The Worst Film Ever

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Errol Morris documents a cinematic portrait of timid eccentric Fred A. Leutcher, Jr. The rise of this man begins with his successful career as an American execution device and designer (the electric chair, lethal injection, and the gallows). And his fall, midway through designing a better way to use the noose, or "gallows," he's employed by Holocaust deniers to collect "proof" that the gas chambers in Auschwitz were intended for that purpose. Mostly through close up and dreamlike montages, Leutcher's personae becomes much of a lark. How is the audience supposed to view this character? Is he good or evil? That's where Errol Morris shines in this ambiguous documentary presenting the difficulty of simplistic moral values. Another takeaway from the documentary is the irony that eviscerates Leutcher's life. For instance (SPOILERS), the states that hire hime for these capital punishment devices later refuse to deal with him once he writes the "Leutcher Report" and makes connections with Neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. Much of this documentary depends on the individual's amusement with the character, which can be sometimes difficult because he is an oddball and his ramblings are quite dispiriting (there's a scene with an elephant being electrocuted). Also, one of my pet peeves in talking head documentaries consists of an edit being obvious to cut out extraneous dialogue or the scene cuts to black to reorientate the viewer back to the story, this happens several times. Although Mr. Death succumbs to some distressing moments, Errol Morris captivates his audience with irony and judgmental restraint to allow the audience to make our own impressions of this milquetoast.

I've been over and over, back and forth through my vocabulary and my thesaurus, trying to find just the right qualifying word to accurately describe what Fred Leuchter Jr. does for a living. He designs implements of execution: electric chairs, lethal injection machines etc. I find myself falling pathetically on the word "ghoulish." The documentary 'Mr. Death' gives consideration to something I never really thought about. When a person goes to be executed by the state, where does the execution machine come from? I admit that I never imagined anyone sitting over a drafting table working out the blueprints for such a device.Yet, having heard Fred Leuchter Jr. (pronounced "Look-Ter") speak about his job, I can say that if anyone must to build such a device, it might as well be him. He seems to know what he's talking about. His name is sort of legendary (I would guess so . . . is there another person who does this? When the State of New Jersey contacted him to be a consultant on the proposal of the design of a lethal injection machine, he agreed but admitted that he didn't have the first idea how to design one. The doctor's presentation to the deputy commissioner of the prison wasn't going well, until the doctor mentioned that Leuchter designed the cap for the prison's electric chair. The commissioner's eyes lit up and he was sold on the idea without another word. Most of us could only wish to have a reputation that solid.Leuchter looks a little peculiar but you wouldn't expect someone who holds such a position to look anything but out of place. He's short, with a round face, big glasses and a thick New England accent. He resembles a very dowdy cousin of Elton John. Even if you have no objection to his work, you have to admit that there is an heir about him that wouldn't make you eager to invite him to tea. He is a man, however, that you want to listen to. He has odd stories and anecdotes that either intrigue or repulse depending on your personal taste. I can only speculate that his circle of close friends is a bit small, especially when you consider that one of his bits of knowledge involves the ins and outs of how dangerous it is to be in the death chamber electrocuting someone with urine on the floor from the previous execution. With that nugget of information and his habit of drinking 40 cups of coffee a day and smoking 6 packs of cigarettes, I would imagine he isn't exactly a fun date. Based on that addiction, I wasn't too surprised to learn that he eventually married a waitress.'Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.' not only examines Leuchter's work, but also the turning point that cost him his job and his reputation. That came with his association with Ernst Zundel, a neo-Nazi who went on trial for public slander after he published a report stating that the holocaust was a myth. In 1988, the two traveled to Auschwitz to collect concrete samples from the remains of the gas chamber to prove that no traces of Zychlon B (the lethal gas that was used to kill Jews in the gas chambers) was present. Those samples were going to be used in Zundel's case to prove that he was right about his claims. The science was flawed and the jury was biased. What happened to Leuchter's reputation was a full-frontal assault on very the idea of free speech. His views and his mere association in the Zundel case cost him everything. He became a pariah, a lamb to the slaughter just for speaking his newly acquired views against the holocaust. Whether he meant it or was just saying it to impress some new friends hardly matters. The fact that he said them was damning enough.'Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.' comes from one of the most creative minds to ever to work in the arena of documentaries. Erroll Morris never plays it safe. His films are never about ordinary people doing ordinary things. He loves the circus freaks among us, people who do and are obsessed with odd things. He made: 'Gates of Heaven', about the owners of a pet cemetery in Southern California; 'Vernon, Florida' about various weirdos in the title town including a man who lives, breaths, eats and sleeps and dreams turkey hunting; 'The Thin Blue Line' a film about a murder in a small town that was so persuasive that it sparked a reopening of the case; 'A Brief History of Time' about the life and theories of Stephen Hawking who discusses his understanding of the vastness of the universe while suffering from a condition that renders him almost completely unable to move.Here again, Morris chooses someone out of the ordinary. Fred Leuchter Jr. is an odd little man with a ghoulish job, who takes up with the wrong side of the holocaust and doesn't resend it in order to save his reputation. Why? What happens to Leuchter's reputation once he takes the side of the Neo-Nazis is, I think, criminal. He chose the wrong friends, said the wrong things and made people believe what he was saying simply by saying it. Was he a Neo-Nazi? Who knows? Who cares? Leuchter is a product of our times, times in which verbal intolerance is put on the shelf with mass murder, when people are so outraged by the act of being offended that they commit a character assassination of a man just for publicly stating his opinion. What happened to him was a pitiful revelation that words and kill just has inhumanely as a botched electric chair.**** (of four)

