Gripping story with well-crafted characters

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Very cheaply made. It was so awful, I couldn't bear to watch more than 10 minutes. Anyone who made it past 5 or so minutes has a lot of determination and maybe patience hoping for it to turn around and somehow get better. Acting and film quality was so poor, it's truly unbearable. Sounds like they did what they could, saw the pitiful results, and still hoped to get a quick buck turnaround on this monstrosity. The film looked like worse than a cheap porno homemade flick, possibly overstock film never used from a couple decades ago, im not sure though. The type of film you use for a basic 50 buck video camera at best buy.

This is actually an insult to the victims and their families of the BTK killer. The events in this movie are not even close to the truth. Why they couldn't make a movie of the real events doesn't make any sense since the real events are more interesting then this made up farce. Don't even waste your time watching this for free. Low budget and a shameful depiction of the events which should not be made a joke of, which is really what this movie did. If they would allow me to give a -10 to this movie I would. The acting sucked and it looks like it was shot on an old VHS video camera from the 80s. Save your time and money by not watching this movie.

BTK Killer (2005) * (out of 4) Another film in director Ulli Lommel's "serial killer series"; this time Dennis Rader is the main target. The film takes place during the 70's and 2004 but it really doesn't matter because this film is bad from start to finish. Nothing in the film really connects to the real killer and during the commentary track the director is asked how closely the murders were to the real life cases and he replies that he didn't know. It seems as if the director simply read the bottom line on CNN about BTK and then filmed this thing. The only reason I don't give this a BOMB is due to the two men who play BTK. They don't deliver great performances but they are better than what we usually see in a no-budget film like this. What was really wacky was the pig/cow slaughter house footage, which runs throughout the film. Seeing these animals slaughtered over and over again really doesn't add anything.

While this is only technically a professional film it is the storyline which is entirely lacking. The camera work is shaky but that could be passed off as a Blair Witch Project effect. Rather than give any insight into the case, it focuses exclusively on the sadistic game he plays with each of his victims. For example , causing one to eat a live rat, before he extinguishes the victim's life. This is repeated for each of the many murders, dwelling exclusively on the sickness, but it is each time the same uninspired theme: bitter, self-righteous nut glories in his moment of power. The film derives all of its gore from quickly interspersed footage of slaughterhouse practices, which is a plausible creative innovation. The BTK in his maniac monologues to his victims makes much of the cruelty of slaughter houses. The film would portray the BTK killer as a sort of ultra-extreme PETA nut, (although as noted the rat also got snuffed).I had happened to view a survivor of BTK on TV and was looking for insight into the local society where this devil's authority went unquestioned. Rader was a building inspector. But there is no insight.Instead in the film BTK Killer it is almost as if this were Rader's own personal stroke film. If it gives scant scant insight into his life or the lives of his victims, neither is there any real focus on the police investigation. I could only recommend this film to actual sadists who presumably are in it only for the heavy breathing and not the story. For them, I think they get a lot of bang for the buck. I thought Danielle Petty (not a victim) is a very beautiful actress. Beyond that I can see no saving features to this film.