Thanks for the memories!

good back-story, and good acting

As Good As It Gets

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A cheapo expose on the Zodiac murders that occurred in the San Francisco Bay area in 1968 and 1969 that benefits from its year of release in 1971, not too far removed, the stringent budget which lends the project a degree of authenticity, as well as the focus on who the film portrays as the killer, a postal clerk who loves rabbits, and buries one that died near a cross, in a strikingly bizarre scene. Compared with the film that came out in 2007, this one stands up pretty well, especially for connoisseurs of films like this, no-budget but an eye for creativity. It made it on to the TCM Underground films, a wise decision by the program director.

I must admit I had to laugh out loud when Doodles Weaver, a long-time comic actor, appeared in a small part as the Zodiac Killer's next door neighbor.Doodles was a holdover from the Fifties' Golden Age of Television and he had the funniest lines in this movie. Some of the murder scenes were rather intense and I felt that movie held my attention. The Zodiac in this movie had no real m.o for the police to follow and this perhaps explains why he was never captured in real life. I found it interesting that the murderer in this movie carried around his disguises (wig, fake glasses with a plastic nose and, most noticeably, a black executioner outfit. The attack of the young couple is very graphic and still quite powerful after all of these years. If you're interested in the real-life Zodiac case, you'll need to take this movie with a grain of salt!

(Minor Spoilers) Very likely the very first of a series of Zodiac movies that stated when the real life Zodiac Killer hit the headlines back in the winter of 1968. This endless string of Zodiac killings has captivated the imagination of both the public as well as the law enforcement agencies all over the country for almost 40 years with the killer, if he's alive, still at large.Were given two, not one, possible Zodiac Killers at the start of the film "The Zodiac Killer" with frustrated truck driver Grover and introverted post office mail carries Terry. Both persons have very serious personal problems in dealing with people. Grover is sensitive about his job as a truck driver as well as him being bald and wearing a very obvious wig when he goes to bars to pick up women which, in his mind, is the reason he has trouble making it with them. Grover doesn't seem to realize that it's really his attitude towards women looking at them as pieces of meat which is the reason that he turns them off on him.Grover is also very resentfully at his ex-wife Helen for keeping him from seeing his daughter because of his unfitness of being a father; besides everything else he's also a drug and alcohol abuser. That eventually leads Grover to break into his ex-wife's home and after holding off the police, holding his daughter as a hostage, is gunned down and killed off in the movie.It's then when were introduced to the real, in the movie that is, Zodiac Killer Terry the Mailman who's a strict vegetarian and loves animals having about a dozen pet rabbits that he keeps in cages in his apartment. It's only too bad that Terry doesn't have the same humanitarian feelings for his fellow man and woman as well.Terry is a strange sort of nut in that almost all of the murders that he commits in the movie are totally unrelated to each other and for the most part are that of persons who have nothing but affection towards him. Besides murdering a number of couples making out in cars and in the woods Terry also murders two frail and elderly women, in the most shocking and bloodcurdling scenes in the movie, for no other reason then them having their cars break down! In those two murders Terry seems to get more turned on in murdering these two senior citizens then any of the young and pretty women that he murders in the movie!After murdering some dozen victims Terry just fades into the woodwork, like a termite, as he disappears into the mass of humanity of the city of San Francisco. Were given some insight to Terry's mindset at the very end of the movie but it's a little too late for his already long list of victims. Terry were given to believe has been suffering from extreme mental trauma because of his father being committed to a mental institution; does Terry feel that his fathers mental illness is hereditary? And is that the real reason for his unstable and murderous actions throughout the movie?Better then you would expect from a bargain basement triple movie DVD "The Zodiac Killer" doesn't drag at all keeping your attention despite a number of unconnected scenes involving Terry's fascination with this reincarnation and blood-cult, that he's the only member of, that also believes in the lost Continent of Atlantis.When the movie sticks to the Zodiac Killer angle it's doesn't let it' audience down. But when it strays into uncharted territory like the Atlanits murder cult and Terry's many super closeup, that take up the entire screen for long stretches at a time, it not only become boring but very annoying as well. The most interesting and shocking thing that the film "The Zodiac Killer" brings out is that a person like Terry, personable soft-spoken and dependable, can be someone that you've known all your life but in reality, with the secret and murderous double life that he leads, never really knew at all.

The Zodiac Killer (1971) ** (out of 4) San Francisco finds itself under attack due to a string of murders where people are shot for no apparent reason. The film introduces us to a "what if" scenario as we meet several people who may or may not be the serial killer.It's important to remember that when THE ZODIAC KILLER was released, the city itself was still under terror from the real thing. Obviously this has exploitation written all over it but one might be shocked that director Tom Hanson doesn't go over-the-top with the sleaze and instead it tries to take a serious approach on the subject. On the whole this isn't the best movie ever made but it features enough to make it worth viewing for fans of the genre.What I enjoy most about the film is that it perfectly captures the time that it is set. There have been a lot of movies that tackled the subject but this here is the only one that takes place where the crimes happened. There's a surreal nature to the film that works extremely well and I thought the atmosphere was quite good. You really do feel as if you're watching a documentary on the real Zodiac because of how good the setting is. The film also benefits from some memorable death scenes. None of them, with the exception of a knife attack, are all that graphic but at the same time they are memorable.With that said, there are some major flaws throughout the picture. The biggest is the fact that the film really drags at 85-minutes. The pacing of the movie is quite poor and it just drags to the point where you'll be wanting to scream for them to speed things up. The performances are also rather poor to say the least and some of the dialogue is even worse. One could also argue that the film doesn't have the greatest of stories but at the same time you have to give them credit for making a film in hopes of catching a real killer!