In the film M, by Fritz Lang, a child murderer is killing little girls in a large German city. People are fearing for their children. The same way a modern serial killer instills fear in today's society. Peter Lorre plays this lone, psychotic murderer. He is caught at the conclusion of the film. He pleads that he has no control over his actions. Is the man himself solely responsible for his actions or is society to blame?
             The murderer only kills little girls. Every time he is shown on camera he is alone. There is a series of scenes where the murderer is seen walking around the city and looking in store windows. Now this may not mean that much on the surface, but as it gets deeper, it becomes clear. This man has nobody to be with. He has no friends and no one to converse with. Society makes it seem, to people who don't quite "fit in," that there is something wrong with them. Let's say that this man is different, he doesn't fit in. This was most likely true in his childhood as well. The man now appears to be about twenty-five years old. He has no wife. Maybe he feels a little left out. This long life of feeling like an outcast may have made a slightly mentally ill person into a psychotic murderer.
             In a later sequence of scene's the murderer is shown walking with a little girl. The viewer assumes this will be his next victim. He is being very friendly. This is showing the need for companionship the murderer has. He would probably do this with all the little girls and when he realized that it was only a temporary or even artificial bond between them, he would kill the girl.
             Modern day serial killers do have a couple of the same characteristics that the murderer in M had. The use of manipulation. The murderer in this film lured in his prey by buying them gifts. A very famous modern day serial killer such as Geoffrey Dahlmer lured his victims, gay men, up to his apartment, by pretending to be ...