True Crime Spree made toothless...

THE FREEWAY KILLER (2009)

D. John Murlowski

Image Entertainment

1.85

This somewhat recent attempt at a bio-pic of William Bonin the Freeway Killer of the title (Played with clenched teeth by Scott Anthony Leet) is another of a long line a messy true crime films that miss the mark. This plays fast and loose with facts. This isn't the movie's problem. The sort of slipshod-lazy feel of the production is what ultimately sinks the movie.

Bonin was kidnapping young men, and strangling them. He got his real kicks from psychological power plays with several much younger men he mentored in the art of killing. Which of course eventually led to his capture an ultimate lethal injection.

The movie is plagued by uneven acting, poor driving/process shoots and a feeling of not much of the  production actually caring. There some great dialogue towards the midsection between Bonin and his protegee Vernon Butts (Played by Dusty Sorg who is actually the best performance in the film) as they remember meeting up and seeing a demon for the first time. This tit for tat eventually leads to Vernon attempting to commit suicide. It is a particularly well written exchange and well done by the actors as it allows them to get "quite" for a moment instead of the normally higher level the have for the rest of the movie. Michael Rooker shows up for a couple of scenes as the cop who busts Bonin, but he is clearly picking up a paycheck, but that is OK because he has been cast clearly because they are trying to connect the movie to HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. Which this movie doesn't deserve to hold the jock strap of.

Otherwise it is pretty episodic and surprisingly avoids the blatant gay themes of the material. This should have been much better than it is.

Review © Andrew Copp