Dear Mr. Gacy

Jason Moss (Jesse Moss) is a normal college kid. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy is appealing his conviction, and Jason wants to do a paper on him. Jason starts to do research. Then he exchange letters and phone calls. He begins to change and becomes more than just a pen pal. More and more he's becoming a protégé and his next victim.

Jesse Moss is a reasonable actor who could be an everyday college student. The pace is slow due to the fact that the kid and Gacy don't go face to face until close to the end. When that meeting occurs, the intensity goes off the charts. William Forsythe is incredibly creepy and threatening. That one scene makes up for the rest of the movie.

It's surprising that the substantial bulk of serial killer movies has yet to render anything really compelling about one of its most complex and twisted subjects --- John Wayne Gacy. The sheer number of accredited murders combined with the episodic series of cat and mouse plays throughout the convicted child killer/rapist's life would seem to be quite juicy fodder.

And yet, all we really have to show for it are two sub-par outings (a passable TV procedural starring Brian Dennehy and a really awful feature with hammy unknown Mark Holton). And then comes "Dear Mr. Gacy" which --- if you're not aware of its extremely factual basis --- almost sounds like a bad joke.

Crime student Jason Moss (Jesse Moss) embarks on an almost masochistic journey into fear and loathing by establishing a communication with the killer during his last months on earth at Illinois' Menard prison. His idea (and it IS a clever one) is to establish himself as a textbook victim that Gacy will have no choice but to lure into his web, granting Moss a first-hand look into the delusional self-aggrandizing psychopath's mind for his college Criminology term paper.

It's a scenario almost tailor made for a movie script because, as we all know by now in films, if you want something that badly, the worst thing that can happen is that you get it, and Moss does. He also finds himself playing a little too perfectly into Gacy's hypnotic spell, which is complemented by all the right situational elements of his own life --- boredom with his girlfriend, resentment of his controlling mother, subtle contempt for his passive brother's victim-hood at the hands of the school bully.

The weakest link here is Jesse Moss, and that's only very rarely. Mostly his performance is very good, though there are a few times it's hard to believe his reactions wouldn't be a bit more emotional after some of Gacy's truly threatening phone tirades. William Forsythe is a great actor and never more disturbing than in this role...he's the creepiest Gacy by far, expertly channeling his voyeurism with subtle bullying and manipulation, then morphing it into the "caring" love of a protective father figure, shifting on a dime. It's hard to know if his self-proclaimed stance as "king of the roost" at Menard is reality or in his head. His paintings were fetching a handsome sum near the end of his life, he had a cell with a view, TV, plants, and he could paint and smoke Cuban cigars smuggled in by guards who addressed him half-jokingly as "boss." Forsythe is a virtual cypher in the role, disappearing effortlessly into it, and leaving you very queasy in the process.

All in all, DMG is an intense, fun ride you won't forget. If it had a broader scope, it might just be the definitive Gacy biopic, but it probably wouldn't be as outright compelling, either. What's probably most disturbing about this particular story is what happened to the real Jason Moss, in the end. Be careful what you wish for, indeed.

This is a difficult movie to watch. I rented it over the holiday week for entertainment.

I felt the movie draws the viewer into the emotional sea of conflict and any flick that can do that, in my estimation is superior.

Certain parts are very difficult because they deal with sexuality , ciminiality and morals all at once.

The flick should not be rejected simply because it might to thought to be anti-gay. There were parts that I thought could pander to homophobic people.

I would recommend it and advise imagine you are 18 years old and dealing with a psychological experiment where you become the bait for the vampire.

I wasn't sure I wanted to watch another moralistic 'movie-of-the-week' about a serial killer since they are usually whitewashed beyond recognition to make them palatable to mainstream America.

When I found out this was based on the true story of a college student contacting John Wayne Gacy in prison before he was executed, however, I thought I would give it a chance.

It all starts like a 'docudrama' by the look of the cast, but with the first glimpse of the gritty characterization of Jason's mother, this film took on a much edgier realism than I was expecting. It seemed to me that I had not seen a woman like this before - not pretty, not likable, not whitewashed.

In fact, none of the characters were Hollywood suburban - they were conflicted, vulnerable, angry, manipulative and contradictory. And, 'Jason Moss' takes us on a journey that seems ordinary at first, but step by step, the tension ramps up and we soon find ourselves betting against higher and higher stakes on a happy ending.

What we end up experiencing is an intense and uncomfortable story that goes far deeper into the psyche of Gacy and anyone who came into contact with him than the usual fare. The acting is superb on everyone's part, especially Jesse Moss and William Forsythe - so much so that I had a hard time connecting to the pix of the real people at the end of the film.

This is one of the best studies of serial murderers that I have ever seen. Watch it but be prepared to go places that aren't 'nice'. People are much scarier than we care to believe - an idea that John Wayne Gacy used skillfully to entrap his victims up until the end.

Based on the true story of 18 year old college student Jason Moss (Jesse Moss), who finds himself in way over his head when he begins a relationship with notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy (William Forsythe). As part of a term paper for his criminology class, Moss sends a letter to Gacy on death row, portraying himself as vulnerable with the hopes of eventually gaining his trust and getting inside the mind of this killer to possibly learn more about his crimes. A relationship between the two begins through letters and eventually phone calls, as Jason tries not to lose his own identity while being brought into Gacy's world.

Jesse Moss, whom I'd only seen previously in smaller roles, most notably "Ginger Snaps", shows he can hold his own as a lead. The real stand out, however, was William Forsythe. Remarkably intense and creepy, he seemed to embody John Wayne Gacy. It was one of the best portrayals I've seen of Gacy to date and rivaled that of Brian Dennehy's.