This documentary is a classic study of the tragedy that invariably occurs when religious dogma collides with actual facts. Normally the two rarely cross paths, because people are loath to submit cherished beliefs to the light of objective analysis. This is especially the case with religicized issues like the Holocaust. Regardless of what one thinks of this issue, there is always at least two sides to every event in human history, the Holocaust is no exception.While everyone has been made aware of the Zionist version of what occurred in Nazi camps such as Auschwitz, there has always been another side to this story, that has never been allowed a fair hearing! Suppression, slander, and relentless propaganda, has relegated this alternative version of events, to relative obscurity. Enter Mr. Leuchter, his honesty and professionalism, allowed him to meticulously investigate the fundamental premise of an issue that has literally become a religion in itself! Unlike his hopelessly biased opponents, he was able to remain completely objective throughout this very trying ordeal. The result was perhaps the first completely independent assessment of the merits of the issue of homicidal gas chambers in the Holocaust. Regardless of how one feels about this, Leuchter's investigation produced conclusive scientific results, that prove the infamous homicidal gas chambers in places like Auschwitz show no traces of cyanide gas! This can only be the case, if this central claim of the Holocaust, was false to began with! This of course is not out of the question, since the Holocaust has been of immeasurable political and economic value to Zionist interests.On the other hand, Leuchter's findings are a bolt of lightning in the name of truth, over blind belief, and finally sets the record straight, after these many years of erroneous history about the Holocaust. While most true holocaust believers have no use for these disturbing facts, those who understand that the truth is always of greater value, than any political agenda or belief, will welcome these startling revelations. This of course has nothing to do with hatred of Jews, but everything to do with historical revision, and correcting erroneous views of an important period of human history. As with anyone who goes against the powerful forces of political and religious orthodoxy, Mr. Leuchter paid a high price for his honesty and steadfast expression of the right of free speech. The contrast between Leuchter and the lab scientist who chose to protect himself and his company, by conveniently attempting to sabotage the results of his own unbiased tests, could not be greater! This is after all, what most men would do when facing the wrath of such ruthless foes. Leuchter on the other hand, courageously stood his ground, as a man of honesty, and integrity, in the face of a Holocaust industry, intent on crushing those who dare to question the accepted teaching on the Holocaust. For those hopelessly biased in favor of the orthodox Holocaust narrative, this film will be of little value. For those who remain of open mind, and able to appreciate the considerable loss of freedom in the west, to powerful special interests and pressure groups, this film provides a sobering look at the lengths the high and mighty will go, to destroy the lives of honest men, as well as how the hatred of those completely blinded by their beliefs, serves as another weapon, in the fight against the truth.

In the film Mr. Death, Fred Leuchter gets a chance to defend himself, and that he does as a time consumed lunatic. A man who has too much time on his hands to create wicked killing machines and to debate any plausible explanation of history. The film maker allowed a chance for Leuchter to explain himself in his own words and to defend his name to the public, however, the music and the footage allowed no justice for Leuchter whats so ever. The music alone was creepy enough to make the viewer put off a feeling of disgust with the quick back and forth shots of Leuchter's crazy facial expressions. The film showed how sneaky and easily Leuchter was living his life and making his living until he stuck his nose where it didn't belong, craved the "bad" attention and ruined everything. The film's ending seemed to be tragic for Leuchter, however, the camera produced more of a mournful expression than Leuchter himself. I actually didn't mind watching this film, I am now knowledgeable on the kinds of people that create the "killing machines." At the end of the film, I felt a little sad, a little creeped out, but happy it was over.