Festered
10-11-2008, 10:49 AM
Director Richard Fleischer made one of the most understated films about a sensational topic ever. The thing that will strike you most, upon completion of it's viewing, is how quiet it all was. Antonioni's Blow-Up gives you the same feeling. After his showier tour-de-force, The Boston Strangler, Fleisher did a complete turn around.
The film concerns the notorious British serial killer John Christie(played brilliantly by Richard Attenborough). John Hurt and Judy Geeson play the young couple "taken in" by their treacherous landlord. Christie, acting as an ersatz abortionist, offers his services to the gullible in his neighborhood. His modus operendi is a lethal dosing of ether mixed with carbon monoxide. The film's ending is slightly ambiguous, but in real life ended with the abolition of the death penalty in England. I wont give away plot points, but this is a must see for avid crime fans, and a true glimpse into the mind of the quiet human monster. 10/10
The film concerns the notorious British serial killer John Christie(played brilliantly by Richard Attenborough). John Hurt and Judy Geeson play the young couple "taken in" by their treacherous landlord. Christie, acting as an ersatz abortionist, offers his services to the gullible in his neighborhood. His modus operendi is a lethal dosing of ether mixed with carbon monoxide. The film's ending is slightly ambiguous, but in real life ended with the abolition of the death penalty in England. I wont give away plot points, but this is a must see for avid crime fans, and a true glimpse into the mind of the quiet human monster. 10/10