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Citizen X

  • TV Movie
  • 1995
  • R
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
25K
YOUR RATING
Citizen X (1995)
On this IMDbrief, we break down how "Chernobyl" became an instant hit on IMDb, and what you can watch in its atomic afterglow.
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DocudramaSerial KillerTrue CrimeBiographyCrimeDramaHistoryThriller

During the 1980s, Soviet authorities hunt for a serial killer who picks his victims in railway stations and commuter trains and lures them into the woods.During the 1980s, Soviet authorities hunt for a serial killer who picks his victims in railway stations and commuter trains and lures them into the woods.During the 1980s, Soviet authorities hunt for a serial killer who picks his victims in railway stations and commuter trains and lures them into the woods.

  • Director
    • Chris Gerolmo
  • Writers
    • Robert Cullen
    • Chris Gerolmo
  • Stars
    • Stephen Rea
    • Donald Sutherland
    • Max von Sydow
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    25K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Chris Gerolmo
    • Writers
      • Robert Cullen
      • Chris Gerolmo
    • Stars
      • Stephen Rea
      • Donald Sutherland
      • Max von Sydow
    • 172User reviews
    • 26Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Primetime Emmy
      • 10 wins & 11 nominations total

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    Top cast54

    Edit
    Stephen Rea
    Stephen Rea
    • Lt. Viktor Burakov
    Donald Sutherland
    Donald Sutherland
    • Col. Mikhail Fetisov
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    • Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky
    Jeffrey DeMunn
    Jeffrey DeMunn
    • Andrei Chikatilo
    Joss Ackland
    Joss Ackland
    • Bondarchuk
    John Wood
    John Wood
    • Gorbunov
    Radu Amzulescu
    • Federenko
    Imelda Staunton
    Imelda Staunton
    • Mrs. Burakov
    András Bálint
    • Ignatiev
    Géza Balkay
    • Procurator
    László Váradi Balogh
    • Peasant
    Zsolt Biro
    • Older Gay Man
    Ion Caramitru
    Ion Caramitru
    • Tatevsky
    Imre Csuja
    Imre Csuja
    • Front Detective
    Zoltán Dózsa
    • Execution Guard
    Jozsa Elek
    • Burakov's Daughter
    Marton Elek
    • Burakov's Son
    Murray Ewan
    • Office Manager
    • Director
      • Chris Gerolmo
    • Writers
      • Robert Cullen
      • Chris Gerolmo
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews172

    7.424.6K
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    Featured reviews

    9Peach-2

    Powerful and intense.

    I believe this is the most powerful film HBO Pictures has made to date. This film should have been released in theaters for the public to view on the big screen. It is available on video so make sure you look for it and check it out. Chris Gerolmo did a great job with the direction and the screenplay. The performances from Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland and Jeffery DeMunn are flawless. A masterpiece of the genre.
    dtucker86

    Four Stars

    People who liked Silence Of The Lambs need to watch this film because Andrei Chikatilo makes Hannibal Lector look like Donny Osmond. This is a horrifying true story to dwarf any fiction. HBO always makes the best films and it just doesn't get any better then this. Stephen Rea gave an outstanding performance as a dedicated policeman who realizes he will basically have to catch this monster by himself. He is no cardboard cut out but a human hero. There is one scene where he dreams of this brutal child killer and then it shows him weeping and embracing both of his children. You feel so bad for this poor man and so furious at the stupid government that wont even admit there is a serial killer in their midst. I couldn't believe that one scene where Joss Ackland's character says that serial killers are a decedent Western phenomenon. If they had only staked out those train stations like Rea's character wanted they could have caught this monster much sooner and saved many innocent people from the most horrible death you could imagine. Donald Sutherland is a great actor and he gives his best performance here in the way his character evolves and changes. He is very cynical to Burakov at first but then begins to share his anger and finally there is a bond of respect between them. I loved that scene at the end where he finally tells Burakov how much he respects him. Lets no forget Jeff Demunn as well, he was in another tv movie that appeared later in 1995 called Ebbie. He is chilling as this nerdy, weak-looking monster. He doesn't rate or rave but he is terrifying in creating evil. The scene at the end where Max Von Sydow's psychiatrist reads that profile to him is excellent. Just by the expression on his face you sense this mans anguish as he realizes he is the monster in the profile. There is one footnote I wanted to add that the movie did not mention. It makes it out like Chikatilo started killing in 1982. He killed a young girl in 1978 and confessed to it after his arrest. The Soviet police were horrified because they had already arrested, charged, tried, convicted and executed another man for the crime! Another innocent victim of this monster.
    9artzau

