Couple of "off the beaten track" serial killer movies for you to see

[RGA]

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.

[Lexmark3200]

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.

Oh, what, you mean no mention of Michael Myers, Fred Kreuger, Jason Voorhees or Pinhead in your roundup of serial killers to be considered? LOL. J/K.

[RGA]

The first Halloween was excellent and I enjoyed the first Nightmare on Elm Street. The Jason movies and the Hellraiser's you can trash compact - but that wouldn't kill them.

[Lexmark3200]

The first Halloween was excellent and I enjoyed the first Nightmare on Elm Street. The Jason movies and the Hellraiser's you can trash compact - but that wouldn't kill them.

Agreed about Halloween; in my opinion, the best example of the genre ever made...and even moreso with Carpenter's classic score. One of the defining horror/thrillers IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA, no matter what anyone says. I have the Nightmare box set, and I enjoy just about every one of them....and, unlike yourself, I love the Friday the 13ths....waiting for that box collection to arrive this fall, with all eight Paramount owned films, which will be called "Friday the 13th -- From Crystal Lake to Manhattan."

[dean_martin]

Have you seen American Psycho? Does it fit in the serial killer genre? I've only caught parts of it on HBO or Showtime - can't remember which. Just wondering if it would be a decent rental.

[RGA]

I should not call them Just killer movies - both are more psychological and Felicia's Journey is a bit arty. Which is why I try to contrast them from Hollywood standard fair.

Halloween is a classic - For a long while it was in my top 100 films of all time.

Horror/thriller's still in my top 100 include: The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead(1978), Jaws, Felicia's Journey.

Top 13 for Halloween in no order.

1 Dawn of the Dead (1978)
2 Halloween
3 The Exorcist
4 Night of the Living Dead (1968)
5 The Thing (1982)
6 Scarecrows (1988)
7 Arachnophobia
8 A Nightmare on Elm Street
9 The Shining
10 Nosferatu: The Vampyre (1979)
11 An American Werewolf in London
12 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) heck of a couple of years for sci-fi/horror
13 Poltergeist

Hon mention - Felicia's Journey, Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, The Cell, Scream, The Omen, Psycho, The Changeling, Return of the Living Dead, Fright Night, The Howling, The Terminator, Alien, Aliens. --- Jacob's Ladder.

[Dusty Chalk]

I was going to mention The Cell. Completely under-rated serial killer movie.

Also, Hitcher and Manhunter, two of my favourites. Rutger Hauer was beyond in Hitcher.

I don't get why everyone liked Arachnaphobia so much. I liked it, but there were funnier horror films (more horrific comedies?). Check out Eight-Legged Freaks, for example.

[Lexmark3200]

I was going to mention The Cell. Completely under-rated serial killer movie.

Also, Hitcher and Manhunter, two of my favourites. Rutger Hauer was beyond in Hitcher.

I don't get why everyone liked Arachnaphobia so much. I liked it, but there were funnier horror films (more horrific comedies?). Check out Eight-Legged Freaks, for example.

TOTALLY agree.......I LOVED the Hitcher from the moment HBO showed it years ago.....had the VHS copy taped from HBO, and had an ex-girlfriend of mine I was seeing in Vegas (what a piece of ass; her sisters were strippers there) find a copy for me in some video store in Vegas on DVD.....and she found it! It was hard to find at the time. The film is VERY underrated, and is great. Hauer is CREEPY and perfect in that role as the mysterious and deranged John Ryder; I didnt see part II.

[Dusty Chalk]

There was a Part II?

[Lexmark3200]

I should not call them Just killer movies - both are more psychological and Felicia's Journey is a bit arty. Which is why I try to contrast them from Hollywood standard fair.

Halloween is a classic - For a long while it was in my top 100 films of all time.

Horror/thriller's still in my top 100 include: The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead(1978), Jaws, Felicia's Journey.

Top 13 for Halloween in no order.

1 Dawn of the Dead (1978)
2 Halloween
3 The Exorcist
4 Night of the Living Dead (1968)
5 The Thing (1982)
6 Scarecrows (1988)
7 Arachnophobia
8 A Nightmare on Elm Street
9 The Shining
10 Nosferatu: The Vampyre (1979)
11 An American Werewolf in London
12 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) heck of a couple of years for sci-fi/horror
13 Poltergeist

Hon mention - Felicia's Journey, Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, The Cell, Scream, The Omen, Psycho, The Changeling, Return of the Living Dead, Fright Night, The Howling, The Terminator, Alien, Aliens. --- Jacob's Ladder.

Each and every year I have a huge get together at my place and do a Halloween horror movie marathon, and the original Halloween MUST start off the night, no matter what. I am in agreement with most of the films on your list; I am right there with you on Poltergeist, Nightmare, Shining (one of Kubrick's best works), John Carpenter's The Thing (AWESOME horror flick and STILL one of the goriest --- have Universal's Collector's Edition DVD), The Exorcist (just almost my favorite film and sounds awesome in Dolby Digital EX)....and perhaps Night of the Living Dead. I enjoyed the remake of Dawn of the Dead better than the original, however.

Some other titles I show during All Hallows Eve include Halloween II, Exorcist III, Phantasm, the Amityville Horror, perhaps Halloween III, and Im right there with ya on Jaws...