To Catch a Killer
To Catch a Killer
| 05 January 1992 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 1
  • Reviews
    IslandGuru Who payed the critics
    TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
    RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
    Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
    Theo Robertson Police detective Joe Korenczak receives a missing person report on teenage boy Chris Gant who was last seen in the company of local businessman John Wayne Gacy . Joe visits the home of Gacy only to find the truculent home owner in no mood to talk since Gacy has just received news of a family tragedy . As Joe digs deeper he finds several more teenage boys have disappeared all of them associated with Gacy who has a previous for sodomy I remember seeing this mini-series many years ago and being hypnotized by Brian Dennehey's performance of John Wayne Gacy . I'd never heard of Gacy before TO CATCH A KILLER but thanks to to this he stuck out in my mind , helped no doubt that the mass murderer shares most of his name with a famous cowboy actor . Dennehey is terrifying in the role but with hindsight he's a little to good . His portrayal as Gacy is a little bit too abrasive , supercilious and intimidating . He effectively has " Evil Serial killer " written on his forehead and instead of the banality of evil we have the arrogance of evil . You'll be puzzled as to why the police didn't catch him sooner The unfortunate thing is that the police should have caught him sooner . . Before TO CATCH A KILLER takes up the story police in Illinois had received complaints about Gacy one of which related to the disappearance of 17 year old John Butokovich whose parents begged police to investigate him but the police did nothing . Gacy you see was a fine upstanding pillar of the community active in committees and local politics rubbing shoulders with the great and good . You can just imagine the parents of the disappeared wailing that Gacy knows more than he's letting on and the police dismissing them that anyone having their photo taken with the first lady is incapable of being a murderer This is at odds with the dramatized events of TO CATCH A KILLER . From the outset we know Gacy is guilty as does police detective Korenczak . It's almost as though this miniseries has been written for the benefit of the Illinois police making them less culpable of gullibility at the hands of Gacy but this ends up becoming totally ironic as Dennehey growls and sneers and effectively says " Come and get me coppers " from the very outset of the mini-series . The police here are so short of leads they have to contact a psychic for leads but the truth is complaints had been made about Gacy for several years before and no one in authority joined up the dots
    Chloe1251 I think this movie should have been made for the big screen and not TV.Brian Dennehy gives one of the most electrifying and chilling performances I've ever seen, as serial killer John Wayne Gacy. His facial expressions, threatening demeanor and aura of pure evil are much more shocking, creepy and frightening than buckets of blood and graphic violence would have been.This movie is driven on suspense, which is saying a lot, considering most viewers already knew the outcome of the story beforehand.This is a thriller in every sense,way scarier than many recent so-called "horror" movies released, and does it all without CGI, gore, cheap shock elements,or foul language.
    valiumplease This movie stunk almost as bad as I imagine Gacy's crawlspace did. It was just so pathetic and I have a hard time believing half of the things that happened were true, who was that Ted guy with Gacy all the time, was that character made up or what? The scene with the psychic was so bad it had me rolling around laughing. Did Gacy really invite a kid around and cuff him while the police were watching his house? The part that was supposed to be the most entertaining bit (the discovery of the bodies in the crawlspace) was cut out completely. It was just a terrible movie I don't know why it gets good reviews on here? I rate it: 1/10
    m-i-de-kramer I like Brian Dennehy very much, he is such a great actor, he is a natural talent and i love the movie ''to catch a killer'', its a very shocking and creepy true story, and like the way Brian act is just fantastic! Anyway..almost every movie he play fantastic. I just love this man, and i would like to meet him for real, because i have heard he must be a real gentleman, i would like to figure that out, ha ha..really, he is one of the greatest actors i know. I'm looking for this movie so many times in the Netherlands with Dutch subtitling, but i could not found it, its a shame! But i did see the movie for almost 4 times, and every time is forget to put a tape in the recorder. I just want this movie so badly!Love and greetings, Monique, Rotterdam, Netherlands