Gacy

Trailer—Gacy

This film focus around the life of John Wayne Gacy.One of the most famous serial killers alive,but he's dead now.I was expecting a film about him right after I seen Ed Gein and Dahmer.Ed Gein was the best,Dahmer was creepy,and this was slow at times,but still good for what it's worth.Now what makes this slow is that you expect the film to show a lot of his killings.It don't,but focused on his insainty as a man and others around him.We see flashbacks here and there,just to show how he got to the way he is now.And a few killings and rapes.What saved the film was Mark's performance as Gacy,in which he has fun with the role by putting a little comdey in it.It's a great rent and a good buy,but beware of slowest.

It's easy to understand why some viewers didn't appreciate this movie. The quantity of violence is low, considering its subject matter. It's not a comprehensive biography either. However, it is a nicely directed film, which hammers home (no pun intended) the essence of who this amazing character was. Mark Holton's naturalistic portrayal of John Wayne Gacy is startlingly three dimensional. Knowing what this man did, it is shocking the first time he utters a casually humorous jibe, and we realize that he was indeed the guy next door who you'd really never suspect. He's more John Goodman than Norman Bates, and when he does unleash a bit of violence, it's all the more horrific. There are a few minor quibbles with the script. Gacy's oblivious attitude toward the police who are obviously casing him points to the fact that he subconsciously wanted to be stopped, but this is never clarified, and leaves the viewer wondering about his behavior. Although there are no scenes of him doing his clown act, he does appear in very creepy clown make-up and the clown paintings are awesome. They were all so well-done that I had the feeling they were either Gacy's real work (if so, he was quite an artist) or that the art department was exceptionally talented. If you want an exploitative hack 'em up, try DRILLER KILLER by Tobe Hooper. If you want a well-produced biofilm about an extremely disturbed and disturbing individual, this one is worth checking out. If I had kids I'd force them to watch this as a cautionary tale.

Hey, how about all those neighbors that were always wondering what that awful smell was that was coming from under his house? Gacy as the unenviable distinction of being one of the few serial killers to rival the depravity of fellow psychopath Ed Gein, whose antisocial antics led to the inspiration of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, and Psycho. Gacy was less into wearing other people's skin as he was into strangling and sodomizing young men, providing plenty of material for a sick biography like this, which of course lots of sick people like me will go out and rent. Why we all get such a kick out watching things like this (by "we all," of course, I am referring to all of us sick people who get such a kick out of watching things like this) I am not sure I rightly know, but I think Gacy is a well made film, given its subject matter and it's limited production capabilities. Sure, there are numerous holes, none of the acting is very impressive other than Mark Holton's (who played Gacy himself), and the movie commits that cardinal sin of the movies, it throws logic out the window. The whole premise of the movie, as was the case in Gacy's life, is that John Wayne Gacy was a regular guy next door that no one would ever have suspected, but in the movie the quickness with which everyone dismisses the smell of rotting meat coming from under his house is a little trying. I don't know enough about the details of Gacy's life to know is people actually did smell decay from under his house and ignore, but I can't help but think that even if that did happen, it was dramatized for effect, as they say, in the movie. The thing that is most disturbing about a movie like this is that if someone had written a screenplay like this that was entirely fictional, they would probably have gotten a similar response that Wes Craven got when Last House on the Left was released. People didn't want him to be allowed to work in film again, and yet when it is based on true events people have this morbid fascination with it. Not that that's anything new, it just seems odd to me that people are more offended by fictional violence than true violence. I like that the movie has a lot of restraint when it comes to showing the things that Gacy actually did to his victims. We are not entirely spared a look at how he killed some of his victims (this would have offended some of Gacy's fans, if you can believe that such a man has them), but the movie leaves most of the more heinous acts offscreen, concentrating more on things like thousands of crawling maggots and the inevitable smell emitted from the rotting corpses under his house. Most estimate that Gacy killed something like 30 young men, others say we may never know how many he killed. Holton does a great job with the script, which is not the best, and is especially good at making us believe that Gacy was able to be charming despite how frightening he could be when he was visiting the other half of his personality. It is indeed unsettling to think that a man who dressed up like a clown to entertain sick kids at a hospital could be killing large numbers of young men and doing things much more horrible than sodomy to them, but if you want to get a few insights into how and why he did it, this film is not a bad place to start. Note: I've read that, while this movie concentrates on the story from Gacy's point of view, there is also a television movie called To Catch A Killer that focuses more on the police investigation side of the story.

