Saw this at Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, NC. This film nails the true-crime documentary format, with two hard-boiled detectives relating the story of how they worked to track down a serial killer in San Bernardino County, CA. It's like an extended edition of Dateline crossed with horror, and that's a grand compliment.
There are a lot of killings for the detectives to describe, but leads Peter Zizzo (Det. Joe Kirby) and Terri Apple (Det. Alexis 'Lexi' Taylor) keep it intensely interesting. Their sincere performance helps ground the film, which has a lot of pretty horrifying details to relate.
Although their testimony are mostly filmed seated (separately) in a studio, there are plenty of on-site details of the murders, and insightful and realistic interviews with the people who knew the victims.
The identity of the killer, who calls himself Mr. Shiny, and his reason for his killing spree is kept partially unknown to us until late in the film, which helps slowly ratchet up the suspense from beginning to end.
The film is quite gory, as it doesn't shy away from showing us the aftermath of the murders, each grisly in its own warped way.
When you realize the real reason for the murders (which you might guess sooner than I), the film takes on another dimension of fright.
To finish, if you like police procedurals, but find them too tame, this fictional account is a remarkable likeness of the format, as long as you're ready for some disturbing images.
