The Psychopath in Film examines the cognitive and emotional proficiency of psychopaths at surviving the goodness juggernaut using a model that takes into account three different levels of cognition and two levels of emotion. The prominent force of the soulless creature created in the cinema schemes as a connoisseur of evil. However, the psychopath must work at making evil work. Wayne Wilson assembles the cognitive and emotional fundamentals essential for evil's success. Cognitively, the psychopaths must possess the ability to maintain a calculating secrecy, they must harbor a flair for misdirection, and they must choose freely to abdicate responsibility while victimizing others. Emotionally, psychopaths should not feel remorse for their actions, and may benefit from the capacity to experience exuberance over their wicked ways, which tends to be the most compelling trait of psychopaths in films. This study delves into these tendencies as represented in the characters created in movies from classics through modern film, focusing on the question of the psychopath's possession of the aptitude to commit undue harm.

chapter 1 Preface chapter 2 The 3/2 Model: Introduction; Evil Is; Evil's Imperfections; The Cinematic Psychopath chapter 3 The Busy Psychopath: Character; Breach of Character; Mood & Circumstance; Materialism; Spiritualism; Justice and Keyser Soze chapter 4 Bibliography chapter 5 Film Index chapter 6 Person Index chapter 7 Subject Index chapter 8 About the Author