[6] Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man) stars as a serial killer who goes to therapy about his dark compulsion. Turns out the guy has serious Freudian issues involving his mother, father, and sister — anyone who reminds him of them tends to get stabbed. The police are on the case, but can they stop him before his paternal-acting shrink becomes the next victim? The …
[2] James Spader and Keanu Reeves star in this tired, busily boring, and wretchedly made thriller about a serial killer who likes to play games with the FBI agent on his trail. I can’t fault Spader for doing his best here as the agent, now retired and in psychotherapy with Marisa Tomei. Tomei, who I think is underrated, has precious little to do. It’s clear …
[7] Director Justin Kurzel tells the true story of Australia’s most notorious serial killer through the eyes of his teenaged accomplice. Teenager Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) falls in with his mother’s new boyfriend, John Bunting (Daniel Henshall). Bunting becomes a father figure to Jamie and preys on the boy’s feelings of insecurity, transforming him into his own private henchman. First, they scare a molester out of …
[6] A composer suffers from frequent black-outs and begins to wonder if he’s not responsible for a series of murdered women in the area. Hangover Square is a very good dark drama featuring a great performance by Laird Cregar. Some say this movie is a remake of 1944’s The Lodger (also starring Cregar), which is in turn a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 film The …
[5] A London couple begin to suspect their new lodger might be a serial killer who preys on blonde women. And it just so happens their daughter is blonde. And dating one of the detectives on the case. Even though it’s a short film, I had trouble keeping alert throughout The Lodger — maybe I’m just not accustomed to watching many silent films. Still, I …
[5] Clint Eastwood plays a detective (who isn’t Dirty Harry) assigned to a case involving a serial rapist and murderer whose victims begin to include Eastwood’s acquaintances. This is a paint-by-numbers serial killer movie, full of all the old cliches — like the closeups of the killer’s feet, the old ‘close the refrigerator door to reveal the killer’ gag, and bare breasts galore. Eastwood’s performance …
[8] Charlize Theron stars as Aileen Wuornos, the infamous Florida prostitute who became a serial killer, in this film chronicling her last few months of freedom before being captured and executed in 2002. Writer/director Patty Jenkins doesn’t shy away from Wuornos’ crimes, but aims to paint a more complex portrait of the woman who committed them. Monster introduces us to Wuornos as she’s contemplating suicide, …
[6] Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd mostly succeed in saving this somewhat pedestrian thriller from Lifetime Movie territory. Freeman plays a policeman in search of a possible serial killer and Judd plays the one woman who was able to escape the killer. Together, they try to piece together her memories to find the killer and free the growing collection of young women he has collected. …
[8] Al Pacino plays a New York police detective who goes deep under cover within the city’s S&M community to catch a serial killer preying on gay men. Director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) stirred controversy for his depiction of the leather subculture. The gay community feared straight America might see the film and assume all gay men were leather daddies with Tom …
[6] If you wanted to remake William Lustig’s 1980 slasher cornerstone with an abundance of point-of-view shots, you probably couldn’t do a better a job than Franck Khalfoun did with this remake. Maniac is beautiful and imaginative, photographed almost entirely from the killer’s (Elijah Wood’s) point of view. You really only see him in mirrors and other reflective surfaces. On one hand, the conceit is …
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