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Bob Berdella (played in re-enactment scenes by Christopher Leo) was one
sick bastard, an overweight homosexual (nothing wrong with that) who
lured drug addicts and male prostitutes into his house to drug them, tie
them to his bed, torture them in various totally inhuman ways, rape them
and when he gets tired of his victims, he killed them, then he took their
bodies apart to do God-knows-what. All the while, he was taking polaroids
of his atrocities and was meticulously taking notes. He killed six men
between 1984 and 1987, a seventh, Chris Bryson (played in re-enactment
scenes by Justin Daniels) got away though - naked with a dog collar around
his neck - and managed to report Berdella to the authorities. Thus, Berdella was sent
to prison, where he eventually would die from a heart attack in 1992. The
movie at hand recounts the life and crimes (mostly the latter) of
Berdella, by (gory) re-enactments of key moments, interspersed with
interviews with those involved and not so involved with him (from
Berdella's actual victim Chris Bryson via Berdella's hairdresser to James
Ellroy), interviews with Berdella himself (in which he appears to be an
absolutely inhuman and self-righteous prick who among others blames the police
and the press for his
deeds), and, for no apparent reason, a few videos showing the band Devil
Dogs playing songs about Berdella. The outcome is rather weird: Ok, you
learn what Berdella has done, but get incredibly little background
information, instead are treated to rumours that might add to the
Berdella-myth but offer little in form of facts. And the inclusion of
the rock band Devil Dogs (very old school, middle-of-the-road) remains a
total mystery to pretty much everyone who watches the film - I mean,
what's that supposed to tell us, his crimes were so heinous, let's sing a
song about it? Curiously enough though, the titular Bazaar Bizarre
- Berdella's curiosity shop frequented by hippies mostly - is totally left
out of the film, while it would have added some colour to the proceedings. Probably,
the film is of interest if you want to learn a few basic facts about Bob Berdella, but as a
documentary as such, it's a bit of a failure.
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