Starring Gregg Henry as Dennis Lynn Rader. At times his interpretation is downright eerie, as I can compare it to what I've seen in a recent documentary. At other moments I felt he was overdoing it a little, but mostly he was relatively convincing. The final scene (the interrogation) was in any case impressive.
The role of Robert Forster was quite dull, as were many of his lines. It felt like his part was there to convince the audience of how hard the police had worked and how dangerous and crazy the world out there really is. Point taken, but not very well worked out here (also see next paragraph). On top of that, Rader practically turned himself in...
Then, the film falls apart a little with all the different angles; that of Rader('s personality as an older dog catcher and Christian family man), the police('s investigation, which was rather dull - although I had not heard before about those subliminal messages), the murders (which aimed for more tension, though they were sparse and short), the letters and the taunting, the biographer, the panic caused among the people, the waitress... Now, that's a lot, and it wasn't quite coming together as a whole, though some individual scenes worked really well.
'Of course', not all of this TV-movie is completely accurate, but that was to be expected; most movies like these are dramatized and facts can always be found through various other sources. And more so, since this one is mostly about the year before his apprehension (many years after his crimes), I'd say this film does not cover all by a long shot...
All in all: not bad, not great, just about doable. A small 6 out of 10.
The role of Robert Forster was quite dull, as were many of his lines. It felt like his part was there to convince the audience of how hard the police had worked and how dangerous and crazy the world out there really is. Point taken, but not very well worked out here (also see next paragraph). On top of that, Rader practically turned himself in...
Then, the film falls apart a little with all the different angles; that of Rader('s personality as an older dog catcher and Christian family man), the police('s investigation, which was rather dull - although I had not heard before about those subliminal messages), the murders (which aimed for more tension, though they were sparse and short), the letters and the taunting, the biographer, the panic caused among the people, the waitress... Now, that's a lot, and it wasn't quite coming together as a whole, though some individual scenes worked really well.
'Of course', not all of this TV-movie is completely accurate, but that was to be expected; most movies like these are dramatized and facts can always be found through various other sources. And more so, since this one is mostly about the year before his apprehension (many years after his crimes), I'd say this film does not cover all by a long shot...
All in all: not bad, not great, just about doable. A small 6 out of 10.