A fascinating and largely forgotten HBO television film from the 1990s, Citizen X tells the true story of the Soviet Union's most notorious and prolific serial killer. Written and directed by Chris Gerolmo, who based the teleplay on Robert Cullen's novel The Killer Department, Citizen X faithfully portrays the rudimentary facts of the case, only making minor adjustments for the sake of smooth storytelling. Although this is primarily an investigative crime film, it is also a top-notch historical and political drama about the USSR in the 1980s and early '90s. The result is one of the most underrated serial killer films in history. A depraved, sadistic serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo (Jeffrey DeMunn) killed at least 52 people over twelve years, …show more content…
Gerolmo stages the murders with commendable restraint, relying on the power of suggestion instead of outright gore. Burakov's gruesome, detailed descriptions of his autopsy findings at the beginning of the film outline the horrors that each victim sustained at Chikatilo's hands, making the sequence more powerful and haunting than a graphic murder scene could be. The only downside to Citizen X is the lack of visual panache. It looks and feels like a television movie, with pedestrian cinematography and basic direction, which also results in dull pacing from time to time. The film's matter-of-factness is a considerable asset more often than not since it does not feel like an overproduced, mainstream Hollywood production, but Citizen X still falls short of its full …show more content…
One of the film's most potent scenes depicts psychiatrist Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky (Max von Sydow) reading out his detailed profile of the killer to Chikatilo, which compels the stubborn, closely-guarded murderer to break down and confess to his crimes. The performances are superb, with Citizen X featuring a mix of recognisable actors and little-known performers. Jeffrey DeMunn earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for his harrowing portrayal of Chikatilo, a daring role the actor fully commits to. As Burakov, Stephen Rea's performance is subtle yet profound. The Irish actor convincingly plays a Russian native while conveying a cornucopia of emotions, including frustration and mental fatigue. Donald Sutherland likewise impresses as a more level-headed Soviet bureaucrat, masking his native American accent with ostensible ease. Sutherland deservedly won a Primetime Emmy for his performance, denoting the movie's sole Emmy win. Max von Sydow only appears in the third act, yet the late actor makes a fantastic impression as the methodical psychiatrist who plays a vital role in the investigation. Also of note is Joss Ackland, who is petrified as the callous party leader, personifying the Soviet Union's villainous
Schechter, Harold. The serial killer files: the who, what, where, how, and why of the world's most terrifying murderers. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004. Print.
Walking down the street, one passes tons people saying hello and giving friendly smiles, anyone of those people could be a serial killer. In the United States there are a plethora of serial killers; in Illinois alone there are a number of demented killers, but probably one of the worst, most infamous murderer of our time is John Wayne Gacy. John W. Gacy, Chicago Illinois’ own killer clown, is an infamous killer because of his life events and careers he chose to pick, the terrible murders he committed, and the lasting impact he has.
One of the most gruesome serial killers of all time was Andrei Chikatilo. He was born on October 16, 1936 in Yablochnoye, a Ukrainian farming village. One of his clearest memories of his youth was that of his mother telling him his older brother had been stolen and eaten by neighbors during a great famine. This thought remained with him always and he later disclosed he often imagined the torturous ending his brother must have had.
There are many sociopaths that are famous for just being a sociopath. But not too many people know about them. Most people know people like John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was one of the most unexpected people to turn out to be such a disgusting person. Everyone in town loved Gacy. He performed at children’s birthday parties as “Pogo the Clown”. He was very well known. What people did not know was that he was a sociopath because he hid it so skillfully, and he just so happens to be one of the most famous sociopaths to every walk the earth. In the 1970’s he killed and raped over thirty young men and boys. He hid most of them in the crawl space under his house. Ted Bundy is another notorious serial killer. He was an attractive, charming, intelligent young man who lived in Seattle in the 70’s. He would lure women in using his charm, and then he would rape then beat them to death. He was also known as a necrophiliac. He admitted to slaying 36 women, but experts believe that the final count was around one hundred. There is also Jeffrey Dahmer who is also very well known. There have been many books and movies about him and based off the story. Dahmer murdered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991. Over the course of more than thirteen years, Dahmer sought out men at bars, malls, etc. and then lured them home with promises of money or sex, and gave them alcohol laced with drugs before strangling them to death. He would then engage in sex acts with the bodies before dismembering them, disposing of them, and sometimes eating them. He often keeped their skulls or genitals as souvenirs. He frequently took photos of his victims at various stages of the murder process, so he could recollect each act afterward and relive the experience. Dahmer was captured in 1991 after one of his potential victims
An analysis of the most famous murderers and serial killers in the Chicago area shows varying degrees of psychopathy or mental illnesses, which ultimately contribute to homicidal comportment. Analysis also shows that...
Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names such as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are cited. During the time Jack the Ripper was executing his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America’s Serial Killers). “Despite being America’s first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a familiar name and until now we haven’t had any popular visual record of his crimes: (Spikol). Why is it that people only think of the more popular killers with higher known profiles? They are all very similar to one another because they share characteristics. H.H. Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. Those are just a few traits Holmes ...
The name of the serial killer that I have chosen is John Wayne Gacy. He was born on March 17, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois and died on May 10, 1994. Growing up as a young boy, John lived in a very abusive environment where he saw his mother, siblings, and himself abused by his father. His dad would beat them with a razor strap if they were perceived to be misbehaving. Being that his father was an alcoholic, didn’t help matters at all. He always saw John as a failure. What also didn’t help was that when he was going through school, he couldn’t play with other kids due to a congenital heart condition in which his father looked at as another failure. Another struggle he faced during adolescence was his attraction to boys, which caused great turmoil
Another serial killer that we discussed was Theodore “Ted” Bundy. Bundy was also an American serial killer who confessed to the murder of 36 young women. However, investigators believe that he killed up to 100 or more women. He grew up in a nice working family. He did really well in school but didn’t have very good social skills. As a teenager he began peering in others’ windows and stealing things from
Gary Leon Ridgway, born February 18th in 1949, is the world’s most prolific serial killer. What makes him the world’s most prolific serial killer? Among being a murderer he was also a necrophiliac. The sheer number is a prime example of the psychotic things this man was capable of doing. He was convicted of forty-eight murders, but later confessed to as many as twice that number. It is also astonishing that this horror lasted more than a decade between the 1980s and 1990s.
Mafia “hit man”, Richard Kuklinski is an interesting case of a different type of serial killer, which is certainly not the same thing as a mass murderer, although the two are synonymous with one another in the majority of people’s minds (Holmes 1999). Who Richard Kuklinski is, how he became a serial killer, why he did what he did, his background as a child and early adulthood, as well as this writer’s opinion on his diagnosis, if any regarding mental illness will be explored.
Taking the life of another person is one of the worst infractions of the law to commit. The Bureau of Justice defines serial killing as “[involving] the killing of several victims in three or more separate events” (“Michigan” 1). Serial killers often commit extremely violent crimes; they usually become infamous for these crimes. The first recorded serial killers are probably Jack the Ripper in 1888 and Fritz Haarmann in 1924 (“Michigan” 1). Jack the Ripper is also one of the most well-known criminals, almost everyone knows who he is or has at least heard of him. Most people know what he is famous for and associate him with being a bad person. Serial killers are typically sadistic and sociopathic, meaning that they are unable to feel empathy for people who are suffering (“Michigan” 1). Whimsical sociopaths who have sadistic tendencies are very dangerous. They inflict pain because they do not care that someone else is suffering, they only care that it makes t...
Gina Marchetti, in her essay "Action-Adventure as Ideology," argues that action- adventure films implicitly convey complex cultural messages regarding American values and the "white American status quo." She continues to say that all action-adventure movies have the same basic structure, including plot, theme, characterization, and iconography. As ideology, this film genre tacitly expresses social norms, values, and morals of its time. Marchetti's essay, written in 1989, applies to films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rambo: First Blood II. However, action-adventure films today seem to be straying farther away from her generalizations about structure, reflecting new and different cultural norms in America. This changing ideology is depicted best in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), which defies nearly every concept Marchetti proposes about action-adventure films; and it sets the stage for a whole new viewpoint of action in the '90's.
Richard Kuklinski was not your average serial killer, he was hired as a hitman and eventually killed about 200 people in a 30 year time period. Many think his early life was the reason he grew up to be such a violent criminal. He grew up in a Catholic home but had very abusive parents. Both of his parents would brutally beat him and his siblings for absolutely no reason. Kuklinski’s brother reportedly died from such a brutal beating by his father. His father eventually left the family. Kuklinski started his criminal activity by killing animals such as cats. His excitement for killing animals eventually turned into disgust because he got bored of it.
“My consuming lust was to experience their bodies. I viewed them as objects, as strangers. It is hard for me to believe a human being could have done what I've done”(Dahmer). Jeffrey Dahmer is notably one of the most infamous serial killers in the United States. Along with seventeen murders under his belt, he was also a pedophile, cannibal and necrophiliac.
Embarking on a journey of anthropological fieldwork will undoubtedly include a plethora of setbacks. At its foundation, fieldwork requires developing rapport with the native people in order to gain access of genuine knowledge pertaining to the specific culture being studied. Subsequently, social communication between the researcher and the native people is a key component to the entire process; yet simultaneously it is a root of the many problems a researcher can encounter while in the field. It is no secret that the cultural background of the researcher can often highly contrast the culture he or she enters during fieldwork. This initial cultural adaptation one must undergo while doing anthropological fieldwork is what many in the realm describe as culture shock.