The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story (2008/Genius DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: D Extras: D Feature: D
There’s a
very good reason why this is “The Untold Story” and it’s because there is no
story. This movie is an hour and a half
of telling you who was not the Boston
Strangler. There are no revelations
and there are no intriguing new theories. There is just a fictional plot about what real
people probably didn’t say behind closed doors. In 1964, Albert De Salvo confessed to being the infamous Boston
Strangler. Since his death, it has been
determined that there were multiple killers and his confession has been
discounted. Based on this,
writer/director Michael Feifer has made a movie that suggests the rather
mundane and uninteresting motive of money for his false confession.
The
writing is poor and the acting is worse, with more fake Boston accents than you
can shake a stick at. The movie looks
like it was directed by a film student who has yet to graduate, and there is an
annoying abundance of windows which always end up as a blown-out white blob
that takes up half of the screen.
In the
more darkly lit scenes, it is abundantly clear that the movie was shot on
video. In the lighter scenes there is
perhaps more detail than you might want to see of several aging actors’ faces. And there’s something about the motion that
doesn’t look quite right. All of this;
packaged in a 16:9 screen. The sound was
all recorded on location, which resulted in some audible echoes, undesirably
loud ambient sounds, and the occasional intruding room tone.
The only
extra features on the disc are a trailer that at least accurately reflects the
quality of the film, and a commentary track that reveals the filmmakers to be
about as irritating as the people who talk during a movie in the theater.
In the
concluding paragraph I usually try to think of who might enjoy a film, despite
any flaws it may have. In this case,
however, I have drawn a blank. If the
friends and family of the filmmakers can somehow get around owning a copy of
this movie, they would be better off to do so.
For more
on the better Richard Fleischer/Tony Curtis film version of story, try this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1598/Boston+Strangler
- Matthew Carrick
