Bazaar Bizarre: The Strange Case of Serial Killer Bob Berdella (2004)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

To me, this movie is perfection.

A Masterpiece!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I checked the box for "contains spoiler", but there's no box for "contains spoiled material", which would have been more apt. I'm not sure it's possible to make a more inept documentary, but I haven't seen the director's other work. Perhaps, sadly, this is his Godfather.Here's an overview: Weak flashback dramatizations, odd musical tributes, and actual archive material have been mixed together (can't quite call this editing) in a haphazard way and presented for your viewing displeasure.I gave it a 2/10 simple because I felt bad giving it the 1/10 it probably deserves. If you LOVE bad movies, watch it. If you have something other than ALF re-runs to watch instead, I suggest you do so.

Normally I enjoy documentaries about serial killers but this one I cannot in all honesty call a documentary, but a travesty of a documentary, for it approaches its subject in a manner more appropriate to a high school student trying to go the easy way getting his grades.You will not find any consistent notifications of interviewee's identifications during the progression of the show but only random reminders when, it seems, the makers of this "documentary" deem that it is appropriate - or I may be completely wrong - when they had any chance of inserting information pertaining to their subject.All in all, this is still very much worth watching if you appreciate the baffling mind frame of the serial killer. *** out of *****

Bazaar Bizarre is an attack on the subject matter of serial killing unlike any other. Defying all logical genre definition it plays out like a aural, visual, and physical meditation on the mental capacity that is required to enact crimes such as serial rape and murder. Society is quick to judge such acts. We are fast to condemn. There are times in Bazaar Bizarre that do this as well, but just as often it seems to ask us to slip into the mind of the killer, to see something that we may not want to. Is it poking fun with these sensory assaults, or unsettling the viewer even more with this skewed view of the world? I cannot say. There are no answers in this film, just questions.The strange case of serial killer Bob Berdella began for authorities when a man was found running naked in the streets of Kansas City. Unable to talk, ass cheeks bloody, and wearing a dog collar and leash, this man spun a terrible tale. This was to begin unraveling a story that was as wondrously weird and hideous as they come. For days, the man had been being kept a prisoner in the home of a local man. Over these days he was repeatedly raped, tortured, and photographed. Drain cleaner had been injected into his vocal chords, and he was unable to speak clearly, but for slight as his voice may have become, his tale was as strong as any could be. He led officials to the house, and the peeling of the many layers of the life of Bob Berdella commenced.Bob Berdella was the owner of a local shop that carried curios and oddball nick-knacks from all over the world. In Kansas City, if you wanted to purchase a shrunken head, Bob Berdella was the man to see. His shop was "Bob's Bizarre Bazaar". Need bone jewelry? Or maybe ask him to try some of his home made chili that he shared with other shop owners. Well maybe not...Director Ben Meade also hails from in Kansas City, and there's something intimate about his look into the mind of this killer. Understandable, as Meade himself had come face to face with the killer at least once at his shop. Maybe it is this backyard proximity that allows Meade to pounce with such unflinching zeal on the topic. Aided with commentary and narration by James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential, both men constantly creep into and out of the mind of Berdella...Meade lulls the viewer into a feast for the eyes with stunningly awkward visuals, documentary montages with Berdella himself, and musical interludes that fixate upon the events and give the viewer a moment to collect his or her thoughts. Ellroy crashes in, here and there, with a gut punch of verbal realism. He is the sound voice of reason in the chaos. He speaks a true grit truth. He has no love, compassion, or empathy for Berdella. He lets this be known, unmistakably.Meade has concocted a strange brew of a film. He has interviews with the aforementioned surviving victim, one with Berdella, and with people who were involved with the case and its media coverage. Meade mixes all of this in a fashion that is not locked into any format. Unlike other forays into serial killer docudramas, there is not a chronological time line. Instead, Meade allows the mind of the viewer to connect the dots themselves. A higher form of reward is earned in this manner, as people are asked to involve themselves and potentially become immersed within the framework of the film.There are scenes in Bazaar Bizarre that are gruesome. Some of the exploits of Bob Berdella were not the type to be readily accepted by Mr. And Mrs. Middle America. The recreations tickle the edges of exploitation with a grainy realism. A well used attempt to blur the boundaries between the stock archival footage and staged magic of film. This forces the viewer to accept a more intimate arrangement with a very twisted mind. The exploits of Bob Berdella are not narrated over black and white stills. It is much more closer to us than that.Bazaar Bizarre will not suit the taste of every one. It is a hybrid of experience and knowledge. We are taken to places and then given pause. The pace is one that allows for introspection, but at the same time if the viewer does not have a lot to bring to the intellectual table, they may find that this dance is a bit one sided. Berdella's story is not shown as a parable of humanity. There is no attempt to make him anything other than what he was.

This is the movie I have been waiting for someone to make. And Ben Meade did it, and he didn't disappoint! This movie is a guilty pleasure for me because of the way Ben structured it. At first you think this movie is going to be like the rag tabloids at the checkout stands where the headlines scream about Batboy and women giving birth to 300 pound alien babies, so you think, "OK, this is just going to be a crazy ride. Basically headlines and gore set to rock music. Let's go!" But before you realize it, Ben takes you on a trip through this demon's psychotic mind. It's only then you realize that Ben, (like Hitchcock maybe?) understands that what we are going to see and hear is so horrible we can't really take this medicine ... straight. (Well, maybe like Hitch on crack~) We are guided through this maze of torture and body parts by none other than James Elroy! Perfect! Who better to stand up to Berdella's whining self pity and lame defenses. (Berdella argues that he was mistreated because his torture logs were described as 'detailed dairies' rather than, oh, I don't know ...torture logs?!) The rock band Demon Dogs as a Greek chorus was a touch of genius as well. Who knew? They are speaking for all of us. The archival footage and interviews were astonishingly revealing. I can't believe Ben found Chris Bryson after all these years. Isn't this the first time he has spoken out about what happened to him? The reenactments were believable and sickening. This film was amazing because not only did it give us new and revealing information about the Berdella case but like all good art, it raises more questions than it answers. Now where exactly did that reporter say she dumped her notes?