Gacy (2003) (V)

Director:

Clive Saunders

Writers:

David Birke (writer)
Clive Saunders (writer)

Release Date:

16 April 2008 (Italy)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Friend. Neighbor. Killer.

Plot:

Based on a true story of serial killer a model citizen, loving father and husband and serial killer John Wayne Gacy, a man with over 30 dead men and boys entombed in the crawl space underneath his house which he shared with his family.

Plot Keywords:

Evil Clown | Video | Killer Clown | True Crime | 1970s

Cast

Mark Holton	...	John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
Adam Baldwin	...	John Gacy, Sr.
Tom Waldman	...	Hal
Charlie Weber	...	Tom Kovacs
Allison Lange	...	Gretchen
Edith Jefferson	...	Mother Gacy
Joleen Lutz	...	Kara Gacy
Scott Allen Henry	...	Young John Gacy
Kenneth Swartz	...	Dave (as Kenneth Swartz)
Matt Farnsworth	...	Stu
Joseph Sikora	...	Roger (as Joe Sikora)
Jeremy Lelliott	...	Little Stevie
Oren Skoog	...	Jimmy
Joe Roncetti	...	Peter
Eddie Adams	...	Duane

Also Known As:

The Crawl Space

MPAA:

Rated R for strong grisly violence, language, some sexuality and drug use.

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (video rating) | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA | Germany:18 | New Zealand:R16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Altadena, California, USA

Company:

DEJ Productions

Trivia:

The character of Tom Kovacs is a composite of two actual youngsters that lived with John Wayne Gacy during his murder spree.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The first bodies were discovered from Gacy's property in the heart of winter, December 1978. In the movie, it is always a summer-like weather.

Movie Connections:

Version of To Catch a Killer (1992) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Everything Big In Texas

What's that smell? Oh, it's just the movie.

I'd like to know what the purpose was behind the making of this film. The Gacy story would have been served better by a more documentary approach, instead of this weak "grand guignol" version which spends more time focusing on maggots and bad smells than on Gacy and his background. Are we to believe that he's a psychopath because his dad whacked him around on a fishing trip (and maybe elsewhere)? His married life is brushed over casually (what happened in all the OTHER years of his marriage?), and his business and social life was also given short shrift. Why did he kill the first boy? When did he lose control over his anger and perversion? He's just a hair-trigger, vulgar and angry guy through the entire film.

BUT HERE'S WHAT BUGS (sic) ME MOST ABOUT THIS FILM...when will L.A. producers realize that other parts of the country look different from California? This story took place in Des Plaines, IL, my wife's home town. (In fact, Gacy's last "pickup" was at a store just a few blocks from her house.) In the movie, Gacy's house and neighborhood look nothing like Chicago. The trees are wrong, the sky is wrong, the other buildings are wrong. They didn't even get the colors quite right on the Chicago police cars. Worst of all...as in many other Hollywood productions about Chicago...you can actually see MOUNTAINS in the background (during Gacy's party scene). Hollywood morons need to get out a little more! There is life beyond L.A. (At least they confessed to it in the closing credits.)