#145 -- "B" Challenge: BTK Killer (2005)

Director: Ulli Lommel
Rating: 1.5/5

We just got U-Verse TV, and I happened to stumble upon Fearnet On Demand. My choices for the "B" Challenge were this, or Boogeyman 2. I chose this simply because I have not yet reviewed the first Boogeyman, and now I wish I had just gone ahead and done it. BTK Killer was another shot at delving into the life of real-life serial killer Dennis Rader, aka the BTK Killer. BTK stood for "Bind. Torture. Kill." If done properly, a movie about him could be pretty scary. But I've only seen two, and neither were scary. This one was garbage. In 1974, Wichita, Kansas was rocked by the series of murders committed by Dennis Rader, who was calling himself Bill Thomas Killman. The authorities never could figure out just who he was. He eventually disappeared off the map, and they all thought everything was fine. However, thirty years later, he started up on a killing spree once again. He wrote many letters to the local new station, in hopes of getting a lot of air time. He wanted to end up on national television one day. This movie switches back and forth between 1974 and 2004. Sometimes this kind of thing can work, but here it was annoying. The man who played Dennis in 1974 couldn't act, and everything he did just looked plain stupid. The older Dennis was a little better, I think, but we didn't see him as often. Dennis' letters were directed at the anchorwoman of the local news, Lacy. She was plagued with horrible nightmares of becoming BTK's next victim, but it never really made clear whether or not he was planning on going after her. BTK Killer was also full of scenes from slaughterhouses. I'm not sure, but it seemed like real footage, and it was absolutely sickening. I hate--I mean, absolutely despise--those things, and I really hope it wasn't real. But I became really frustrated with this movie when it wouldn't quit showing me things I really didn't want to see. Dennis was obsessed with slaughterhouses, and used animals to torture his victims. He brought along a little wicker box that he filled with creatures he hoped would terrify the women: rats, snakes, scorpions, worms, bugs, etc. He always made them eat the creatures. Once he even made a woman eat a bunch of what looked like raw ground beef. He had a problem with the slaughter of animals, and seemed angry that it happened, and that people didn't seem to care about animals enough. As an animal lover myself, I can understand him there. But I really didn't seem sincere, but rather just an excuse. That could have been due to the horrible acting, but I can't be sure. The kill scenes were boring with no flair, and that's just unacceptable. There was one okay scene, but that was the opening one. It wasn't great, but it was pretty disgusting. It was the only even slightly disturbing thing the movie had to offer.

Sometimes, I'll find a movie that is so horrible that I absolutely do not want to finish watching it. But I had a goal to see every horror movie ever made, so I continue. Sadly, this was one of those movies. I kept shouting at it to hurry up and end already, and that's not a good sign. Okay, let's look at the flaws.

1)There was hardly any story to it. Okay, that's a lie. But what little story it had was horrible.
2)The acting was horrible.
3)There were no special effects at all.
4) It was boring.

I can deal with bad acting, trust me. Sometimes I actually like it. I can deal with a movie having little or no special effects. I can't really deal with a lack of story, but sometimes I can overlook it if the rest is done well. This movie major flaw was the fact that it was boring as hell. This is about a man who would kidnap, bind, torture, and kill women. Torture. But I don't think this guy tortured them by making them eat rats and bugs. We could watch Fear Factor to see that kind of stuff, and it would be a lot more interesting than this garbage. The other movie I've seen about Dennis Rader was called, simply BTK, and it starred Mr. Kane Hodder. It was not scary. It, like, this one, just wanted to tell the story of his life. But unlike this one, BTK starring Kane Hodder, was actually good. So, skip over this one if you're craving some BTK, and I would recommend going for the other one. My final statement? This movie is a giant pile of shit.

Note: I couldn't find any photos from the movie, so the above picture is of the real Dennis Rader.