The Zodiac Killer — The Zodiac Killer(DVD/Blu Ray)
Filmed & released in 1971 The Zodiac Killer was the directorial debut of Tom Hanson, who had appeared in few minor exploitation roles in the late 1960’s but mainly worked as the proprietor of a chain of Pizza takeaways. Tom had become fascinated by the Zodiac case, as it unfolded in the late 60’s/ early 70's- so he decided to make the film as a way of possible catching the killer, and of course, it’s a great exploration gimmick too. So he got together a few actors, a few of his friends & employees from his Pizza shops, and created The Zodiac Killer. With the end target of showing the film in San Francisco, near where the Zodiac had taken the life of Taxi Driver Paul Stein.
The resulting film is a fairly enduring slice of early 70’s exploitation cinema- blending together (often) unintentional humor, misogynistic dialogue, with bloody re-enactments of some of the Zodiac’s crime, that sit alongside fictional crimes- which where added into bulk up the films running time. Unlike Fincher’s film it’s certainly not going to give one a full & true account of the case, but as 70’s serial killer movies go it’s not bad. And along the way you do get some generally chilling & effective moments- for example, the recreation of the 1969 Lake Berryessa attack where the killer wore a black executioner hood is well done, and the killer's lair/altar is creepy.
For this new reissue, the DVD & Blu Ray disc come in a clear case, which features revisable artwork. You also get a sixteen-page inlay booklet- this features a six-page interview with the director, where he talks at length about the film & him meeting a possible suspect at the films initial showing in San Francisco.
So moving onto the discs extras, and the 4K transfer has a fairly good definition in its use of color, & they cleaned-up some of the wear- though it’s far from pristine due to the condition the only remaining 16 MM negative they used to do the transfer. The film features a new commentary with the director, one of the films actors & the two guys who set up the AGFA who are putting out this set. To begin with, it’s just the two guys from AGFA, discussing how they set-up the label, then after about 15 minutes in the director & the actor come in. The tracks interesting, through a little jumbled with the history of the label at the start.
We also get a few minute stand lone interview with the director, plus a good selection of retro tabloid terror trailers.
The other big extra is, of course, the second bonus film 1977’s Another Son of Sam, and this is another shot of serial killer bound exploitation. The film comes in at just over the hour & ten-minute mark, and is sadly pretty dire. Firstly it feels very painfully paced, feeling more like two hours instead of just over an hour. Next, we get a lot of repeated close-up of the killer's eyes, some extremely bad acting, and often jarring nonsensical cuts. It doesn’t seem to have any real connection with the real-life Son of Sam case, and really they just used its title to pull viewers in. The plot tells of a kill-crazy asylum escapee, the Law-enforcement agents who try to hunt him down, and the psychopath's mother who offers her aid in his capture. And it’s really just bottom of the barrel exploitation fare, which you’ll struggle to watch once, then forget about.
This is the first release from AGFA, who have got future plans to release a whole host of rare/lesser known exploitation films. And I must say they’ve done a nice enough job with this first release- with both the presentation of the release, the main feature, and it's extras. So I look forward to seeing what the label puts out next.