Freeway Killer (2009)

A Masterpiece!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

OK, I don't want to say this movie had a "great " plot because the actual events were horrible and tragic. But the source material and all the information surrounding it was enough to give to writer and director what they needed to make this a chilling , horror classic. Though I was actually a little young at the time of these events , seeing the story on an episode of "very bad men " on ID channel made me want to take a closer look at this story. Anyway to be honest, this felt so much like a b movie, the acting, directing, the editing, even the music , that even though I sat through it, I didn't feel the performances where believable. I see some of the reviewers here are commending Scott Anthony Leet for his acting but I just didn't get it. It was a little over the top at times but forgettable. I don't believe you need a big Hollywood budget to make this movie great because it doesn't require a bunch go cgi effect or anything. It needs a great director. And a major part of what really happened was left out. I just felt like this was a missed opportunity. This movie just wasn't as dark as it needed to be in light of the tragedy of the real life events. The over all tone was just amateurish.

I happened to watch "The Shining" the other day and as I flipped through channels today I found this excellent little movie- and an excellent actor channeling ol' Jack (Torrance/Nicholson). I really like the low budget feel of the movie and to be honest even the anachronisms. There are a few well done movies from the last few years which capture the weird feeling of the Seventies- "Tinker,Tailor,Soldier,Spy" and "Zodiac" are among these. I put this film in that company as far as Seventies-ese is concerned- anachronisms and all! This film really captures Strange California of that time and is well worth watching IMO.

William Bonin was a real-life serial killer who murdered a number of young men in the Los Angeles area around 1980. The plot of "Freeway Killer" gives us a character study of this man as an adult already in the process of carrying out his evil schemes.We see him as he entices young boys into his blue van; gets to know them with general chitchat; then, without warning, strikes, like some wild animal attacking its prey. As Bonin, Scott Anthony Leet gives a really fine, naturalistic performance, with emotions that run the gamut from cheerful normality to blatant hatred. Bonin had at least one accomplice, a young man named Vernon, well played by Dusty Sorg.The film conveys some gore, though not a lot, mercifully. On the one hand, we do not want a sanitized version of Bonin or his crimes. But we also don't want gratuitous gore and violence that seem to sensationalize people and events. I think "Freeway Killer" strikes a reasonably good balance.The guys being picked up by Bonin were so similar in age and appearance, they were almost interchangeable. I never did pay much attention to them; they were like stick figures. Any given victim could almost substitute for some other victim, so impersonal and fleeting were their roles in the script.This is no police procedural; very little time is spent on police investigation. Also, there is no mystery here and very little suspense.In this low-budget film cinematography is competent. There are lots of close-up shots, with emphasis on peoples' faces, showing their anger, desperation, fear, and deception. Rear-screen projections are noticeable in a few scenes.Intended mostly for viewers with an interest in true crime, "Freeway Killer" zeroes in on the Bonin character, a madman with the demeanor of a normal guy who liked to mess with the minds of his prospective victims. I rate the film above average for its genre.

Serial killer movies. They are a dime a dozen and this is low low budget. So low no effort is made to get the background details correct. Set twenty years in the past cue all the modern cars and contemporary food items. But look closely at major offerings like Donnie Brasco for example and even with big budgets they still produce continuity errors.Ican overlook the flaws here as the acting here is spot on. The killer and his assistant are portrayed as simultaneously creepy and seductive. Between acting out their murder fantasies they also attempt to lure in other disenfranchised young men into their world and this is what hastens their downfall. The murder scenes while not overly graphic are disturbing in the way they show the pleasure obtained by the killers and their sociopathic attitude to human life.Ironically Michael (Henry!) Rooker plays the cop who pops up at the end to nail the killers. Based on real events no attempt is made to show the police investigation until the end and the killers real life homosexuality is only alluded to in the movie. For accuracy better off sticking to the many books published on serial killers - for me this is close enough