A Filmmaker's Guide: True Crime Cinema

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

True Crime Cinema

What is it?

A genre of cinema that covers the true crime genre. This means crimes that actually happened that are either based on simply the crimes themselves, a book about them, a news broadcast etc. The problem people normally have with this genre is that they say that it glamorises the crimes by focusing on the nature of the individual doing them rather than the lives of the victims and telling their story. It also plays on the public's fascination with the psychological nature of the serial killer, the criminal, the thief, the terrorist etc. and why they do what they do. Personally, I believe that there is definitely a right and a wrong way to do a true crime movie.

In literature, true crime has been popular since Truman Capote recorded his book "In Cold Blood" and Vincent Bugliosi his book entitled "Helter Skelter" about the Manson Family Murders. But the reason for their popularity is often darker than studying psychological aspects or even looking at the way in which the story gripped the world. A lot of people have a morbid fascination with these people, which I think is absolutely disgusting. Literature has constantly shown us that these people are abhorrent human beings and there should be no 'morbid fascination' of any kind to do with this and it would do well if some writers left out the gory details and focused on the cases at hand. As it actually happened in history, it makes the work all the more sensitive.

What about in film?

Since the film "Bonnie and Clyde", there has been a fascination for true crime films by cinema depicting things that actually happened to make the audience even closer to the storyline. This closeness obviously is good when you're depicting the way in which these victims were real people like in films such as "My Friend Dahmer" and "Savage Grace" which admittedly concentrate more on the people who were victims rather than the goriness of the crimes themselves [something I appreciate since it is far easier to give gore than tell a coherent story about all the ins and outs of what actually happened].

But films like "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" which glamorises a terrible human being, "Dahmer" [starring Jeremy Renner] which is overly vile and gory or "JFK" which, in the opening sequence shows the President being shot in the head [otherwise, it is a brilliant movie] - seem to concentrate on the victims who were hurt in the process and the way in which they were hurt. Especially "Dahmer" which was far too horrifying to show anyone under the age of eighteen.

Again, there is a right and wrong way to do a true crime film. “JFK” is really the right way [except showing the Zapruder film] because there’s a lot of investigation and “Extremely Wicked” is the wrong way because it is a disgusting blight on the legacy of the victims of that horrid human being.

Further Reading:

• Backderf, D (USA). My Friend Dahmer (Graphic Biographies). 2012: Abrams.
• Cullen, D (2019). Columbine. USA: Riverrun.
• Rule, A (2019). The Stranger Beside Me. USA: Sphere.