Such a frustrating disappointment

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Mark Holton gives nothing less than the performance of a lifetime in this excruciatingly intense study of the infamous serial killer. Director Clive Saunders, working from his own insightfully stunning script, creates a true atmosphere of foreboding and dread and does not flinch from the true horror of the story he has to tell. Shot on location in Altadena, California, this is a technically superior low budget film and there is nary a sign that money was a problem at any point in the film. The incredible, disgusting, and repellent nature of one man's monstrousness is depicted beautifully. Holton seems to inhabit Gacy, become him, and expose him in all his unholy ugliness. It is hard to imagine anyone doing what he does in this motion picture. Certainly, others have attempted to portray this dark creature but no one has inhabited Gacy's very soul and made us stare helplessly into the abyss the way this incredible actor does in this overwhelming portrait of John Wayne Gacy. The Academy once again should be ashamed that Holton didn't receive the nomination he deserved, for this is beyond Oscar caliber work. This is total brilliance and so true to life it's disturbing and haunting in its sheer raw power.

When you read the true stories of these horrible serial killers such as Gacy, Dahmer, and Bundy, its easy to think that those stories would make great and terrifying films. However time after time these serial killer bio flicks just fall flat and don't seem to capture the horror of these killers, and "Gacy" is definitely not the exception.My first complaint is just the whole tone of the movie. It never seems very serious, I felt as if I was watching a comedic made for T.V movie with all the funny parts ripped out. The story was flat and moved at an unusual and unappealing pace. I can't say I am very familiar with the true story of John Wayne Gacy (I know the basics, just not everything there is to know) but I doubt this movie followed it to a tee, some things just seemed out of place.Overall "Gacy" just doesn't do a very good job of telling the story of John Wayne Gacy. Its rather boring and just not very interesting.3/10

I wasn't expecting much when I rented this. But I just didn't expect to be so dull and boring, especially the serial killer Gacy. Nothing much about Gacy's back story is explained thoroughly and when it shows some aspects of it, it is just really boring which I usually won't have a problem with but most of the movie is about the boring daily life of Gacy. From Gacy having a douche of a father, to him not paying his bills, to him making the neighbors angry cause of the smell that is coming from his house, to finding ways to get rid of the smell, to hiring teenage boys to work for him. Which would be okay if it wasn't dragged on so much, but it really seems to drag cause it's just that boring to watch. The story is about John Wayne Gacy who is just a pathetic modern citizen but has a gruesome secret of murdering young men and boys and entombed them in the crawl space under his home. But when he is not killing people, he is a not so great husband to his wife and two daughters. Gacy has no aspect that the audience will find amusing or intriguing, he was just a uncharismatic loser fat guy living in suburban home in Chicago. Just about everything about this movie was dumb and boring, and the character decisions don't make any sense. One of the teen gets a hammer to the head and is almost killed by Gacy, but he keeps his mouth shut about the whole incident cause Gacy gives him a few bucks and to top it off he comes back to work for Gacy again. Gacy's decisions don't make any sense besides the fact that he isn't a very intelligent killer, he kidnaps a young teen and rapes him than he just lets him go. And it doesn't explain the reason behind this, he killed multiple other people so why let him go? Also it doesn't show why Gacy is so obsessed with clowns, cause the camera seems to focus on the posters of clowns in his house a lot. It is said Gacy use to volunteer for the children at the local hospital, but it doesn't even show that. A lot of scenes seem to be missing in this film as well, cause stuff seems to happen out of nowhere. There is no suspense in this movie, no true horror and most of it is hysterical to watch in a bad way. While showing the dull life of John Wayne Gacy it doesn't even explain what led to him becoming such a monster except maybe the boring 2 minute start of the film where he goes fishing with his father. Mark Holton however did a great job portraying Gacy though, it's a shame that it didn't delve more into the psychological insight into Gacy.3/10

I could save you some time by advising you to track down the far superior "To Catch a Killer." If you want to see a disturbing and accurate portrayal of the Gacy killings, then don't waste your time with "Gacy" itself.What I found to be the worst thing about this flick are the numerous attempts the filmmakers made to garner sympathy from the audience for "poor John Wayne Gacy" Let's get something straight, homicidal rapists are not people to be pitied or idolised, they have lost their rights and place in society by causing horror and pain beyond anything their victims could have imagined. Try picturing yourself being sexually tortured and strangled to death by a sweating overweight slob, not a pleasant thought is it? Not only does this film insult the audience by painting a portrait of a tortured Gacy, it also takes severe liberties with the story itself, if this is not meant to be a true life story, then please rename it to Killer Klowns 2 or some such, the blending of facts with utter fantasy makes for some frustrating viewing.The depiction of the "police" work is laughable at best and for those wanting to see the actual horrific details of the tortures and murders, no luck, if anything this Gacy is the original's gentle twin.Disturbing scenes including images of the bugs in the crawlspace and Gacy drowning a youth in his bathtub, but honestly, this whole dumb film made for painful viewing.Give it a miss.