Zodiac: Mein Vater der Killer

Well, that was 4 hours and $5.97 in rentals wasted. It was very entertaining until the last ten minutes and then all I could think is there were so many things I could have been watching instead. I felt betrayed. It's just a hoax on the part of the film makers. They make you and their subject believe for the first 3 hours and 50 minutes that this is all true, that the case is solved. It's not. It's all bologna. The only reason I can see this got made was because the filmmakers didn't figure it out until the end, because Gary's story is so convincing, and that they had to salvage their show. This could have been a 1-hour documentary about what's real. Instead, the filmmakers wasted the audience time by duping them.

Gary, the son has more integrity than the filmmakers because he honestly believed he's the son of the Zodiak Killer. And you just feel bad for him and his co-author by the end. I never got the sense Gary was trying to dupe anyone, he just got caught up in it, and it did seem enough like it was his dad that we were talking about it afterwards, thinking, "Maybe he really is?" And, who knows, maybe the family in Austria lied because they don't want to be attached to the Zodiak, but it would make sense of the time gap where Earl Van Best Jr disappears. In the end, they don't have enough evidence to prove he is, but they don't have enough to prove he isn't. The police have the DNA but won't say whether Earl Van Best Jr is or isn't the Zodiak. It would have been easy for them to say definitively, but the detective chose not to, which does seem suspicious. It could be that the cops don't want an amateur detective to figure out their case and so they're not saying anything and would rather let it die than come out with the truth. Who knows, but the way they wrap it up quickly after leading you down this rabbit hole for 3 hrs and 50 minutes that he did do it, then in the last 10 minutes to be like, oh, by the way, he didn't, it's impossible...all I gotta say are the filmmakers are real tools.

I think the filmmakers felt it made them look like super sleuths, but it just made them look like jerks behind the camera who are screwing over Gary and his co-author. 'Cause it's never clear if they know all along that the Zodiak is or isn't his dad. So they could have been doubtful and completely screwing them for money and to advance their careers, or, still completely screwing them, but not knowing until the end. Either way, it makes the filmmakers look like opportunist parasitic jerks, and not the other way around. The only reason I'm not giving it a 1 star is because it was entertaining and engrossing...but it was all meaningless. It was a con. A con on the audience by the filmmakers who clearly have no integrity. They could have treated everyone involved with respect by not putting this out since they have no story, or telling the truth in a 1-hour documentary. I'm sure the filmmakers feel real pleased with themselves, but this is exactly why so few people believe the news or documentaries anymore 'cause, not only are they usually one-sided, sometimes they're complete lies, like this was.

This was sad - on a deep level. Gary (the main character) was so mentally and emotionally unstable, that by the 2nd episode, I was done watching it. Seeing this obsessive man justify his his issues by calling it "I have to find my father"...so much so that he literally ruins every single relationship in real life in order to feed a delusion all to try to make the Zodiac killer "fit" his narrative and allow him to be SOMEBODY (after what obviously is debilitating low self esteem). His poor wife HAS to be a victim of emotional and verbal abuse...smh. No adult that broken or obsessive has ANY healthy relationships - I'm sorry.

What starts as a cautionary tale as to how it is dangerous to start an investigation after already drawing your own conclusion devolves into the nonsensical ravings of someone desperate for fame. He is clearly NOT an impartial investigator but rather someone desperate to prove his own theory and sell books. Case in point with his "proof" that he pulled from the cypher. He attacks anyone with differences of opinion or actual facts that disprove his claims rather than respond with evidence of his own. He claims a police investigator would actually coverup the identity of a famous serial killer rather than bring the information to light and become the most famous cop in america. The lunatic even bought glasses to make himself look like the composite sketch of the zodiac. He is clearly sick and perhaps that's why women keep divorcing him and because of his fear of abandonment. The only person who "believes" him is the AUTHOR WHO JUST WANTS TO SELL BOOKS.

A lot of effort went into this documentary fluff piece so I do not want to come down too hard on the filmmakers and narrator Gary L. Stewart, who claims that his father may have been the Zodiac killer. Sometimes an obsession just gets the better of a person.

I must say that I enjoyed this documentary and in all fairness the documentary did indicate some of the flaws in Gary L. Stewart's claims.

Intrigue and the mystery surrounding who is the Zodiac serial killer has been high for decades and the pieces of the story we do know about him have been captured in a few crime films over the decades. This documentary provided some insight I was not previously aware of, and Gary L. Stewart may be a bag of emotions, but kudos to him and the production team for making a decent four (4) part documentary on the infamy of the Zodiac serial killer.

I give it a 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Be prepared for 4-hours of an emotionally-damaged cast with deep-rooted self-esteem issues. None of whom seem to care about each other's well-being, but only about their own reputations and egos. I can appreciate the fact that the documentary came full-circle and didn't try to sell you on a single idea necessarily, but it was 4 hours wasted all the same.