The Hunt For the BTK Killer (2005)

Redundant and unnecessary.

It is a performances centric movie

Brilliant and touching

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Another made-for-TV serial killer movie "based on a true story" that tries to introduce one or two notes of originality into a cinematic pattern that is so nearly exhausted it's staggering on its pins.One such attempt is in the musical score. Ordinarily with a story about a serial killer, we'd expect violins tremolo until they shriek madly as the hatchet descends. Not here.As Dennis Rader, the "BTK Killer", Gregg Henry, in a completely satisfying performance, goes about his business of seeing to it that the community's lawns are properly mowed and that his victims are tortured, raped, and killed, and he's accompanied by some kind of Orff Schulwerk music filled with glockenspiels and a cute pizzicato melody. Well, why not? It worked in "Badlands." But when the rubber meets the road and there is action on the screen, Tree Adams, the composer, goes nuts and the air is filled with the loud racket of pots and pans being clanged together. It may be innovative but it's distracting too.Robert Forster does a decent job as the detective in charge but because of lax direction or some other reason he's not as convincing as he was in "Jackie Brown." He's given a voice-over narration that's stale. Something like, "I realized we had to go through this to be a better people." Ugh. It's too bad that the narration is so full of old saws and empty observations because the plot really needs something to tie the episodes together. The killings themselves aren't a problem because they're not lingered over and are only suggested in double- and triple exposure. But the timeline is warped. There were times when I didn't know whether we were in 1974 or 2004. No kidding.It isn't a memorable movie but Gregg Henry has the simple, innocent, friendly face of true evil down pat.

Starring Gregg Henry as Dennis Lynn Rader. At times his interpretation is downright eerie, as I can compare it to what I've seen in a recent documentary. At other moments I felt he was overdoing it a little, but mostly he was relatively convincing. The final scene (the interrogation) was in any case impressive.The role of Robert Forster was quite dull, as were many of his lines. It felt like his part was there to convince the audience of how hard the police had worked and how dangerous and crazy the world out there really is. Point taken, but not very well worked out here (also see next paragraph). On top of that, Rader practically turned himself in...Then, the film falls apart a little with all the different angles; that of Rader('s personality as an older dog catcher and Christian family man), the police('s investigation, which was rather dull - although I had not heard before about those subliminal messages), the murders (which aimed for more tension, though they were sparse and short), the letters and the taunting, the biographer, the panic caused among the people, the waitress... Now, that's a lot, and it wasn't quite coming together as a whole, though some individual scenes worked really well.'Of course', not all of this TV-movie is completely accurate, but that was to be expected; most movies like these are dramatized and facts can always be found through various other sources. And more so, since this one is mostly about the year before his apprehension (many years after his crimes), I'd say this film does not cover all by a long shot...All in all: not bad, not great, just about doable. A small 6 out of 10.

Boring and bland, this made for TV movie about the famous BTK Killer Dennis Rader is ultimately unsatisfying. With such great material to work with, one would think this would make a great movie, with a real-life serial killer that took thirty years to be caught. The script is stilted, the dialogue bland and the cinematography....well, it looks like its been filmed with a hand-held cam-corder. Makes one feel quite ill! In more skillful hands it could have been so much better. Robert Forster and Maury Chaykin gamely plod along, doing what they can with scant material. TV's Michael Michele provides a bit of glamour for what is essentially an ugly little movie.Not very inspiring!

While the Variety reviewer did not liked this version of the BTK story, I found it to be a good, but not exciting, movie. The lead investigator does the role with almost a Jack Webb approach and his narration is also reminiscent of Webb. The movie spends relative little time rehashing the murders and focuses on the actual hunt and capture. It also features Gregg Heny as Dennis Rader and plays the role well, especially as he resembles, through makeup, the killer. It is his chilling take on the killer that makes this movie worth watching. The movie combines characters and simplifies the events, but stays, mostly on track with the actual events.