Serial killers intrigue me very much. It's something about the dark side of human nature that seems unimaginable. This film was documentary director Nick Broomfield's first film on serial killer Aileen Wuornos (the second used footage from this film and was released in 2003 to coincide with the release of MONSTER). The title of the film is perfect. Sadly enough, it seems that a good deal of the people in Aileen's life tried to capitalize on her crimes.
This doc works as a sad postscript to the feature film MONSTER, which was one of the best films of 2003. Wuornos killed seven men, mainly truck drivers, in the early '80s. She was a woman who pretty much got the roughest deal since birth. She was pretty much bred to become a killer. In a very emotional speech, Wuornos chronicles the beating and rape she endured from the first man she killed. She's truly the only person in the film that I thought was honest.
Arlene Pralle, a self-described born-again Christian, adopted the 35-year-old killer, because Aileen's eyes showed she could not have been guilty of the crimes that she was charged with. When Aileen needed someone the most, Arlene came in and convinced her to plead guilty. I guess Aileen's eyes changed or something. Then Arlene and the lawyer she hired off a 1-800 number on TV start demanding payments for interviews, with not only Aileen, but her and the lawyer as well. Arlene Pralle represents everything that gives Christians a bad name. She is disgusting. In addition, there's proof that Aileen's lover, Tyria Moore, who never said anything about the murders to police to stop them and was living off Aileen's hookering, had made a deal with police to rat out Aileen in turn for not being charged and helping police officials get movie deals on the story.
Aileen killed seven people, but the people around her were more evil than her, because they deviously planned their wrongs, hiding behind the face of an angel. In some ways, Aileen was less culpable for her crimes because she had snapped and didn't really understand what she was doing fully. When Aileen claims that she killed all the men in self-defense, I believe that in her mind she feels this is true even though it's not. This film is an amazing look at how greed is easily the deadliest sin of them all.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
