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Gacy, 2003, Directed by Clive Saunders. Starring Mark Holton as John Wayne Gacy, Charlie Weber. Rated R.
John Wayne Gacy was the serial killer that wreaked havoc in Des Plains Illinois back in the 70’s. It’s estimated that he killed over 29 young men and buried them in the crawlspace beneath his small suburban home. He was a respected man and often performed as Pogo the Clown at many of his neighbor’s birthday parties. But it was his penchant for killing young men after having sex with them that eventually led to his death by lethal injection at Menard Correctional facility in 1994.
Gacy the film is a basic movie that fails to give insight into why one man would kill another. Early in the film, in an alcoholic rage, we see that his father, played by Adam Baldwin likes to physically abuse John for no other reason than to provoke him, perhaps to antagonize him out of his shyness.
Films like Gacy rarely get made except for the occasional Court TV movie, or the toned down Lifetime special, because trying to depict the real life of a serial killer is in the worst of taste. I believe movies based on incidents such as the Gacy case are primarily over-the-top productions, slasher films, because the fact that your neighbor might be hiding bodies in his crawlspace is much too frightening to voluntarily watch. Take for instance the scene where Gacy’s neighbor comfronts him about the putrid smell emitting from the basement. “I’m going to call the cops!” his neighbor says. “Kiss my a**!” replies Gacy slamming his front door in the man’s face. In a conventional horror movie the killer, having been found out or threatened by someone would inevitably stalk down and kill the person at his heels. Not so here. Gacy just goes on with his normal life obviously annoyed that his neighbor is getting closer to the truth.
Mark Holton plays John Wayne Gacy and does a fine job. He plays his part subtly and never loses his cool even when the police begin to suspect he may be hiding something. Gacy takes a liking to a confused youth named Tom, played by Charlie Weber. Weber gives a fine performance here as a young man trying to avoid Gacy’s advances, but remain employed by him at the same time.
Gacy is one of those movies that could not be better, and could not be worse. Many famous slasher films are based on this kind of storytelling, but as I said before they tend to add more blood, and embellish events so much that they should be classified as science fiction. Gacy stays the course and never becomes a modern horror movie extravaganza, and that’s what gives it a certain edge. It’s not extraordinarily well made, but neither was John Wayne Gacy.
Gacy:
DVD is presented in fullscreen format and includes a trailer and commentary by Director Clive Saunders
John Wayne Gacy was the serial killer that wreaked havoc in Des Plains Illinois back in the 70’s. It’s estimated that he killed over 29 young men and buried them in the crawlspace beneath his small suburban home. He was a respected man and often performed as Pogo the Clown at many of his neighbor’s birthday parties. But it was his penchant for killing young men after having sex with them that eventually led to his death by lethal injection at Menard Correctional facility in 1994.
Gacy the film is a basic movie that fails to give insight into why one man would kill another. Early in the film, in an alcoholic rage, we see that his father, played by Adam Baldwin likes to physically abuse John for no other reason than to provoke him, perhaps to antagonize him out of his shyness.
Films like Gacy rarely get made except for the occasional Court TV movie, or the toned down Lifetime special, because trying to depict the real life of a serial killer is in the worst of taste. I believe movies based on incidents such as the Gacy case are primarily over-the-top productions, slasher films, because the fact that your neighbor might be hiding bodies in his crawlspace is much too frightening to voluntarily watch. Take for instance the scene where Gacy’s neighbor comfronts him about the putrid smell emitting from the basement. “I’m going to call the cops!” his neighbor says. “Kiss my a**!” replies Gacy slamming his front door in the man’s face. In a conventional horror movie the killer, having been found out or threatened by someone would inevitably stalk down and kill the person at his heels. Not so here. Gacy just goes on with his normal life obviously annoyed that his neighbor is getting closer to the truth.
Mark Holton plays John Wayne Gacy and does a fine job. He plays his part subtly and never loses his cool even when the police begin to suspect he may be hiding something. Gacy takes a liking to a confused youth named Tom, played by Charlie Weber. Weber gives a fine performance here as a young man trying to avoid Gacy’s advances, but remain employed by him at the same time.
Gacy is one of those movies that could not be better, and could not be worse. Many famous slasher films are based on this kind of storytelling, but as I said before they tend to add more blood, and embellish events so much that they should be classified as science fiction. Gacy stays the course and never becomes a modern horror movie extravaganza, and that’s what gives it a certain edge. It’s not extraordinarily well made, but neither was John Wayne Gacy.
Gacy:
DVD is presented in fullscreen format and includes a trailer and commentary by Director Clive Saunders
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I have been formatted to fit this screen.
r66-The member who always asks WHY?
I have been formatted to fit this screen.
r66-The member who always asks WHY?
Last edited by r3port3r66; 08-15-03 at 02:58 PM.