Alexander Bulkley’s The Zodiac attempts to commit an analytic, unromanticized telling of the Zodiac Killer’s rampage to the big screen. However, the filmmakers’ itinerary gets the better of them as the work more closely resembles a documentary than an engaging character and case study.
A slew of murders begin occurring in Vallejo Valley and San Francisco police sergeant Matt Parish (Justin Chambers) is put on the case. However, as the self-described “Zodiac Killer” (Marty Lindsey) begins to taunt the press and police with a series of cryptic ciphers, Matt and his son, Johnny (Rory Culkin) become infatuated with the case as the Parish’s familial bond begins to crumble.
It becomes clear early in The Zodiac that Bulkley’s agenda is not only to depict the Zodiac Killer’s killing spree, but also the effect it had on the populace and those intimately involved with the case. For example, both Matt and Johnny become so consumed by the killer that their lives are otherwise put on hold as Laura Parish (Robin Tunney) fears for the mental, as well as physical, safety of the males in her life. However, in so doing, Bulkley achieves this end perhaps too well as the viewer is kept at such a distance that we are unable to bond with any one character. However, admirably the filmmakers do an exquisite job of critiquing the press in its Machiavellian malevolence as Matt demands that the front door of the Parish household remain unlocked at all times in retaliation to the sensationalism that the reporters are bringing to the killer.
On this note, unlike many serial killer pictures in which the antagonist is shrouded in ambiguity for the sole sake of suspense, Bulkley’s veiling the Zodiac in shadow throughout is fitting considering the killer’s notoriety being largely due to the fact that he was never caught and is still at large.
Admittedly, the Bulkley’s professional approach to the material winds up leaving the feature film feeling more like a documentary. Unfortunately for those who have a vested interest in the figure, there are nonetheless the obvious quibbles to be had with the manner in which the material is presented. For example, when the San Francisco police stop the killer and ask if he has seen a black male within the vicinity, we are not provided with enough information in order to succinctly ascertain the irony of the inquiry in that Bulkley fails to allot a scene or sequence in which the most recent murder victim was reported and the suspect’s description being incorrectly dispatched as an African American instead of Caucasian. Furthermore, considering the social criticism contained with the film (we overhear a report of the Manson slayings on the radio), it seems as if the director missed a prime opportunity by not disclosing the fact that the first cipher that was broken was done so, not by the police or the National Security Agency, but rather an untrained husband and wife in Salinas, California.
All in all, Alexander Bulkley’s The Zodiac fails to create any sense of sympathy for any of his characters, leaving one with a documentary feel to the work which, as such, fails in providing the viewer with sufficient details to effectively retain the audience’s interest throughout. Though mysterious and distant, the filmmakers’ compliment this facet of the killer’s profile a bit too authentically as the work stands as a mere document of the titular character instead of an engaging thriller.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
