The Grimsleeper Summary

The documentary about The Grimsleeper explored the life of Lonnie Franklin and how he raped and killed drug addicts and hookers. The documentary also explored where Lonnie lived, he lived in a ghetto part of the city where violence and drug abuse are very prevalent. The biggest sociological event in the film is the distrust between the people and police. The police department in charge of the murder cases where very secretive and did not give much information and for a while didn’t even think that there was a serial killer. They also did not trust any eye witnesses that came forward because most of the time they were drug addicts or currently doing some illegal practice. Another sociological problem seen in the film is discrimination, this is shown by

the total disregard by the police department of the towns obvious problem. It is repeatedly stated throughout the film that if a white girl had gotten raped or murdered the whole city would want to catch the guy but only blacks were being killed.

As far as Lonnie goes he was the local mechanic that (sometimes) delt in stolen cars. Lonnie had a love for pictures he was part of a local photography club.By far the most incriminating aspect of his life was the fact that it was well known that he was perverted and would openly make women feel uncomfortable and took pictures of the women he was “with”. It is also mentioned in the film that Lonnie had a first wife that did not work and was a drug addict she took Lonnie’s money and would buy drugs with it. This is most likely where Lonnie got his hatred for druggies a hatred that would lead him to murder. The fact of the matter is that the murders happened in a poor part of town where a bunch of druggies and low-class citizens and the police did not think anything of the murders most likely because their are so many killers in the area that there is no way of getting them all. The lack of action by the police then makes the people of the area untrusting. The film does a great job describing and showing what the area that Lonnie lived in looked

like. It also showed how violent the neighborhood is because in the documentary you can hear gunshots just on a “normal” day.
The camera angles and editing give the film a sense of realism as you are in the perspective of the camera man as he walks around and talks to people from the killers life and those who new him. The film intend to make you think why would someone kill all these people and as the film progresses the viewer realizes more and more about Lonnie’s personal life. The film is great when it comes to realism and being “in the field” the only true problem with the film is that it does not give much background information in the beginning and you learn about the Grimsleeper as the reporter does. The director of the film most likely wanted people to take an interest in the social or emotional state of the killer and what made him want to kill in the first place. As the viewer you most likely don’t have access to the people directly involved with Lonnie and they won’t publish themselves mainly because they are still known addicts or criminals.