A Is for Acid (2002)

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

Good movie but grossly overrated

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

My only problem with this movie is Martin Clunes. He acts it well, but is so often shown on TV as an extremely affable and likable character that it's almost impossible to believe him as a serial killer. Be it in fiction ("Men Behaving Badly") or documentary (about both dogs and horses) he always comes over as a jolly nice chap (which I'm sure he is). Casting him as a cold-blooded serial killer just doesn't work – it worked when Leone cast the blue-eyed angel Henry Fonda as a psychopath in "Once upon a Time in America", but casting Clunes as a serial killer is a step too far.Having said that this is nonetheless a gem of a movie. Set design is pure '40s and the use of 1940s music is extremely well done. Hence my 8/10 rating.

Martin Clunes has an amazing range as an actor; he has attempted everything from Mr Chipps in "Goodbye Mr Chipps" to Garry the Slob in "Men Behaving Badly". In this TV film scripted by Glenn Chandler, creator of "Taggart", he impersonates a dapper, cheerful, sport car driving type who is also an accomplished pianist called John Haigh who turns out to be a diabolical serial killer who disposes of his victims in acid baths.. It is a nice performance and the production values are splendid – seldom has England in the 1940s been better evoked, but there is something missing. What happened is clearly conveyed. How it was done is depicted as graphically as most audiences could reasonably take. But, the question of "why" is left hanging, as it were. Was it for the money? Did Haigh, like Dr Shipman, just get a kick out of killing? Or, despite the opinion of the dozen or so experts the prosecutors and the Home Office consulted, was Haigh crazy? At the trial, not shown in this film, Haigh, represented by top-flight counsel paid for by "The News of the World", pleaded insanity. Only one psychiatrist gave evidence for the defence, to such little effect that the prosecutor didn't bother to cross-examine him.Well, it's not the film-makers' fault that Haigh was one of those bland serial killers who defy understanding. In line with his own account, Haigh's Yorkshire Plymouth Brethren parents are depicted as strict and narrow, but not as unloving. He turned to crime at an early age and had quite a record of petty dishonesty offences. For him, prison was Crime University and he hatched the idea for his body disposal method, the acid bath, while inside. He was capable of conducting an emotional relationship with the youthful "Gillian" (Keely Hawes) while luring his victims to their deaths.For what it's worth I think Haigh's train of thought went something like this: "I am an outsider, society does not value my true worth, I will be good to people who do really appreciate me (like my parents and Gillian), and the rest are fair game." At least it makes more sense than the vampire theory. Haigh is also one of those criminals who were bound to be caught sooner or later (his arrest was not a miracle of detection), which makes one ask: did he think he was invincible or did he really want to be caught? The film doesn't help us with this, but it's a good reconstruction and a fine piece of acting by Martin Clunes.

The film traces the life and deeds of a true life serial killer, John George Haig AKA the Acid Bath Murderer. Whilst in jail for fraud in the thirties he accidentally discovers the effect that acid has on animal bodies. He subsequently "offs" a series of people including a couple a family and three strangers by inviting them to his "workshop". He dissolves the bodies in oil drums full of acid. The film cuts to flashbacks of his upbringing by zealously religious parents, but steers clear of obviously blaming the parents for the son's murderous behaviour.The film has a similar attention to detail as "10 Rillington Place" and Martin Clunes is excellently creepy as the charming Mr Haig. The contrast is small between Haig's day-to-day behaviour and the actual murders and disposals of the body but fascinating, leading to comparisons with Richard Attenborough's portrayal of Christie in 10 Rillington Place, but this film is more darkly humorous.The film is written by Taggart creator Glenn Chandler and directed by Harry Bradbeer who directed most of the excellent BBC series "The Cops".

This TV movie was a superb historical drama about a true life murderer in England during and after the Second World War. Martin Clunes portrays the serial killer in a sincere but occasionally humourous way. The film shows how the killer gradually loses control and how he eventually is caught where he thought he couldn't based on an old law where a person could not be convicted of a murder if no body is found. I really found it enjoying and the acting of Clunes and his co-stars gave a true feeling of the times and the addition of a character being played by a person who actually met the real killer whilst she was child in London at the time make this film a very enjoyable treat