Director
Stephen T. Kay
Cast
Gregg Henry Dennis Rader
Joey Campbell John
Maury Chaykin Robert Beattie
Robert Forster Detective Jason Magida
Michael Michele Detective Baines
DVD Release Date: March 20, 2007
Rating: R
Running Time: 88 Minutes
The Movie
Dennis Rader was a simple man. He had a wife and two children and lived in middle class suburbia just going about his life like millions of others do everyday. Rader had worked as a Boy Scout leader, avid church goer, and a pillar of his community. He had a bachelor’s degree in electronics and worked as a security guard making money so his family could live a comfortable life without worry. Little did they know that they had more to worry about then school tuition, bills, and keeping the house clean.
From 1974 through 1991, ten gruesome murders were committed by a man who sent letters to the police and reporters admitting his guilt. The letters described the acts and the murderer claimed sole responsibility for them. Almost as if bragging and showcasing his trade to the world. He referred to himself as the “BTK” killer which stood for “bind,” “torture”, and “kill.” This was his modus operandi, or “m-o” as it has become to be known on crime drama TV shows.
For a long time the letters stopped coming from the killer and the police had come to a stopping point because they could not find out who had committed the heinous crimes. In the Spring of 2004 the letters started again.
Dennis Rader and the BTK Killer are one and the same person.
The Hunt For The BTK Killer is a not a film glorifying the acts of Rader or making it seem like he should kind of serial killer superstar. It simply tells the story of his actions and in a very interesting way.
The film takes place during the trial of Dennis Rader, after his capture in 2005, in which he graphically describes everything he did and how he did it. He details exactly how he picked those he murdered and then explains step by step the murders from the moment he meets the victims to the second of their death. The details are not nearly as descriptive as it’s been said the actual trail revealed, but this is still a movie. Through a series of flashbacks during the entire course of the film, how Rader lived the life as a family man and as a murdered is explained.
All the flashbacks also shows how Detective Jason Magida was there for the very first murder that Rader committed and knew he would never forget the sights in front of him that night. He also didn’t know that over thirty years later he would still be dealing with the exact same suspect and many more of the same gruesome scenes he witnessed on that horrible night back in 1974.
It’s hard to really judge how good the film really is because it has the possibility of being a lot better than it turns out. The story is a fantastic one and Gregg Henry is absolutely perfect as the creepy Dennis Rader, but not enough time is given to any aspect of the film. The first series of murders from 1974 to 1991 is passed over so quickly that it’s a thing of the past before we are even halfway though. It then jumps to when Rader started sending the letters again in 2004 and the occasional flashback again.
There in lies the problem as BTK went from the mixing of two stories into three and things just get out of hand with the trial, flashbacks to ’74-’91, and flashbacks to ’04-’05. It’s still easy to follow along but the enjoyment of the film is taken away when it could have been a straight-forward story from the beginning of his reign of terror to his capture. Being a horror fan, there is also a lot of letdown seeing that a movie about one of the most well known serial killers ever doesn’t have really a single drop of blood except in still photographs.
Filmmakers dropped the ball by trying to fit too much into an hour and a half when just thirty more minutes and a bit more thought could have made this a much better picture. They just didn’t sit for a minute and think to themselves, “How can we take a story that’s already written for us and make it into a good film.” Perhaps that right there is the reason it went straight to DVD instead of heading to theaters first.
The Video
The film is shown in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and looks perfectly adequate. I say “adequate” because some scenes look great bright, solid colors; while other scenes look like old Unsolved Mysteries segments. A lot of the murder scenes and some flashbacks are grainy and out of focus, but it seems they purposely did it that way to make the scenes more intense.
The Audio
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and there are no problems in this department. There isn’t much happening in the film other than dialogue since it’s a lot of court scenes and narration, so all there is to go on besides that is the faint background music which sounds just fine.
Special Features
Trailers – The Da Vinci Code, Mountain Patrol, and Stephen King Presents Kingdom Hospital
The Inside Pulse
I really wanted to like this film and the thing is I actually did. As mish-mashed as it got halfway into to it through the end, I still thought the film was a good story and done in an interesting perspective. It just had the potential to be so much better and that made me more disappointed then entertained. Throw in the fact that there are no special features and the DVD score drops even lower. Some actual clues or police footage or something could have really made the special features jump out, but we get nothing. If you liked Unsolved Mysteries, then you’ll enjoy this as I did but just wish they had done more.
