The Killing of America

Of course that if we watch it after "Bowling for Columbine", perhaps it will mean not much for you, but it definitely sets a horrible, sad and real background to all the violence phenomena that the USA has been living after 1963, and after a long journey through history, it ends up in the contemporary times of when the movie was made: 1982. The documentary is explicit, is depressive, sad, but still, very crude and accurate, and studying the theme from different points of view: anthropological, sociological, historical, etc. If you are interested in understanding how USA became so chaotic and yet the world potency, I think this movie is a must.

Documentary featuring footage of some of America's most well known murders and assassinations. It's filled with a lot of statistics and done with a very serious tone giving it a sort of newsworthy 'importance'. (If narrator Chuck Riley's voice got anymore resonate of stern you'd swear he'd have to be a robot.) Yet it offers no real solutions and after ninety minutes of almost complete carnage does it only briefly mention the issue of handgun registration. Thus despite it's pretensions it's really like all the rest of it's exploitation brethren (FACES OF DEATH, INHUMANITIES, etc) which were made simply to cash in on the shock value of it's content.

Yet there are a few things that allow this to rise above the rest. First of all everything is well known and documented so there is no question as to it's authenticity. You also get to see some intriguing interviews with the killers. There's the very, very confused Sirhan Sirhan, the lighthearted and joking Charles Manson, and the intelligent,well versed Ed Kemper who explains how he slept with the severed heads of his victims. There's also moments of Ted Bundy getting very riled up during his court case. There's a security tape showing two killers very politely allowing a woman to go ahead of them in line, buy her stuff and leave, before coldly shooting the clerk to death. There's even a look at the 16 year old girl who shot 15 school children at a playground and then later became the inspiration for the Boomtown Rats song I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS. And there's even more.

If it's vintage archival footage of some of modern America's most bizarre and notorious crimes and criminals that you are after, than this is tops. It's well edited for ultimate emotional impact and remains quite riveting. It's strong stuff despite it's dubious politics and intentions. Why this has become so obscure and hard to find is a mystery.

The Killing of America (1981)

*** (out of 4)

This documentary highlights the violent culture that has overtaken America. Throughout the running time we see a number of stories dealing with mass murderers, sexual assaults, sniper attacks and various other crimes. Narrator Chuck Riley talks about everything from political assassinations (the Kennedy's) to Jonestown to the Manson murders. Throughout the film we see how America is slowly becoming undone due to violence.

THE KILLING OF America was released in American theaters for a couple weeks before it pretty much disappeared from this country. The film was made for the Japan market where it was a huge hit and it was also released there in a much longer version with even more stories. As it stands, the film remains a fairly well-made look at a violent culture and unlike the FACES OF DEATH series, this film here takes real footage to show what violence is doing.

This film certainly has a message to get across. A lot of the blame is put on the fact that it's very easy to get a gun and we see what happens when madmen get their hands on an easy weapon. There's some interview footage with some of the mass murderers that are show (including Robert Kennedy's murderer) and we also see some trial footage to Ted Bundy. The John Lennon murder is looked at as are the stories of John Wayne Gacy, John Hinckley and Jim Jones among others.

The FACES OF DEATH series was pure exploitation to the cheapest level. I wouldn't call this film exploitation since it's main goal was to obviously scare people into hoping for better laws to protect people. The film manages to be entertaining as long as you can put up with the violence of the story.

Despite having been made back in 1982, this film has not lost any of it's impact...and living in the country where it was filmed, it hits incredibly close to home.

Before you dismiss this as another "Faces of Death" clone, complete with re-enacted scenes, be forewarned. This is real. 100% of the footage came from either TV news departments across the country, or from private collectors! You WILL see newsreel footage of people being shot to death (including one man being shot by police before the opening credits!), and disturbingly graphic descriptions of murders. There is even footage where people leave a courtroom to vomit after hearing a recording made by Lawrence "Pliers" Bittaker during the slow torture death of one of his victims.

Leonard Schrader, the older brother of director Paul Schrader, produced this film for the Japanese film market, where "death films" bring in big money. But instead of an exploitative "shockumentary" as normally expected, this is a detailed examination of how Western Civilization is slowly falling apart.

The assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the attempted assassination of George Wallace, and a number of other people (Charles Whitman, David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, John Wayne Gacey, Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Ed Kemper, Brenda "I Don't Like Mondays" Spencer, etc.) who, in their own twisted logic, saw the need to kill people, and acted upon it; all are reported here in great detail.

The film ends with a report on the murder of John Lennon, and a blunt statement that during the public memorial held in his memory, two people were shot.

No, this isn't a gross-out "video nasty", it's a hard examination of how the USA is in a slow collapse before our very eyes.

This movie was hard to find. reading about it, I read it wasn't ever released in America. I have currently found it as a Region 2 (United Kningdom/Europe) DVD release.

that being said, this is one great documentary. I'm sure it was very shocking to anyone who saw it in 1982, it was shocking to me today. In today's world, the media- television, movies, music etc. There is a lot of violence. There is a lot of glamorization of violence. Some people like violence, some don't. That is not the point.

This documentary deals with murder rate in America. Its not just another documentary covering a few statistics here and there, this has excellent footage. You will hear surprising statistics, you will see serial killers, you will see actual people being shot.

It IS shocking. I have seen so much shocking stuff, that I am numb to a lot now, but this was shocking. I for one, never saw the entire JFK footage. Its on here. The Robert F Kennedy assassination is on here. A few other actual footages, or assassinations and assassination attempts are on here.

Serial killers are covered in depth in this documentary. You see actual footage of notorious killers such as Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson. You hear about others you may have heard of- Charles Whitman, John Wayne Gacy etc.

There were also some serial killers and incidents I never even heard of in this movie. There was one incident where a guy who gives out bank loans was taken hostage and paraded around the city for 3 days in front of the media and everyone. There is another incident where a guy takes over a TV station.

Today we have documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine, or Fahrenheit 911. These are trash. they do not show good legit footage, and the truth and statistics in these documentaries are twisted. I have no reason to believe anything in this Killing of America documentary is false. First of all, the footage is right there. The only thing that would be made up is the statistics, which I doubt.

This documentary is graphic. This documentary is shocking. It is also a great history lesson. You will learn more about killers and incidents you know. If you have not seen this film, and know a lot of the subject, you are still guaranteed to learn something.

I would say this is a must see for anyone interested in shocking real events, or interested in well made documentaries. It will shock you.