Psychiatrists studied 400 movies to find the most realistic psychopath.
According to one group of psychiatrists, Hollywood's most famous serial killers are not realistic psychopaths. In fact, they may not be psychopaths at all.
Psychopathy is defined as a varying combination of violence and detachment with others. The most extreme psychopaths kill people without remorse, mutilate animals and people with as much emotion as you and I tie our shoes.
This is typically known as “idiopathic” psychopathy, but sometimes this disorder can be not as violent. You typically see this with people that are very good smooth talkers.
In 2014, the Belgian psychiatry professor Samuel Leistedt wanted to see which movie characters were the most realistic psychopath actors. So, he and his friends watched 400 movies over the course of three years. Starting from 1915 to 2010, they ended up with 126 psychopathic characters, with 105 being men.
The most realistic serial killer wasAnton Chigurh, “No Country for Old Men.” In addition, Henry Lee Lucas, “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.”
No Country for Old Men is a classic example of a psychopath.
“He seems to be effectively invulnerable and resistant to any form of emotion or humanity,” Leistedt writes.
The most unrealistic psychopath was Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” and Norman Bates from “Psycho.” While they are very entertaining or scary, Leistedt and his team point out that they do not fit the typical mold of a psychopath.
Two years ago, an aspiring actor walked around Atlanta, Georgia and allegedly shot and killed homeless men and women throughout the city. He was called a serial killer. The man was later captured by city police officers but, it begs the question? Are actors psychopaths?