I hadn't heard much about the Gacy Killings before I saw this movie. I guess you could say I'm uncultured considering he is one of the most well known serial killers of America. Anyway, I decided to give this movie a go, because I'm starting to open up to movies that aren't all about comedy and this seemed like a good contrast to try. I was quite disappointed by the lack of depth. It seemed to just fill time with the same thing over and over again. He goes out, picks up a boy, brings him home and well...we know the rest. I suppose the main problem was the fact that we never really got an insight into him and how he thought and his real reasons for doing what he did. We had a little taste of his childhood and his abusive father right at the beginning of the film and heard a few flashback sounds throughout the film as constant reminders but that was it. We also never really saw how this affected everybody else around him. His co-workers, friends, neighbours, wife, mother, children. I mean they were all a part of his life and even lived in the same house. It would have been nice to include this in the storyline. I feel this film was more of a documentary to tell people who he was and what he did rather than open up a bit of light as to what went on behind it all. I've seen other serial killer movies and they all seem to at least explain a little as to what is going on. We never really got a look at it through his eyes, which is what I guess everybody will be expecting to see. Overall, it was a pretty boring account of what happened and although my thoughts go out to those that were lost and the people that were affected by these real life events. I feel this film has done nothing but bring back painful memories for those involved. A film best left alone... If you're thinking of watching this movie. I suggest you do it on a night where you've got nothing better to do because it really isn't that entertaining.

After watching "Gacy" and knowing the story behind the film, you can understand a little why so many people have a fear of clowns. John Wayne Gacy (Mark Holton, who many people may remember from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure")seems like the typical old man next door. However, he has problems with his crawlspace. There's a constant smell coming from it. And there's a reason for it: Gacy buries his victims under his house, his mother totally oblivious to what is going on in her son's house and his wife is wondering about her husband's strange behavior (Like the * mags with guys and his little "hideaway."). Even his new house guest, Tom (Charlie Webber)is wondering about him, although he still stays with him despite the weird vibes: sounds coming from the crawlspace, the films with boys and the box loaded with watches. It's only a matter of time when all of Gacy's secrets are revealed (Especially when he runs out of room in his crawlspace). The film is incredibly creepy (the constant views of a bug infested crawlspace;dragging a body past his sleeping mother;killing a boy while dressed as a clown)and just as disturbing (Especially as he just walks around a body that's just lying around in his house). Gacy was a monster and Holton does an incredible performance in his portrayal of Gacy.

"Gacy" is a great example of a film that tries to do way too much and tries way too hard to do it. We are treated to a very vague portrait of a man who was an historically vicious serial killer. Along the way there are attempts at comedy that do not work at all, too many victims that look too much like actors, and a lot of nonsense that couldn't have happened and never really did happen. Keep in mind that the movie was penned by a screenwriter, it is not any kind of J.W. Gacy biography. If you view it with this in mind, I suppose it could be mildly entertaining, but if seen through intelligent eyes, it stands out as an exploitative, ridiculous and overly ambitious serial killer thriller film that romps through way too much unnecessary filler material. Not scary, not funny, not realistic. Not recommended. 3 out of 10, kids.

