To Catch a Killer (1992)

"To Catch a Killer" tells the true gruesome story of John Wayne Gacy - a good friend and helpful neighbour, a great child entertainer, a respectful businessman, and a violent serial killer ... See full summary »

Director:

Eric Till

Writer:

Jud Kinberg

Stars:

Brian Dennehy, Michael Riley, Margot Kidder

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brian Dennehy	...	John Wayne Gacy
Michael Riley	...	Joe Kozenczak
Margot Kidder	...	Rachel Grayson
Meg Foster	...	Attorney Carlson
Martin Julien	...	Koslo
Scott Hylands	...	Paxton
David Eisner	...	Williams
John Boylan	...	Atkins
Tony De Santis	...	DeMarco (as Tony DeSantis)
Mark Humphrey	...	King
Gary Reineke	...	Petrie
Tim Progosh	...	Morris
Danny Pawlick	...	Santori
Bruce Ramsay	...	Bragg
Brenda Bazinet	...	Alice Pearson

Storyline

"To Catch a Killer" tells the true gruesome story of John Wayne Gacy - a good friend and helpful neighbour, a great child entertainer, a respectful businessman, and a violent serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young boys.

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Plot Keywords:

police | surveillance | search warrant | detective | serial killer | 

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jagt den Killer

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Creative Entertainment Group, Telestories Entertainment Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

182 min 178 min (video) 182 min (video) 180 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

One of Gacy's potential victims is shown wearing a Michael Jordan t-shirt. Jordan would have been a junior in high school at the time of the murders.

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Connections

Version of Gacy (2003)

User Reviews

Excellent

Excellent suspense for about 3 hours starting from minute 1. Seldom have I seen a movie that hooked me so much as this one, even after watching it over and over again. Brian Dennehy has shown the best performance in his lifetime. You just sense the evil inside and his performance as an actor should have had a lot more attention, because it's one of the best acting performances I've ever seen.

I mean, I love Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy and I think they're one of the best actors the world has seen, but sometimes a second ranked actor shows a performance that equals top actors like Spencer and Tom; Brian Dennehy is one of them in this movie.

All the actors play very convincing and the movie has dozens of moments that I will never forget. 3 hours of suspense without a drop of blood and compelling from start to end; I find that a major achievement. Not one single moment the movie is slow or boring. What I also really like about the movie is its pace; it's going faster and faster towards the end and this has partly to with the actual story and it makes you so eager to look forward to how it ends.

The movie doesn't have any famous actors, director, story writers and never got any major attention, but it sure is a classic in my opinion.

There are only 3-5 movies (and I'm an older person who's addicted to movies since the day he was born) that really stand out in the history of film-making and this is one of them and the only one in my top 50 list without the famous cast, director or all the major publicity.

A must see!