Friday, November 12, 2004
I find serial killer films fascinating, because they have such strict conventions. For instance the cop on the case is often a chick, who ends up either falling for the killer, or empathising with him somehow. There's usually a scene where he says something like, "Admit it. You are just like me!" while our feisty heroine trembles on the other side of the cell bars. Silence of the Lambs has a lot to answer for.
And the killer has to be a near genius who has a uniquely twisted psyche and subsequent modus operandi. I mean, if he was just abused by his parents and was brutalised while serving in the army, it's not enough. His murders would be really boring, then.
No, he has to have motives of almost byzantine complexity - to make him even more frightening than the last celluloid sicko. Take the killer from Taking Lives, who is a "human hermit crab".
If this movie is anything like reality, then I could never become a serial killer! It's too much like hard work.
And the killer has to be a near genius who has a uniquely twisted psyche and subsequent modus operandi. I mean, if he was just abused by his parents and was brutalised while serving in the army, it's not enough. His murders would be really boring, then.
No, he has to have motives of almost byzantine complexity - to make him even more frightening than the last celluloid sicko. Take the killer from Taking Lives, who is a "human hermit crab".
If this movie is anything like reality, then I could never become a serial killer! It's too much like hard work.
