With the release of David Fincher's ZODIAC on DVD, I thought it was a great time to devote This Weekend's Film Festival to true crime films. I've picked five films covering three real killings and/or killers. Four are fiction accounts of real events while one is a documentary where we hear directly from the killer. Murder, especially serial killings, often draws our attention, because it deals with the darkest reaches of the human condition. Bloody conflict between men has been part of our art and entertainment forever. We are fascinated with the fringe and extreme behavior, but why? Hopefully this lineup will address the reasons.
ZODIAC, starting off the festival, follows the killer that stalked the San Francisco area during the 1960s and 1970s. Fincher's procedural approach doesn't ramp up the drama, but uses the facts to drive along the narrative. Robert Graysmith's obsession to discover the identity of the Zodiac killer becomes the viewer's obsession, moving the film over decades of time with a brisk pace. Graysmith, a cartoonist for the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, is fascinated with the killings and unraveling the clues left by the killers. His desire to find the killer addresses one of the key fascinations with serial killers. How do they elude capture for as long as they do? Read more in my original review.
Saturday centers on the crimes of "America's first female serial killer" Aileen Wuornos. MONSTER is an amazing true crime film that won an Oscar for its lead Charlize Theron. The thriller does a great job of show another aspect of the intrigue in serial killers. What made them do it? Wuornos had a terrible life and was at rock bottom when some hope came into her life. But a life full of be kicked in the gut made her snap. It seemed she reached her breaking point and snapped. Once she crossed the line into murder there was no going back for her. She got a taste for it or more accurately she lost the revulsion. The film doesn't justify what she did or make her less at fault for it either — it just shines a light on how society helps breed killers like her. It's a searing tale that you will not forget. Read more about what raises this film above the average true crime film and why Theron absolutely deserved her Oscar in my original review.
As I wrote in my original review, Nick Broomfield 1992 documentary on Wuornos titled AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER is truly a fitting follow-up to the fictional MONSTER. Wuornos' captivating tale didn't end when she was arrested and sentenced to death. The documentary exposes another aspect of the serial killer phenomenon, which is the sensationalized media coverage. With that kind of attention, there is another dark side of humanity that will try to cash in on the tragedy. Wuornos was used and abused all her life, many times by the people she trusted and this didn't end when she went to jail. Broomfield has a knack for uncovering amazing details and presenting them in compelling and intelligent ways. What does it say about humanity when the person who murdered seven people comes off as the most sympathetic person in this tale?
Sunday focuses on the murders that made up the greatest true crime book of all time, IN COLD BLOOD. Like MONSTER, CAPOTE saw its lead transform himself and win an Oscar. As discussed in my original review, Philip Seymour Hoffman deserved his Oscar as much as Theron, but he is like Jake Gyllenhaal's Graysmith in ZODIAC; he is obsessed with the murders. It's fascinating to compare Graysmith and Capote's obsession with their investigations. But unlike Greysmith, CAPOTE address the next reason we are fascinated with murder and that is seeing the dark side of ourselves in the killers. Capote compares himself to the murderer Perry Smith, saying they seem to have come from the same childhood, but he walked out the front door while Smith walked out the back. Both Graysmith and Capote ruin their lives to some degree with their devotions to diving deeper and deeper into the cases that consume their minds. They deal with our fascination as much as they deal with the crimes that fascinate us.
Therefore, IN COLD BLOOD, a powerful true crime classic, makes a fitting end to This Weekend's Film Festival. Director Richard Brooks and cinematographer Conrad Hall transform Truman Capote's classic book into a tension and evocative thriller. Anchored by haunting performances by Robert Blake and Scott Wilson, which you can read more about in my original review, this movie uses both our curiosity into the minds of the killers as well as our desire to see them caught as its driving force. Filmed on many real locations, including the house where the murders took place, there is a chilling realism that makes the production that much more captivating. Though made in 1967, it does pull its punches, making the murders as horrifying as they really were. The film deals with another crucial aspect of why murder grips our attention. The one aspect that haunts us the most — the senselessness of it all.
This week's lineup is a chilling examination of the dark side of life. So have a fun and frightening weekend. Take a trip to the rental store or adjust the rental queue or set the DVR or search Zap2It.com to find out how you can catch them all.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