Having a low budget doesn't always mean having a bad movie, but in this case it does. While other directors use their minimal budget to produce the best film they can, Clive Saunders seems to have blown it all on something, because this film looks like it could have easily been made on $1,000. I found it to be dull, poorly written/acted/directed, and an insult to the intelligence of viewers who have actually done the research on Gacy that these film makers neglected to do. The setting is horrible. The movie is supposed to be taking place in Chicago, but the Southern California architecture, mountains and palm trees make it clear that the production never left Los Angeles. The film is supposed to take place in the seventies, but it doesn't give off the authentic feel at all. The script gives one the feeling that it was a first draft whipped up in one weekend and put to film without so much as one editing session. The dialogue is weak and unbelievable in many scenes, and there seemed no basic plot whatsoever. With directing, editing and shoddy camera work such as appears in this film, these people should be banned from ever making films again. Seriously, I could do better with a bunch of friends and a camcorder. Now, I want to start right off by saying that I did not go into this hoping for blood and guts and gore...what I wanted was to learn a little background on the man himself. Although I love those aspects of horror films, I wanted more of a psychological view of Gacy, and that is what the film failed to deliver. All it managed to do was show scenes of bugs in his crawl space, him going to and from work, him being harassed and beaten up for the money he owes, and the overwhelming emphasis placed on the stench of the decomposing bodies hidden under the house. Worst of all, Gacy is portrayed as somewhat of a bumbling idiot rather than the scarily intelligent being he was. All of the deaths that are shown seem to have been committed on accident - such as the boy he was drowning in the bathtub when he was interrupted. When the boy fell down dead, he looked like he'd "made a boo-boo."- Not to mention the fact that he would leave dead bodies lying around the house and his roommates wouldn't take any notice. I realize that some people don't make it their business to report suspicious crimes or get involved, but that is just ridiculous. Yes, I will admit that I wanted at least one scene of brutal violence from the film, but only for it to give me a full perspective of Gacy's crimes. I wanted a true story that did the story of the killer justice as well as creep me out, but instead I received this boring mess. Don't do like I did. Spare your intelligence and read up on Gacy instead, I guarantee you that what you read will entertain and scare you more than this film ever could.

I have to admit that when I first thought about seeing this movie, I had my doubts about it. I wasn't too sure about seeing it at first. But, after I did see it, I loved it! This is an awesome film. I figured that this movie would be predictable from the beginning and that it wouldn't be worth the time. But I was wrong. What I particularly liked about this movie was that even at the end, it sort of keeps you wondering what happened next. I can't help it... I have to spoil just one part. Even though, Gacy is executed for his actions at the end... Not that it really shows that but tells you about it at the end. It doesn't just give all of the information to you. And that is what makes it such a good movie. This movie is based on the life of John Wayne Gacy... basically a serial killer... It's amazing how much he got away with for so long without anyone ever knowing about it.... And what I still don't understand is how his family didn't really know about what the guy was up to until the end of the movie.

Just saw "Gacy". A very disappointing movie to say the least. It glossed over the long, bloody career of a serial killer with jump cuts of bugs in a crawlspace. The movie never addressed the true horror of Gacy's crimes. The fact that he presented the image of a kind neighbor to the world, his sexual abuse and torture of his victims, the cat-and-mouse game he played with the police. Gacy was a sick man who brutalized his victims. To show him drowning one in a bathtub, while dressed as a clown no less, is nowhere near as horrible as the true story. The film makers would have had a better product if they had told more of the real story. While watching the film, I felt that the audience was never allowed to get near enough to Gacy to see the real man. He was shown as a distant, rude, brutish man which is not the case. Serial killers, by their nature, must be warm and friendly seeming in order to lure their victims into their trap. The man portrayed in this movie could never have eluded suspicion while committing his crimes. Gacy actually did charity work and was recognized by the city of Chicago for his contributions, all the while he was torturing and killing young men. This movie, while trying to scare and horrify the audience, missed the mark completely. The real story of John Wayne Gacy is far more horrific than this watered down telling.