The Craigslist Killer

What a dismal adaption of a real life serial killer. No tension, no examination of the psyche of the killer, all fluff and Lifetime syrup. The actors are wasted in this mess. This story deserves a decent adaptation.

I have to give the film makers points for staying true to the story, almost everything they showed actually happened and they even used the real names. However, the lack of flair usually given to "based on true story" movies ultimately led it to not be that interesting.

There are just so many of these made-for-TV movies produced by the Lifetime Network. Basic movies that try to portray a famous murderer. And I especially use the word "try" because most of these movies are unwatchable.

Many of the elements that the movies of Lifetime Network have in common, can also be found back in this movie: e.g. Too much lighting, inappropriate background music, unstable camera, ...

It is even basic flaws that show how few attention is put towards making the movie period-unique. For instance a med-student wearing a 8,000+ US$ Omega Speedmaster or a police detective wearing a 30,000+ US$ Rolex Daytona... It is details like these, that show the amateurism.

I also had difficulty in positioning all events in a timeline. After watching this movie, I really had no clue about how much time passed between the crimes, the capture and all subsequent events. It is as if all the events took place in a week. This whilst in fact there was a way longer time period in which all events took place.

There is though one thing that favors this movie... There is no alternative movie that tells the story of the Craiglist Killer. And since I find the facts behind this killer so interesting, it compensates partially for the above-mentioned negative elements. I therefore decided to rate it with 4.9 stars (rounded to 5 stars).

I though hope that another production company will make a better movie about this killer.

Philip Markoff (Jake McDorman) is a top Boston University medical student beloved by his professor. He zeros in on Megan McAllister (Agnes Bruckner) and pushes to get married. He seems like the perfect guy on the surface but nobody sees the darkness beneath. He becomes obsessed with Craigslist and starts attacking the women on those ads with escalating violence. Police detectives Bennett (William Baldwin) investigates.

The start is way too slow. The tension is too low at the start. There is basically no tension. This should a horror story or a dramatic thriller. There is nothing close to that here. These are all perfectly functional actors given rather bland material despite the scary subject matter. It's a movie of the week at best.

First of all, I was not familiar with the Craiglist killer before this movie, but I looked it up and the events in the movie appear oversimplified/altered but not so distorted as to make it an unrecognizable story. However, that's about the only positive thing that can be said...

Such a collection of bad choices... The story is about - you guessed it - the Craigslist killer. Philip Markoff led a double life as an engaged, grade A med student, lots of friends, while at the same time seeking out sex workers on Craigslist to rob and humiliate, even killing one. Sounds enaging? Guess again! This movie manages to kill all and any interest the viewers might have.

The script/plot is messy and starts questions that it does not answer. For example, hinting at Markoff's family history, but not following up on that. Showing his M. O., but never explaining why or how he started doing this. And much, much more.

Moreover, the acting is horrible and almost 80% consists of "romantic" lovey dovey scenes between Markoff and his feyoncé. Very stunted dialogues with the senselessness and simplicity, even a teenager would think it's dumb. Ridiculous and superficial. Think level "I love you - no, I love you more", "you're so perfect" and worse. It has no point. If it was meant to give their relationship more credit, as a "how shocking that he lived so separate lives", it just failed. Instead, it comes across as if you're watching a different kind of movie. And the main problem: if you were to cut these parts out, there would be exactly 20 minutes of movie left.

Oh! And the music! "Clueless" or "Dawson's Creek" would have been jealous! It was so stupendously off-the-mark that it was almost funny, had it not been such a serious topic. Romcom songs play in all the scenes involving his bride-to-be, but also in a lot of scenes that had a much darker tone, making it even more inappropriate.

Then there are the few parts about his actual crimes, but these are filmed like it's a low budget student project and with zero suspense. Even though the actual women he attacked must have gone through something terrifying and traumatic, in the movie it elicites no empathetic or emotional resposne in the viewer. Even near the ending of the movie, it left me wondering what the point was of making this movie.

The events that happened in real life could have been adapted to the screen in a respectful and captivating movie. This movie is not that. It seems amateuristic and as if it does not get the point of its own story.