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.

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.

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.

The whole feel of the movie doesn't match the story at all like some hallmark Christmas fall in love with the obvious character movie. It's a slow burn very boring. An excellent story that should of been told by someone else.

In Boston, the bright medical student Philip Markoff (Jake McDorman) is in the top of his class at the Boston University and with a promising future. When he meets the gorgeous Megan McAllister (Agnes Bruckner), they fall in love with each other and move in together to an apartment. Six months later, they travel to New Jersey and Philip proposes to marry her.

However, Philip shows that is also a dysfunctional man that posts in the Craigslist that he loves bondage and travesties and seeks masseuses to submit them to bondage and steals them. When he brutally kills a masseuse from New York that reacts to his attack, Detectives Bennett (William Baldwin) and Frye (Josh Close) track him down and their investigation discover the dark side of promising doctor.

"The Craigslist Killer" is a decent TV movie based on the true story of a man that is a bright student but also a deviant person. The screenplay does not keep the mystery about the behavior of Philip Markoff and just reports his dark story. The romance of Philip and Megan in the beginning is too long, maybe with the intention of explaining her love for him, and there is no explanation for the behavior of Philip. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Assassino da Internet" ("The Internet Killer")