Friday, March 4, 2016

10 Rillington Place

10 Rillington Place is a brutally effective film by telling the cold harsh truth as straight forward of a fashion as it can. Richard Fleischer's direction here is downright brilliant by the way he neither sugarcoats nor glorifies Christie's crimes. He shows them as one unfortunately would imagine only shying away in one instance yet the implication of that moment is bone chilling even in the restraint. The most horrifying scene actually though is not one of Christie's direct murders but his indirect one as he bluntly depicts the injustice that feels so cruel because of how normal the whole event is. The performances here are strong with the standouts being John Hurt who is as heartbreaking as Richard Attenborough is terrifying. A message can be taken from the film yet it never enforces the idea the film believing its audience is intelligent enough to recognize it from the natural order of the proceedings. It's one of the great serial killer films ever made, and one of the most unnerving in its reality. As the man does not get caught by his guilt, or by a quick thinking detective,  but rather because he simply runs out of money.
5/5

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