I watched The Hunt for the BTK Killer earlier this year, and I remember being impressed by the performance of the lead. Since this was a documentary, I expected it to actually be a little more tame than the fictionalized account. Instead, it’s actually got some much darker material in it. And despite dipping further into darkness, it’s mostly about a strong sense of positivity in the face of hard times.
The subject, Charlie, seems like an interesting guy, but the documentary focuses so tightly on his feelings about the murders, and his efforts to stay in control of his life that the movie never feels like it gets all that intimate with the subject.
Where the movie really shines in in the courtroom footage of Dennis Rader. It turns out that the fictionalized account of the story was actually sanitized quite a bit. Seeing the courtroom footage actually details more of how these murders happened. In particular, the hanging death of the girl was glossed over. This information makes some of the other little details of Rader’s acts and artwork make sense.
So, as it is, this was better than I expected. I thought it would be a straight retread of the same material, but this was much more informative.
Oddly, this is also released under a few other titles, including a strange title card at the end - Feast of the Assumption.
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