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Video Games]]
153	* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' features a parody of ''Theatre of Blood'', with the plays of Hwel, the Disc's version of Shakespeare.
154	* The Origami Killer in Quantic Dream's ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has a rather unique way of killing his victims. He kidnaps his victims in public places (a local park for example), though no one ever actually sees him. His victims disappear for four days (still alive throughout the time period) and then are found dead in a wasteland-like environment, drowned in rainwater with an orchid on their chest and an origami in their hand.
155	** [[spoiler: Gets even better. His father indirectly caused his brother to die, drowned in rainwater, so he's putting fathers through perverse tests, to see if they can actually succeed at doing what his father did not. He keeps the children he kidnaps in a gutter and lets it fill with rainwater. He was always a fan of Origami, as his brother made little origami dogs. His mother also grew orchids, which his brother loved, so he places one on the victims' chest as an apology.]]
156	* The Phoenix, the villain of ''VideoGame/InMemoriam'' [[spoiler:murders members of a religious catholic sect in specific locations visited by a murdered philosopher, arranging their corpses in ways corresponding to the philosopher's theories.]] He then uses the victims as puzzles to lead the player towards finding him.
157	* In ''Videogame/{{Judgment}}'', the Mole's (named due to him operating at night) M.O. is to kill members of the Yakuza while stabbing out their eyes. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that this is because the Mole isn't a serial killer but a contract killer hired by the government for the purpose of disposing of failed test subjects for a cure to Alzheimer's that leaves the victim's eyes with unnatural blue tinting]].
158	* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': During the early chapters of [[GreatDetective Temenos']] story, a serial killer conducts three murders against a pontiff, an apothecary and a scholar. While investigating the scholar's residence, Temenos finds a religious document containing a prayer to all eight of the gods of Solistia, but warning that praying to the gods in the wrong order will invite misfortune. Temenos realises that the three victims each have a connection to the last 3 gods listed in the prayer (the pontiff worshipped Aelfric, god of TheFlameOfLife, the apothecary represented Dohter, god of healing and charity, and the scholar represented Alephan, god of knowledge). If the killer is deliberately invoking the gods in the wrong order, then the next attack will be against someone connected to Sealticge, the goddess of grace, and thus, he's able to intervene when the killer attacks a famous dancer during her performance that evening.
159	* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': When the killer claims a victim, their corpse will be hanging from a telephone pole. [[spoiler: Double subverted after Mr. Morooka's death, in which he is on top of a water tower. It turns out that this was the doing of Mitsuo Kubo, a JackTheRipoff.]]
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Visual Novel]]
163
164	* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': Genocide Jack/Genocider Syo, later revealed to be [[spoiler: Toko Fukawa]], only kills men she finds handsome. Additionally, she performs a “ritual” of sorts when killing, murdering the person with custom scissors before tying them up into a specific position, and writing “BLOODLUST” on a nearby wall.
165
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Western Animation]]
169	* ''WesternAnimation/RubySpearsSuperman'': Bonechill kidnaps the ''Daily Planet'' staff and leaves them in Poe-themed death traps to distract Superman. Perry White almost gets sliced open [[Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum by a swinging pendulum]]; one of Bonechill's monsters entombs Lois [[Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado in a wine cellar]], and the villain seals the BoundAndGagged Jimmy Olsen under some floor tiles, [[Literature/TheTellTaleHeart using a recording of a heartbeat to attract Superman's attention.]]
170	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThemeSerialKiller