37 Best Serial Killer Movies & Films

Top 37 must-see best serial killer movies from 327 serial killer movies, including Halloween, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Frenzy, Zodiac, Mother, Peeping Tom, Deep Red, and The Secret in their Eyes ranked and rated by score.

Top 37 Best Serial Killer Movies of All Time

Click any of the movies in this serial killer list below to see that films' synopsis, plot, cast/actors, directors, full poster, movie trailer, and review.

Halloween Horror Movie Review
Score: 9.22/10 IMDB: 7.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 326,282
Slasher, Cult Classic, Halloween, Halloween - Slasher, Killer Kids, Maniac, Teens, Urban Legend, B-Horror
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 47160000
Plot / Synopsis: The year is 1963, the night: Halloween. Police are called to 43 Lampkin Ln. only to discover that 15 year old Judith Myers has been…
Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers

Read Our Psycho Review
Score: 9.2/10 IMDB: 8.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 757,065
Psychological, Thriller, Cult Classic, Drama, Motel, Split Personality
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 32181230
Plot / Synopsis: Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks,…
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Review
Score: 8.94/10 IMDB: 8.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 1,647,472
Psychological, Thriller, Asylum, Cannibalism, Drama
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 130742922
Plot / Synopsis: F.B.I. trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) works hard to advance her career, while trying to hide or put behind her West Virginia roots, of which…
Director: Jonathan Demme
Stars: Jodie Foster, Lawrence A. Bonney, Kasi Lemmons, Lawrence T. Wrentz, Scott Glenn

In-Depth Se7en Review
Score: 8.59/10 IMDB: 8.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 1,953,871
Featured Psychological, Psychological, Thriller, Police, Serial Killer
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 101040643
Plot / Synopsis: A film about two homicide detectives' (Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt) desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the…
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Andrew Kevin Walker, Daniel Zacapa, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow

Score: 8.57/10 IMDB: 7.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 51,756
Killer, Mystery, Madness, Police, Serial Killer
MPAA Rating: R | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: London is terrorized by a vicious s** killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected…
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Anna Massey, Alec McCowen

Honest Review: Zodiac (2007)
Score: 8.48/10 IMDB: 7.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 641,566
Killer, Drama, Police, Serial Killer
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 33080084
Plot / Synopsis: A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages. We follow the investigators and reporters in this…
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox

Score: 8.4/10 IMDB: 7.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 77,312

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 551509
Plot / Synopsis: A mother lives quietly with her twenty-eight-year-old son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acupuncture to neighbors. One day, a girl is brutally murdered, and Do-joon is…
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Stars: Hye-ja Kim, Won Bin, Goo Jin, Je-mun Yun, Mi-seon Jeon

Full Review of Peeping Tom (1960)
Score: 8.39/10 IMDB: 7.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 42,458
Slasher, Cult Classic, Drama, Maniac
MPAA Rating: Not Rated | Gross: 36598
Plot / Synopsis: Mark Lewis, works as a focus puller in a British film studio. On his off hours, he supplies a local p*rno shop with cheesecake photos…
Director: Michael Powell
Stars: Karlheinz Böhm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, Brenda Bruce

Our Take on Deep Red (1975)
Score: 8.37/10 IMDB: 7.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 45,542
Killer, Cult Classic, Giallo, Mind Bender, Psychic, Serial Killer, Splatter
MPAA Rating: R | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: A psychic who can read minds picks up the thoughts of a murderer in the audience and soon becomes a victim. An English pianist gets…
Director: Dario Argento
Stars: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, Eros Pagni

Score: 8.37/10 IMDB: 8.2/10 | IMDB Votes: 234,880

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 6391436
Plot / Synopsis: In 1999, retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old closed case as the source material. That case is…
Director: Juan José Campanella
Stars: Soledad Villamil, Ricardo Darín, Carla Quevedo, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino

Score: 8.27/10 IMDB: 7.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 70,305

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 12000000
Plot / Synopsis: This stylish Brian De Palma thriller plays off the theme of the unsuspecting witness who discovers a crime and is thereby put in grave danger,…
Director: Brian De Palma
Stars: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden

Score: 8.2/10 IMDB: 7.1/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,068

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 148826
Plot / Synopsis: With a serial killer claiming victim 13 and rumors of corruption in their force, the West Yorkshire cops are told to cooperate with a team…
Director: James Marsh
Stars: Warren Clarke, Paddy Considine, James Fox, David Calder, Nicholas Woodeson

Score: 8.2/10 IMDB: 7.1/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,446

MPAA Rating: R | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: Inspector Nick Cafmeyer seems to have it all - looks, brains and a successful career. But a dark cloud hangs over his life: since the…
Director: Hans Herbots
Stars: Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina Geerts, Johan van Assche, Laura Verlinden, Dominique Van Malder

Our Take on Prisoners (2013)
Score: 8.2/10 IMDB: 8.2/10 | IMDB Votes: 871,805

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 61002302
Plot / Synopsis: How far would you go to protect your family? Keller Dover is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with…
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) Review
Score: 8.2/10 IMDB: 7.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 199,801
Slasher, Cult Classic, Dysfunctional Family, Maniac, Desert, B-Horror
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 30859000
Plot / Synopsis: En route to visit their grandfather's grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a…
Director: Tobe Hooper
Stars: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn

Score: 8.15/10 IMDB: 8.1/10 | IMDB Votes: 245,668

MPAA Rating: Not Rated | Gross: 15357
Plot / Synopsis: In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, r**ed and tied and gagged with…
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim, Roe-ha Kim, Jae-ho Song, Hee-Bong Byun

In-Depth Misery Review
Score: 8.09/10 IMDB: 7.8/10 | IMDB Votes: 264,387
Cabin in the Woods, Featured Psychological, Psychological, Survival, Confined, Madness
MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 61276872
Plot / Synopsis: Best-selling novelist Paul Sheldon is on his way home from his Colorado hideaway after completing his latest book, when he crashes his car in a…
Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, Lauren Bacall

Score: 8.07/10 IMDB: 7.2/10 | IMDB Votes: 331,601

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 67355513
Plot / Synopsis: In Nightmute, Alaska, seventeen year old resident Kay Connell is found murdered. As a favor to the local Nightmute police chief, two Los Angeles Robbery…
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Al Pacino, Martin Donovan, Oliver ''Ole'' Zemen, Hilary Swank, Paul Dooley

Score: 8.03/10 IMDB: 7.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 33,469
Psychological, Thriller, Featured Maniac, Maniac, Revenge, Stalker
MPAA Rating: Approved | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: Small-town lawyer Sam Bowden's life becomes torturous when Max Cady re-enters his life. Cady went to jail for 8 years after Bowden testified that Cady…
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Stars: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam

Score: 8/10 IMDB: 7.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 24,942

MPAA Rating: R | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: Based on the true story of a Russian serial killer who, over many years, claimed over 50 victims, mostly under the age of 17. In…
Director: Chris Gerolmo
Stars: Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Max von Sydow, Jeffrey DeMunn, Joss Ackland

Score: 7.97/10 IMDB: 7.8/10 | IMDB Votes: 227,443

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 10095170
Plot / Synopsis: Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never…
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber

In-Depth The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Review
Score: 7.89/10 IMDB: 7.8/10 | IMDB Votes: 516,772

MPAA Rating: R | Gross: 102515793
Plot / Synopsis: This English-language adaptation of the Swedish novel by Stieg Larsson follows a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), as he investigates the disappearance of a…
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff

Score: 7.8/10 IMDB: 6.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,169

MPAA Rating: Unrated | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: While rehearsing a musical play in a theater, the dancer Alicia twists her ankle and the costume designer Betty drives her to a nearby hospital.…
Director: Michele Soavi
Stars: David Brandon, Barbara Cupisti, Domenico Fiore, Robert Gligorov, Mickey Knox

Score: 7.8/10 IMDB: 7.0/10 | IMDB Votes: 29,419
Slasher, Giallo, Maniac
MPAA Rating: R | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: With Argento's trademark visual style, linked with one of his more coherent plots, Tenebrae follows a writer who arrives to Rome only to find somebody…
Director: Dario Argento
Stars: Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi, Giuliano Gemma, Christian Borromeo

In-Depth Marshland Review
Score: 7.75/10 IMDB: 7.2/10 | IMDB Votes: 37,854
Thriller, Twisted Mystery, Dangerous Exploration, Serial Killer, Urban Decay
MPAA Rating: TV-MA | Gross:
Plot / Synopsis: 1980. In a little town close to Coto of Doñana (Andalusia, south to Spain), two teen girls have disappeared. The father of one of the…
Director: Alberto Rodríguez
Stars: Javier Gutiérrez, Raúl Arévalo, María Varod, Perico Cervantes, Jesús Ortiz

327 Serial Killer films sorted alphabetically from A-Z

Click any of movies below from the full list of serial killer movies list to see that films' synopsis, plot, cast/actors, directors, full poster, movie trailer, and review.

