Bazaar Bizarre

This is the movie I have been waiting for someone to make. And Ben Meade did it, and he didn't disappoint! This movie is a guilty pleasure for me because of the way Ben structured it. At first you think this movie is going to be like the rag tabloids at the checkout stands where the headlines scream about Batboy and women giving birth to 300 pound alien babies, so you think, "OK, this is just going to be a crazy ride. Basically headlines and gore set to rock music. Let's go!" But before you realize it, Ben takes you on a trip through this demon's psychotic mind. It's only then you realize that Ben, (like Hitchcock maybe?) understands that what we are going to see and hear is so horrible we can't really take this medicine ... straight. (Well, maybe like Hitch on crack~) We are guided through this maze of torture and body parts by none other than James Elroy! Perfect! Who better to stand up to Berdella's whining self pity and lame defenses. (Berdella argues that he was mistreated because his torture logs were described as 'detailed dairies' rather than, oh, I don't know ...torture logs?!) The rock band Demon Dogs as a Greek chorus was a touch of genius as well. Who knew? They are speaking for all of us. The archival footage and interviews were astonishingly revealing. I can't believe Ben found Chris Bryson after all these years. Isn't this the first time he has spoken out about what happened to him? The reenactments were believable and sickening. This film was amazing because not only did it give us new and revealing information about the Berdella case but like all good art, it raises more questions than it answers. Now where exactly did that reporter say she dumped her notes?

Not too shabby for a documentary distributed by Troma, but it would have been MUCH better without the annoying inserts of a blues band singing songs about Bob Berdella and his deeds. This documentary is both about him and WITH him. He's pretty unrepentant, and feels personally that it shouldn't have taken the 5-0 so damn long to find him - he did, after all have naked hippies wearing dog-collars stumbling naked out of his place, messed-up on Drain-o. He was just feeding people human flesh a la his chili at his flea-market stand and selling human-bone jewelry to school-kids. Ya know, the day-to-day routine.

With his display of human-skulls for basketball-fans ("the final four...") was considered a bit over-the-top by more conservative members of the area, but all-in-all he was just a FABULOUS serial-killer, trying to live life the only way he knew how.

I thought the way this film was presented was very good, although I could do without "The Demon Dogs" playing songs as the film progressed. A documentary such as this has no business interjecting a rock band playing songs because it has nothing to do with the story. The film contains archival footage of Berdella's victims as well as actors portraying the people involved in the case. I would love to see a documentary on serial killer DEAN CORLL presented in this way, with actors portraying Corll doing what he did to the victims. The Dean Corll case is one of the spookiest, most disturbing case of serial murder that has ever happened and to date, nobody has ever devoted much time to the case. At any rate, I was very pleased with "Bazaar Bizarre" and would recommend the movie to any serial killer buffs out there. You won't be sorry.

I was wondering why James Ellroy never got in contact with me? I went to college with Bob - worked next door to him in the River Quey - was over at his house many times.

We bought and traded many esoteric collectibles - I was the one that the Police had come in and appraise the collection on the second floor gallery - warning them that if he could sell them his collection it would be worth well over $300,000 and he could afford to hire a good lawyer - that's when they claimed it as part of the crime.

Bob even borrowed my chainsaw -Euh- glad I never got it back.

The interesting fact the Judge Charlie that arranged him and the Detective Chester that was #2 in the investigation and Bob were at my wedding - I have a photo of them all in one photo together, this was less than a year before he was caught.

I was even the one that Phil Whitt from channel 4 interviewed - they incorrectly stated that I was Berdellas BEST FRIEND - Son of a B*t*ch lied to me. Ever notice how big Phil's butt is - it's really really big looks deformed.

Well I was never contacted so I wonder how much research James Ellroy really put into this. Guess I'll have to see it.

I still have the worry beads that are made for human bone that Bob gave me for Christmas one year - said they were Tibetian?

I attended a screening of Bazaar Bizarre last night at the Glenwood Arts Theatre. Filmmaker Benjamin Meade was there to introduce the short film, which runs 86 minutes. As a Kansas Citian who used to buy stuff at Berdella's shop (much to my disgust), I'd been looking forward to seeing the movie for quite a long time.

It's OK. But that's about as far as I'd take it.

The good: Ellroy is always a stitch. His unapologetic lack of sympathy for Berdella is entertaining and even enlightening as he discusses the general MO and predilections of serial killers.

Most of the re-enactments are fine and pretty well filmed and acted -- a rarity for this type of movie. The gore is also pretty impressively convincing, largely because the footage has been artificially aged and damaged. I was surprised that the production values easily outshine some much higher-budget films, such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Now, whether the re-enactments amount to anything more than voyeurism is up to you. The chili-cooking scene in particular doesn't really do much for me, either as comedy or as documentary. It's one of the most highly speculative (and I think improbable) parts of Berdella lore.

The most valuable passages of the movie are undoubtedly the interviews with Berdella himself, as well as with the cops, prosecutors and Kansas City Star and Times reporters involved in uncovering the man's horrific misdeeds. Berdella was an absolute jerk as well as a murderer, and his repugnant personality comes through loud and clear. An interview with the only known surviving victim seems promising, but it really doesn't allow much insight. The man, now grown, stays in the shadows and describes his experiences with the detachment of a longtime drug addict who's undergone so many tortures that none of them stands out any longer.

The bad: The movie is really a mess from a structural standpoint. Meade jumps around his time line, which makes absolutely no difference. But he's strung his bits together with some truly embarrassing music videos by an absolutely execrable "rock" band singing vacuous, trite songs about Berdella. I'm sorry, but Meade obviously has absolutely no feeling for contemporary culture if he could center his film so fundamentally on this band's work.

Another clue and Meade isn't quite as up on what's au currant: Before the screening, he pretentiously declared that his movie would have trouble being exhibited -- probably receiving an NC-17 -- because it features male frontal nudity.

Uh, Mr. Meade, do you not GO to movies? Did you see Sideways? Did you see Kinsey? The mainstream comedies EuroTrip or Super Troopers? Scary Movie, a blockbuster hit released in every city in America, where a man is shown being stabbed in the head BY AN ERECT PENIS? For crying out loud, did you see Porky's 20 years ago? Meade's statement is ridiculously ignorant and provincial.

The nudity in Bazaar Bizarre is not sexual. It's a guy in his 20s with a flabby gut, jumping off a roof and running across the street. The totality of the footage is perhaps ten seconds, almost all framed from fairly far away. It doesn't even amount to controversial.

The problem is NOT with male frontal nudity from an obscenity standpoint. I can name you 20 Hollywood movies with a penis for every one that actually shows female pubic hair, not to mention female genitalia.

In fact, I don't think I can remember a single major American film that's shown actual female genitals. Basic Instinct? Watch it again. The Center of the World? Requiem for a Dream? Gus Van Sant's Psyhco? Again, re-watch them. No, you're not seeing what you think you're seeing. This is the sort of sloppy claims of persecution that make artists look like whiny babies.

Anyhow, Bazaar Bizarre is what it is. Worth a Netflix rental when it comes out. I don't think I'd drive to see it in theaters.