Mark Twitchell
Mark Twitchell was born in Edmonton, Canada but spent several years
living in the Midwest before returning to Canada to pursue a career in
filmmaking. He graduated from a radio and television program at the
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and later gained a
small following among sci-fi fans when he directed Star Wars: Secrets
of the Rebellion (2007), a fan film for the Star Wars franchise that
contained a short cameo with actor
Jeremy Bulloch.
That film was in post-production, another in search of financing, and a short film called House of Cards recently completed shooting, when Twitchell was arrested and charged with the murder of a missing man.
He was found guilty during a jury trial in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison.
The prosecution's case was that Twitchell had turned his House of Cards movie script into a real-life homicide by replicating the script after he had shot the scenes, this time with himself playing the killer for real. The script was based loosely on the fictional life of serial killer Dexter Morgan, but saw the killer character lure men off dating websites. Police had also discovered that Twitchell had become Dexter Morgan on Facebook, built a real-life "kill room" in a garage, and wrote a diary that detailed his "progression into becoming a serial killer."
None of Twitchell's films have ever been released. But he went on to star in the international news, a Dateline NBC episode, and was featured in a book, The Devil's Cinema, that detailed the police investigation and Twitchell's life.
That film was in post-production, another in search of financing, and a short film called House of Cards recently completed shooting, when Twitchell was arrested and charged with the murder of a missing man.
He was found guilty during a jury trial in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison.
The prosecution's case was that Twitchell had turned his House of Cards movie script into a real-life homicide by replicating the script after he had shot the scenes, this time with himself playing the killer for real. The script was based loosely on the fictional life of serial killer Dexter Morgan, but saw the killer character lure men off dating websites. Police had also discovered that Twitchell had become Dexter Morgan on Facebook, built a real-life "kill room" in a garage, and wrote a diary that detailed his "progression into becoming a serial killer."
None of Twitchell's films have ever been released. But he went on to star in the international news, a Dateline NBC episode, and was featured in a book, The Devil's Cinema, that detailed the police investigation and Twitchell's life.