Serial Killers: Real Life Hannibal Lecters

Rating:
Summary: for beginners only
Review: Good for beginners, boring and useless for true crime buffs. Main features are Chikatilo, Fish and Dahmer. If you are familiar with them - skip this - this offers nothing new, just trivia.

Rating:
Summary: There are CANNIBALS among us...
Review: I owned the VHS of REAL LIFE HANNIBAL LECTERS for a while and was thrilled to see that it'd been upgraded to DVD format. For anyone interested in learning more about the criminal cannibals in the world, and the twilight zones in which they reside, this documentary is a MUST-have. Features the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish cases, among several other "well-knowns". Discussed is the serial killer mentality in general, as well as possible explanations as to why some people choose to cannibalize in such a brutal fashion. For instance, Dahmer ate pieces of his victims so he could feel closer to them. Other career cannibals engage in anthropopaghy (technical word for humans consuming humans) in order to completely CONQUER the victims (as was the situation with the Russian cannibal killer Andrei Chikatilo). Very well produced, I think, with some cool haunting music and a variety of eerie quotes (some anonymous, which makes it even creepier..."IF YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, I COULD BE YOU TOMORROW" is a chilling example!). Be warned, however, this one is NOT for the faint of heart. Afterall, this does indeed go into details of these human-flesh consumers...Do you REALLY know your neighbors?

Rating:
Summary: A good starting point
Review: This documentary primarily covers the psychological profiles and exploits of three particular serial killers (Albert Fish, Andrei Chikatilo, and Jeffrey Dahmer), and features various psychologists, authors, pioneering FBI profiler Robert Ressler, and the prosecuting and defense attorneys of the Jeffrey Dahmer trial discussing their thoughts on the events. Also given a look are the factors, conditions, and motivations that might lead someone to become a serial killer. And, as suggested by the show's title, the most infamous fictional serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter is discussed, compared and contrasted to his real-life counterparts.

While I found the presentation reasonably informative, the subject matter tended to be a bit dry at times: much of the show consisted of psychobabble from experts in the study of serial killers. Another somewhat low point was a bit of misleading advertisement: although they're featured prominently on the front of the DVD cover box, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy are given only minimum coverage. Gacy is talked about a little bit in the show itself, but is covered in greater detail in the disc's bonus feature, a five-minute-long interview with Robert Ressler. As for Bundy, his only real presence in this show were a few quotes that popped up between chapter breaks.

Another bit of somewhat misleading advertising is the blurb on the back of the DVD case that states, "shocking never-before-seen footage" of the criminals and their horrid acts. Aside from a few scenes from the classic "night of the Living Dead" flicks, a few reenactment shots of Andrei Chikatilo drooling blood whilst hiding his latest victim in a pile of leaves, and a few black-and-white pics of Dahmer's beat-in brain in a formaldehyde jar, I didn't find any of the footage particularly shocking or outrageous. Of course, I've been watching these true-crime documentaries for so long now, I've probably become a bit jaded by it all. Still, I don't recommend this for the young'uns to watch, as the subject material is fairly graphic in nature (we ARE talking about serial killers and/or cannibals here, after all) and would likely have fallen somewhere into PG-13 territory had the MPAA rated it.

While the presentation gave a reasonable general overview of serial killers, what makes 'em tick, and what may have led them down the dark path to #ell that they chose, there little here I didn't already know or heard about from other sources. Overall, I'd recommend 'Serial Killers: Real-Life Hannibal Lecters" more for the novice true-crime aficionado who doesn't mind a little egg-headed psychobabble. Otherwise, I suggest you for a more in-depth documentary or documentaries on the subject.

'Late

Rating:
Summary: Creepy Cool
Review: Very good factual study inside the minds of the most prolific Serial Killers. Deliciously Disturbing. Truth is always stranger than fiction.

Don't plan on eating meat or sleeping for a while.