DVD Reviews

Dear Mr. Gacy (Blu-Ray)

I had never heard of this film when it came across my desk. Sure I knew who John Wayne Gacy was to a certain degree. I had never gone into the details of the case mind you, but if someone asked I’d be able to say I knew for sure that he was a convicted serial killer. So, with a mind eager to learn more about said killer I jumped into Dear Mr. Gacy with open eyes and ears.

In 1980, John Wayne Gacy was convicted of the rape and murder of 33 young men and sentenced to death row. Years later, ambitious criminology student Jason Moss began a bizarre correspondence with the serial killer and what followed was a nightmare journey into a world of violence, madness and sexual depravity that brought home the true horror of Gacy’s crimes.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack isn’t very exciting. While it is clean, clear and free of distortion it doesn’t do much in terms of spatial arousal. While there is the odd use of surrounds, many of the atmospherics still find themselves on the front channels. In fact, the entire track is quite front centric. And while this is expected of the dialogue, it only shows that this Bluray could have easily made off with a simple stereo track without much difference. Music is nicely produced though at times, it does overpower some of the dialogue. The low end frequencies aren’t used much in the film so don’t expect your subs to get a major workout. Though, when it is needed, the bass does get used without any problems. English Subtitles for deaf & Hearing Impaired, as well as Spanish subtitles are included.

The video is presented in the film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p and yet, it doesn’t do Bluray justice at all. While the film is clearly a low budget affair, the faults in the presentation here don’t seem like it was the low budget that can be blamed for the subpar video. Detail is ok but far from being nearly as good as other discs I’ve watched. Overall, the picture has a soft smooth look to it. It isn’t crisp like you would normally expect. I didn’t see any banding or compression problems.  What I did notice that I’m not sure whether it was intentional or not was inconsistent skin tones and colouring as well as contrast levels. To me, they seemed a little wonky. Now, it could have been a poor artistic choice or it might have been completely unintentional. Either way, I was a little surprised by it on such a new dark and gritty film.

In terms of extras, the disc opens with a trailer for The Alphabet Killer but the only other supplemental piece I could find was a 20 minute featurette “The Gacy Files: Portrait of a Serial Killer”. The piece was surprising in the fact that it wasn’t about the film but rather about the real John Wayne Gacy and featured interview footage of many people who either knew Gacy or were involved with Gacy with regards to his arrest. Even Actor William Forsythe was sometimes doing interviews. While it wasn’t very entertaining and some of the interviews were quite bad (you shouldn’t hear the interviewer agreeing while the interviewee is telling a story) you could clearly see how some of the real life information learned from these interviews was incorporated into the film itself.

I really enjoy William Forsythe as an actor. Even here, he does a fantastic job with the portrayal of a very sick individual. So it is with a heavy heart that I must say that I can’t recommend this release. Not only is the film just not that great but the release itself is only slightly better than the film. If you’re into serial killers, give this one a rental. You might end up enjoying it. But for the casual fan of Forsythe or films of a thriller or horror nature, I’d steer clear of this one.

Review By Rob Harding