B.T.K. (2008)

Pretty Good

Awesome Movie

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This flick was pretty terrible. It was tolerable though until the very end when the wife began to have lines. Bad move, she is atrocious. Terrible writing too; this piece of poop should burn in hell. The only high points come from lead Hodder. You could feel the psychosis seething below the surface while he dealt with the miscreants under his thumb. The arrogance that Rader reportedly had was very evident in Hodder's portrayal. The rest of the actors were terrible. It was like watching reenactment actors from bad A&E mystery shows. The movie ended on the lowest note possible and they should have just stuck with the truth instead of embellishing the story.

I am really not sure what writer and director Michael Feifer was trying to do here. I hate to think he was just capitalizing on the publicity surrounding the B.T.K killer, but it seems obvious that he didn't do more than that.Kane Hodder as Dennis Rader was scary. Even when he was doing his day job, he came across as someone you really didn't want to mess with. Pity those that did, as they often wound up as his victims in the evening. When he talked to one young girl about her dog, or another that was lost, you could just see the predator oozing out his pores.Hodder was the only good thing about this movie. He played the evil Rader better than anyone I could imagine. He was the essence of evil.Unfortunately the rest of the move was definitely lacking in the sleaze one would expect of a film about a serial killer. If you are going to do a story about serial killers, a whole lot more realism would be nice.Any discussion of Rader's past or motivations, or anything about the police work that led to his arrest was seriously an afterthought.

It's frustrating to see a real life story wasted this way. Director-producer? He seems like an amateur and struggling filmmaker. Explicit violence is sometimes necessary but with no connection with the general narrative it's ridiculous. The actor interpreting Dennis Rader is good, but does not shine. Neither do the policemen. The family is plain bad.In regards to the script, when it comes to serial killers biography is better. No imagination. No argument. If they tell you the movie is bad, believe it. It may be possible to find a worse movie, but I wouldn't expect that to be an easy task.

Writer/director Michael Feifer offers us a fictional story based on the very real B.T.K. serial killer Dennis Rader. A seemingly mild mannered member of the Lutheran church, Boy Scout master, husband and father of two, Rader(Kane Hodder)is an ordinance enforcement officer of Wichita, Kansas. He relished his job and it helped his ego greatly. I guess every man needs a hobby. This story is supposition of the grisly and horrid murders committed by Rader between 1974 and 1991. B.T.K. meaning bind, torture and kill. The actual killings were graphic and nightmarish...but none of that in this film. Rader thought he was so intelligent, he teased the Wichita Police Department with letters in 2004 that led to his murder conviction in 2005. According to who you talk to, Rader was responsible for 7 to 10 or more slayings.Also starring are: Amy Lyndon, Daniel Bonjour, Caia Coley, Dru Ashcroft and John Burke.