History Main / ThemeSerialKiller

** In "Death and the Divas", the killer's theme is the horror movies of a particular actress.

** "Echoes of the Dead" features a killer who based his murders on old murder cases, such as George Joseph Smith.

There are killers who have a specific type of victim, and there are killers who leave behind calling cards.

* 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.]]

[[quoteright:325:[[Film/{{Se7en}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se7en.png]]]]

* The pilot episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': During the early chapters of [[GreatDetective Temonos']] 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.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': During the early chapters of [[GreatDetective Temonos']] 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 Sealtige, the goddess of grace, and thus, he's able to prevent the killer from attacking a famous dancer during her performance that evening.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has had a few of these, for example, a man who targeted people he considered having escaped justice by calling themselves victims of society, public hysteria, or anything else.
** They also did the "crimes based on a work of fiction" plot in "Empty Planet."

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'''s 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.]]
** There was also 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.

** The same thing occurred in a TV crime drama called ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249301/ Messiah]]''.

* In the ''Series/Forever2014'' episode "The Frustrating Thing About Psychopaths" a serial killer painstakingly recreates a different famous murder for each kill. [[spoiler: Turns out he's actually basing his kills on a graphic novel that gave details of each murder, rather than the murders themselves.]]

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': During the early chapters of [[GreatDetective Temonos']] 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 Sealtige, the goddess of grace, and a famous dancer is performing at a nearby tavern that evening...

** There was also [[spoiler:the Miniature Killer.]]

* ''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.

*
''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'':

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* 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 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 years ago.

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[[quoteright:325:[[Film/{{Se7en}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se7en.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:325:I'm sensing a [[SevenDeadlySins theme]] here.]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

** In the sequel, ''Dr. Phibes Rises Again'', he has loosened his theme to a more generically Ancient Egyptian vibe.

* Creator/AgathaChristie:
** 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]].)
** Another work of hers that uses a similar motif is ''[[Literature/MissMarple A Pocketful Of Rye]]'', which has the deaths based on the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence". [[spoiler: Subversion, as this is really a RedHerring.]]
** In another Agatha Christie 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.]]

* 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'.

* The killings in ''Lestrade'' by MJ Trow are all based on the cautionary tales in Heinrich Hoffmann's ''Literature/ShockheadedPeter''.

* Creator/ElleryQueen used this one a ''lot'':
** In ''Ten Day's Wonder,'' the theme was the Ten Commandments.
** ''Double, Double'' used the children's rhyme Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggarman, Thief.
** In ''A Cat of Many Tails,'' the murderer [[spoiler:was a doctor who was systematically killing the people whose birth he had presided over.]]

* The Phoenix, the villain of ''[=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.

* The serial killer in ''Series/BronBroen'' 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.

* 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 traps are also based or resemble historical execution devices that fit together within his theme of justice.

* 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.

* Jigsaw from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is mostly a simple PoeticSerialKiller whose motives for each of his victims, while all sharing their 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.

* Jigsaw from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is mostly a simple PoeticSerialKiller whose motives for each of his victims, while all sharing their status as a form of punishment on Jigsaw's behalf, tend to vary drastically. However, plenty of the scenarios he sets up 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.

* Jigsaw from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is mostly a simple PoeticSerialKiller whose motives for each of his victims, while all sharing their status as a form of punishment on Jigsaw's behalf, tend to vary drastically. Some of the scenarios he sets up.

** Fun Land is a ChildKiller who "hunts" at amusement parks.