Which Film Adaptations Exist Of Memoirs Of A Murderer?

Whenever I'm deep in a true-crime rabbit hole I get fascinated by the odd corners where fiction, confession and cinema meet — and one thing that surprised me is how rare it is to find straightforward feature films that are direct adaptations of an actual murderer’s published memoir. There are, however, several interesting categories worth separating out: films adapted from fictional ‘memoirs’ of killers (books written in the first person), films adapted from novels titled like a murderer’s memoir, movies that use a killer’s own writings or interviews as source material, and films that dramatize true-crime nonfiction (books about killers rather than by them).

If you want concrete titles to explore, here are the ones I turn to most. For the literal title route, there’s the South Korean thriller 'Memoir of a Murderer' (2017) — adapted from Kim Young-ha’s novel — which is a tightly wound fictional story about an aging ex-serial killer with memory issues. It reads and plays like a twisted personal chronicle even though it’s fiction. Next, check out films that are fictional first-person killers adapted to screen: 'The Killer Inside Me' (two adaptations, 1976 and 2010) and 'American Psycho' (2000) are both novels written from a murderer’s or killer-protagonist’s perspective and translated into movies that feel like dark, internal memoirs.

On the “uses the killer’s own words/interviews” side, feature films more often draw from interviews, court testimony, or investigative books that quote the perpetrator. 'Monster' (2003) dramatizes Aileen Wuornos’s life and leans on interviews and court-record material rather than a tidy published memoir. For documentary-style adaptations of the perpetrator’s own material, Netflix’s 'Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes' (2019) is a direct use of Bundy’s recordings and gives that unsettling first-person feel that a memoir would. Finally, there are films about killers adapted from nonfiction treatments or journalistic books — for example, 'The Executioner’s Song' (HBO, 1982) dramatizes Norman Mailer’s huge nonfiction novel about Gary Gilmore; it’s not a murderer’s memoir, but it’s a nonfiction dramatization of a murderer’s life.

So if you’re after the feel of a murderer’s own memoir on screen, my go-to recommendations are to watch 'Memoir of a Murderer' (2017) for a novel-turned-film that plays like one, 'American Psycho'/'The Killer Inside Me' for fictional first-person killers, and the Bundy tapes documentary if you want the real voice captured directly. I love how each approach changes your sympathy and disgust — and which one creeps you out more will probably tell you a lot about what you like to watch at 2 a.m.

I get that question a lot when I’m recommending late-night thrillers to friends: which movies are actually adaptations of a murderer’s memoir? Short version: straight-up adaptations of real killers’ published memoirs are pretty uncommon, but there are a few useful categories and titles to know.

If you mean films that literally come from a book titled like a killer’s memoir, the clearest example is the South Korean film 'Memoir of a Murderer' (2017), which adapts Kim Young-ha’s novel (fiction). If you’re open to books written in the first-person by fictional killers — which read like memoirs — then 'American Psycho' (2000) and both versions of 'The Killer Inside Me' fit perfectly. For movies that use a killer’s own recorded words, look to documentaries like 'Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes' (2019), which is essentially built from the murderer’s own voice.

There are also films that dramatize journalistic or nonfiction books about murderers — not the murderer’s memoirs, but close in spirit — such as 'The Executioner’s Song' (1982) which comes from Norman Mailer’s book about Gary Gilmore. And don’t forget thematic stand-ins like 'Confession of Murder' (2012), a Korean thriller where a killer publishes his memoir and the film explores the fallout (it isn’t adapted from a real killer’s book, but it plays with the exact idea you’re asking about).

If you want me to narrow this to only real-life perpetrators who actually published memoirs and then saw film adaptations, I can dig deeper, but the safer bet for a true “murderer’s memoir vibe” are the fictional-first-person novels and the documentary series that use killers’ own recordings — those gave me the biggest chills.