1). 10 Rillington Place (1971) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 6.95/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,461 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.4/10 | MPAA Rating: G

Thriller, Maniac, Serial Killer

Plot / Synopsis: London, 1949. John Christie is an unassuming, middle-aged man who, along with his wife Ethel, lives in the ground-floor flat at 10 Rillington Place. His demeanor masks the fact of being a serial killer. His modus operandi is to act as a person with a medical background, lure unsuspecting women to his apartment on the pretense of curing them...

Director: Richard Fleischer
Stars: Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt, Pat Heywood, Isobel Black

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2). 10 to Midnight (1983) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 3.83/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.3/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,215 | Rotten Tomatoes: 4.0/10 | Metascore: 1.2/10 | MPAA Rating: R | Gross: $7,175,592

Plot / Synopsis: A LAPD detective is on the trail of a very handsome young man who had been seducing and slashing many young women to death. Tagline: Bronson is back on the streets...

Director: J. Lee Thompson
Stars: Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens, Gene Davis, Geoffrey Lewis

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3). 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 6.4/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,532 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.3/10 | MPAA Rating: PG

Plot / Synopsis: A musician is stalked by an unknown killer who's blackmailing him for an accidential killing of another stalker. But is everything what it appears to be? Tagline: When the flies start to crawl, so will your flesh...

Director: Dario Argento
Stars: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Aldo Bufi Landi, Calisto Calisti

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4). 8MM (1999) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 3.7/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 148,556 | Rotten Tomatoes: 2.4/10 | Metascore: 2.1/10 | MPAA Rating: R | Gross: $36,663,315

Urban Legend

Plot / Synopsis: A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snu** film" is authentic or not. Tagline: If you dance with the devil, the devil don't change,the devil changes you!...

Director: Joel Schumacher
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, Anthony Heald

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5). A Cure for Wellness (2016) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

In-Depth A Cure for Wellness Review

Score: 5.77/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 117,179 | Rotten Tomatoes: 4.2/10 | Metascore: 4.7/10 | MPAA Rating: R | Gross: $8,106,986

Featured Psychological, Twisted Mystery, Psychological, Medical, Sci-Fi

Plot / Synopsis: Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness (2016) is releasing in movie theaters this upcoming February 16, 2017. This mystery thriller has gotten some positive reviews and looks interesting, to say the least. Jason Isaacs, Dane DeHaan, and Mia Goth star in A Cure for Wellness...

Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Ivo Nandi, Adrian Schiller

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6). A Is for Acid (2002) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 5.61/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.9/10 | IMDB Votes: 1,023 | MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Plot / Synopsis: Dramatisation of the true story of the notorious "acid bath murderer" John Haigh, who murdered women and disposed of their bodies in vats of acid in the 1940's. He was only caught when the gallstones of one of his victims, Mrs Durand-Deacon, failed to dissolve in the acid and were detected by the pathologist who examined the residue from...

Director: Harry Bradbeer
Stars: Martin Clunes, Keeley Hawes, Richard Hope, Celia Imrie, Rowena Cooper

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7). Alone in the Dark (1982) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 6.33/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.0/10 | IMDB Votes: 7,391 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.7/10 | Metascore: 6.3/10 | MPAA Rating: R

Slasher, Drama, Maniac

Plot / Synopsis: Thanks to a major power cut, a gang of psychopaths breaks out of the Haven maximum security mental institute in order to lay siege to the psychiatrists who have tormented them over the years with their bizarre theories... Tagline: When the lights go out the terror begins...

Director: Jack Sholder
Stars: Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, Dwight Schultz, Erland van Lidth

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8). Along Came a Spider (2001) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Our Take on Along Came a Spider (2001)

Score: 5.09/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 99,596 | Rotten Tomatoes: 3.2/10 | Metascore: 4.2/10 | MPAA Rating: R | Gross: $74,078,174

Along Came a Spider is Streaming on HBO Max

Plot / Synopsis: When a congressman's daughter under Secret Service protection is kidnapped from a private school, detective Alex Cross investigates the case even though he's recovering from the loss of his partner.Tagline: A tangled web of danger and deceit...

