Silence of the Lambs is usually the first one most think of when serial killer movies crop up but I've seen one recently and bought one I had seen before that may have been overlooked.

The first is an HBO special called Citizen X based on a true story of a Russian serial killer in Soviet Russia. The film is focused on a forensics expert(Stephen Rea) who has been put in charge of an investigation when several children turn up dead. The movie is about the difficulties Rea goes through just to get government support (as one bureaucrat notes "We don''t have serial killers in Russia - that is a Western Phenomenon.") Rea is trying to get help from experts in the FBI but battles with the Russian Elite to admit that there is a child killer on the loose. The film has depth as we get to know both the detective and the serial killer to haunting depths and the sense of frustration being imposed by a government trying to save face than save children.

The Film Stars Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland and is thoroughly enjoyable.


The other film is Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey starring Bob Hoskins - My choice for best actor in 1999 - typical of Egoyan's films, character is placed above plot - and we get a wholly realized serial killer as well as Felicia(outstanding performance from Elaine Cassidy) who has the misfortune to meet Joseph Hilditch(Hoskins). The Hoskins character is more believeable than the Fun but shallow Hannibal Lecter.

There is a slow boiling uneasiness about Hoskins and an Oedipus psychology intertwined like a curtling of the milk of his twisted mind. Both actors are a treat as their lives are pitiable - the performances are bang on like a well constructed and musical dance. It's intelligent - only a slight contrivance toward the end crops up but can be forgiven in lieu of its plausability. IMO this is a vastly superior film to Silence of the Lambs - Felicia's Journey is more believable, more intricate, smarter, and yes even better acted than Silence. It is also an eerily creepy film - which frees itself from melodrama and falls into the modern tragedy camp. This was one of the best films of the 1990's - arguably along with Citizen X that if you like this subject matter are some to rent.

Most remember The Sweet Hereafter and Exotica as Egoyan's best films, but Felicia's Journey is right there and I like this one best.