Confessions Of A Serial Killer — Confessions Of A Serial Killer( Blu Ray)

Confessions Of A Serial Killer was made in the mid 80’s, but due to its similarity to Herny: Portrait Of A Serial Killer didn’t appear until the early 90’s. The film is a blend of police interaction, and flashbacks to the murders/ crimes- with a fairly creepy lead, who does look like the real Henry Lee Lucus, and a few moments of nastiness. Here from the Unearthed Classics series is a new region A release of the film- taking in a commentary track, and a few other extras.

Made in the year 1985 Confessions Of A Serial Killer was the only credit for  Mark Blair- who wrote and directed the film. It was shot in and around  Austin Texas- been a lot closer to the real case of Mr Lucus's real crimes, than that of Herny: Portrait Of A Serial Killer. Sadly due to its unrelated Hanbali Lecter-like artwork- trying to cash in on the popularity of Silence Of The Lambs- it never got the attention it deserved. It's a decent enough( if unevenly paced) serial killer film with some moments of unease, creepiness, and nastiness.

The film opens with us inside the car of Daniel Ray Hawkins( Robert A Burns) who with his reseeding fuzzy hair, moustache, and stubble looks rather like the real Lucas. He pulls up alongside a woman who has broken down- it’s pitch black, and she’s on her own- he fiddles with her cables, then offers her a lift to the nearest garage. She gets in the car, and surprise surprise he drives straight past the next garage- staring chilling over at her….one thing leads to another and brutally slashes her throat as the opening credits roll.

We then settle into one of the key locations of the film an integration office. We of course have Daniel Ray, and across him is greying/ thinning haired & droopily moustached Sheriff Will Gaines(Berkley Garrett). As the film unfolds we shift between this office, flashbacks, and a few trips out to find bodies with Ray.

The flashbacks move from seeing the young Daniel Ray, and his sister watching his flirtatious and breast-showing mother with two men- before his wheelchair-bound father shoots himself. Though to various murder attacks- the nastier/ extreme of these occur when the bulky and ragged stubble-bound Moon Lewton( Denis Hill), and his masseur/criminal sister Molly(Sidney Brammer) appear. We have a tied-down anal rape just as the throat is cut, bloody stabbings & shootings, an effective and tense house staking, and a few implied/off-scene attacks.

Acting wise Burns certainly pervades a sense of both sleazy disquiet & creepiness- though at other points he is a little flat. Garrett is fairly one-dimensional as the integrating sheriff. And Hill & Brammer- are ok as the dubious brother & sister. The film features an effective darkly eerie ambient soundtrack- which nicely adds to the feel of providing unease, threat, and creepiness.  So while may not be as disturbingly impactful as Herny: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, Confessions of a Serial Killer isn’t a bad serial killer film been head & shoulders above the clutch of truly awful/plain bad serial killer films of the early 2000s.

 

Moving onto this region A Blu Ray, the scan looks fine for a 90’s picture. The version we have here runs 107 minutes, and as far as I’m aware this is the fully uncut version of the film. On the extras side, we have a commentary track from director John 'Mark Blair' Dwyer, director of photography Layton Blaylock and actor Sidney Brammer who played Molly in the film. I’m not sure if this is new,  as at one point one of the contributors mentions this being a DVD( though there is a DVD version of this release)….anyway, it’s a decent enough track. They begin by talking about the opening shots, and how they had to drive up & down the instate all night to get the right shot. We find out Burns- who had been employed as the film’s art director, got his lead role after the original actor left the film just before shooting. They comment on the creepily effective score by William Penn, and apparently, the release of the score charted in Belgium at some point. We find out that the interrogation set was built in an art space by Burns & his team- it had moveable walls so as to get the different angles/ shots.  And mention how much Burns managed to look like the real-life Henry Lee Lucas.  Later on, they talk about issues they had with the film's petrol station scene-with reshoots, and trying to get the gun sound just right. Comment on the polaroids that appear in the film- which show Daniel Ray with early victims. So, it's certainly a track worth a play.

Otherwise, we have the 2020 documentary Rondo and Bob( one hour and forty minutes) it has a double focus- the career of Robert A Burns as an art director- his most notable credit being the original Texas Chainsaw film. And actor Rondo Hatton- who due to his disfigured face got roles in 1940’s noir & horror films. Burns was fascinated by Hatton- hence the connection. The film is a blend of talking heads & dramatization of the both of both gentlemen's lives. It’s certainly an interesting set-up for a doc, and is largely worth a look- though some of the dramatization looks a little cheap/ wobbly. We also get a brief mention of Confessions Of A Serial Killer towards the end of the doc.

There’s The Henry Lee Lucas Story( 6.12) which is an on-screen interview with author and TV news correspondent James Moore, who interviewed & wrote about Lucas. We get two trailers, a Polaroid gallery, and a promotional gallery

This release of Confessions Of A Serial Killer is most welcome- as the film truly didn’t receive the attention it should have got when it was first released. It’s a good, at-point great example of the serial killer genre. With a decent print of the film, and worthy extras on this release from Unearthed.