Director: Lee Tamahori
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter, Michael Wincott, Dylan Baker, Mika Boorem

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9). American Psycho (2000) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Exploring American Psycho – Full Review

Score: 7.31/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 789,181 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.8/10 | Metascore: 6.4/10 | MPAA Rating: R | Gross: $15,070,285

Killer, Psychological, Slasher, Featured Maniac, Madness, Maniac, Serial Killer

American Psycho is Streaming on Netflix

Plot / Synopsis: A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hed***stic fantasies.Tagline: No Introduction Necessary...

Director: Mary Harron
Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny

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10). Angst (1983) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 5.74/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.2/10 | IMDB Votes: 15,160 | Rotten Tomatoes: 10.0/10 | MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Killer, Home Invasion, Serial Killer, Thrill Kill

Plot / Synopsis: A man is released from prison after serving ten years for murdering an elderly woman. He quickly begins to feel the compulsion to kill again. After failing to murder a cab driver, he flees and discovers a secluded rural home, where a young woman lives with her sick mother and disabled brother. He then begins to take out his...

Director: Gerald Kargl
Stars: Erwin Leder, Robert Hunger-Bühler, Silvia Ryder, Karin Springer, Edith Rosset

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11). Anguish (1987) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 6.2/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 4,558 | Rotten Tomatoes: 5.7/10 | MPAA Rating: R | Gross: $228,789

Killer, Supernatural, Body Horror, Cult Classic, Featured Maniac, Maniac, Medical, Mind Bender, Psychic, Single Moms

Plot / Synopsis: A film-within-a-film thriller about two teen girls among a small group of people whom are terrorized in a movie theater by a killer while watching a horror film about a murderous optometrist who stalks his victims in a movie theater in the film. Tagline: The eyes of the city are mine...

Director: Bigas Luna
Stars: Zelda Rubinstein, Michael Lerner, Talia Paul, Àngel Jové, Clara Pastor

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12). Anniyan (2005) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 6.24/10 | IMDB Rating: 8.3/10 | IMDB Votes: 23,954 | MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Plot / Synopsis: Ambi is a meek lawyer, who wishes to change the society. But, because of his oft-repeated concern, people don't take him seriously. Besides, Nandini, the girl whom he loves, also rejects her because of this. This makes Ambi shattered, not before he encounters a website Aparichit.com, visiting which creates an alter ego inside Ambi's mind. For the girl he...

Director: S. Shankar
Stars: Vikram, Sada, Prakash Raj, Vivek, Nedumudi Venu

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13). Antibodies (2005) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 6.37/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.9/10 | IMDB Votes: 9,283 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.5/10 | Metascore: 5.7/10 | MPAA Rating: R

Killer, Slasher, Maniac, Police, Thrill Kill

Plot / Synopsis: Long wanted serial killer Gabriel Engel gets arrested in a spectacular police strike. Small town cop... Tagline: Das Gute ist das Böse daran. [The Good is the Evil in It.]...

Director: Christian Alvart
Stars: Norman Reedus, Christian von Aster, André Hennicke, Waltraud Witte, Konstantin Graudus

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14). Antropophagus (1980) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 4.89/10 | IMDB Rating: 5.3/10 | IMDB Votes: 7,294 | MPAA Rating: R

Creatures, Slasher, Campy, Cannibalism, Desolate, Maniac, Mutants, Splatter

Plot / Synopsis: Tourists take a boat to a remote island, where they find that most of the people have disappeared, and something is stalking them. They find a hidden room in the big mansion on a hill, and an ancient diary, which gives them clues to the source of the terror. Tagline: ...He's coming for you...

Director: Joe D''Amato
Stars: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini, Mark Bodin

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15). At the End of the Tunnel (2016) (Movie Info + Poster + Trailer)

Score: 7.65/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.0/10 | IMDB Votes: 16,675 | Rotten Tomatoes: 8.3/10 | MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Plot / Synopsis: Joaquin is a computer engineer in wheelchair trapped by the imminent foreclose of his house due to the debt with his bank. Trying save it, he rents one room to Berta, an exotic dancer, and Betty, her six-years-old daughter. Meanwhile Joaquin is blocked emotionally by the remembers of his wife and daughter, dead after an accident time ago, Berta...

Director: Rodrigo Grande
Stars: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Pablo Echarri, Clara Lago, Federico Luppi, Uma Salduende

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