H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer

H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer (2004)

*** (out of 4)

Good, 64-minute documentary taking a look at H.H. Holmes, the Chicago doctor who has become known as American's first true serial killer. Throughout the documentary we learn about Holmes early life including his alternate names and then we get into details about his time at the University of Michigan where he got to "act out" his fantasy of working with dead bodies. This leads to him getting a job in Chicago and then building a castle where he would put acid baths, secret pathways, torture devices and this would become the final resting place to an unknown amount of people. Director and writer John Borowski does a pretty good job at telling the story of this madman and he does this by voice-over narration as well as interviews with experts on the subject. It's clear that no one will ever really know how many people he slaughtered but I just found it rather amazing that no one suspicions were ever risen to the point to where they'd at least take a look at this guy. I mean, not only did he kill people but he would then sell their skeletons to medical schools. It was also fascinating learning about the 1893 Columbian Exposition where apparently fifty people went missing but again no one can tell how many were at the hands of Holmes. I think the weakest thing in the documentary are the reenactments, which really weren't all that impressive. Still, that's just a minor complaint as I'm sure many people might be interested in the subject and will find that there hasn't been too many looks at him. Overall this documentary is worth watching if you're interested in hearing about the subject.

Imagine you wanted to do an exploitation documentary about a character that has been mostly ignored by history.

Most people know very little about H. H. Holmes, the serial killer. So you google the guy, put together about ten pages of notes, and then do a walk-through of the mansion, using whatever photos are on file.

You get a documentary that goes like this: "Here is bedroom #4, where several women may have been murdered." Then you do the same for the rest of the house, and soon you have a one hour documentary that has very little real documentation of anything, and no information that is new or interesting.

You can google everything that is in this documentary in ten minutes or less, and save yourself 64 minutes of boring narration. There are no credible sources used, no orignal investigation records/documents from the FBI or any other Law Enforcement Agency, just information that was googled and cobbled together into a very bogus documentary.

This came across like a documentary made by very talented eighth graders. The only saving grace is the narrator which ultimately actually makes the whole thing even more cheesy with his delightful British accent which has no connection whatsoever with this American killer. The one thing I'm grateful for is the very minimal amount of bad reenactment acting- t although its limited presence is, indeed, terrible. The only reason I suffered through this is because I'm interested in serial killers and I have never heard of this particular one- it was seriously a chore to watch this whole thing. Additionally I think it should be noted that in my 48 years of movie watching I've never been compelled to write a bad review about anything before today. Let that alone be a testament to its quality

This should have just been some kind of podcast. Seriously? LOL all it showed was some old photographs. I gave it four stars for finally outing his grandson about all his historical inaccuracies in his book Bloodstains.

Being a bit of a "true crime" buff, it's always nice to see a documentary that is well researched and contains all the most important elements of a true story. That appears to be the case in this well-made documentary film about late 1800's serial-killer HH Holmes. Writer/Director John Borowski pulls this story out of the basement and reintroduces it to the world in this engrossing documentary. You've heard the names Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy, but have you heard the name HH Holmes? Maybe not. His crimes took place during the late 1800's and have been overshadowed by the gruesome misadventure of more recent killers. However, those of you that are interested in the whole "true crime" thing might be intrigued to learn of Holmes' horrific crimes and how they share similarities in some aspects with modern killers such as Bundy, Dahmer, and other notorious bad boys. A Must See for true crime buffs!