    Superb film

    There are some excellent comments and observations on this film. I was pleased to note the comparisons to Fritz Lang's "M" (forget the 50's abortive remake with lightweight David Wayne). The real villain is not the tortured murderer (extraordinarily fine performance by Jeffery DeMunn), taking out his sexually frustrated anger on his victims-- mostly children. He is the objective. The real villain is the stifling bureaucratic Soviet system, drowning in its own corrupted incompetence. The frustration of an uncompromisingly dedicated man (Rea in his best role since "The Crying Game"), a facile pragmatist who's willing to use the system to his advantage (Sutherland always successful in this kind of role), a hesitant, frightened but determined psychiatrist (the incomparable Max Sydow), the bumbling, boopous bureaucrat of a prosecutor (brilliant Brit actor John Wood) and the quiet, supporting wife of the driven investigator (delightful supporter, Imelda Staunton). This is one damn fine film. Its darkness and bleakness are supported by the portrayal of a corrupt, incompetent system which works against success. The is no need to dip into gore-laden slice 'n dice sensationalism that has characterized so many recent films. Gore is present-- it's a ghastly story-- but it adds to the depicting of a pathologically twisted human being. The success of the story is precisely that: these were acts perpetrated by a person, a human like you or I. Where you and I choose to vent our frustration by reasonable means, Chikatilo took his anger out on the most innocent and vulnerable of us, our children. The superb premise of this story is made manifest by an equally superb cast of excellent actors. --sadly, I note that our Australian friend didn't like the speech and no doubt would have preferred to hear them speaking in Aussie dialect. Well, too bad. This fine film sure worked for me and everyone else I've talked with who has seen it.
    bob the moo

    Interesting with a strong character driving from the front

    In Russian the bodies of children begin to get uncovered to reveal what appears to be a Russian serial killer. Due to the nature of the case it is given to a young forensics expert who will be blamed should the case fail. Over 8 years Burakov hunts the killer using methods that are seen as unusual at best and fighting with the internal politics that surround him. This is based on a true story.

    HBO TV movies are often a mixed bunch – but I had heard good things about this. The story is immediately engaging as young faces are uncovered beneath shallow soil graves to horrible effect. The fact that it at heart, a true story makes it all the more compelling. The story mixes not only the hunt for this man but also the effect on the perserving Burakov. We see his desperation and the pressure he is under to catch the killer, in particular the political forces who do little to help him in his job. The focus on Burakov makes it more interesting as the human side is well done.

    The facts of the case make the man hunt less interesting – however the political action is interesting. For example members of the communist party were not looked at and homosexuals in particular were targeted – often as a fall back method. It's one of the best repeated shots in the film where Burakov has to several time accompay a group of men to kick in doors and arrest homosexuals – he simply stays outside with a resigned look on his face.

    Rea is excellent as Burakov and brings the man to life – I'm not sure how true to fact his portrayal is, but you get the impression of a man pushed to his limits by all around him. Sutherland is also very good for different reasons – he has the same passion but it is beneath a smooth political operator. Ackland is good but is really only there to make noise. Von Sydow is good despite his short screen time.

    Overall this uses human interest to drive the film, rather than gore or violence. This is well made and manages to be interesting and involving despite not being flashy.
    9philip_vanderveken

    Together with Silence of the Lambs, this is the best movie about a serial killer.

    Citizen X tells the story of Andrei Chikatilo, The Ripper of Rostov, who killed 52 people in 8 years time, mainly women and children. It shows how the investigation was obstructed by Soviet bureaucracy, how hard it was to investigate the crimes. It does the job in such a brilliant way that it will leave no-one untouched. In the beginning it's perhaps a little bit slow of pace, but it really grabs you as the story unfolds. I can only say that, next to "The Silence of the Lambs", this is by far the best movie about a serial killer I've ever seen.

    It is very hard to say which actor's performance stands out above the rest in this movie. Stephen Rea is really brilliant as the inexperienced forensic expert who is put in charge of the investigation. Donald Sutherland's performance as his cynical superior, and the only person in the Russian government willing to help him, is as outstanding as Rea's. And what to say about Jeffrey DuMann, playing the serial killer? DuMann brilliantly created a character who inspires empathy rather than hatred. Yes, he is a monster, but he is also a sad figure, oppressed and ridiculed by his wife, his boss, his co-workers... He is tortured, ashamed, as well as extremely vicious.

    I can only recommend this movie to everybody who's interested in a well-made docu-drama, where the actors are still more important than the special effects. It deserves at least a 9/10, perhaps even more if you ask me.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The characters of Fetisov and Burakov were both real people who investigated the actual Chikatilo killings, yet their ranks and positions were changed in the movie. Historically, Major Mikhail Fetisov was sent from Moscow in order to investigate the killings (in the film he is already in Rostov as a Colonel heading the militia) while Victor Burakov was a civilian forensic expert (in the film he is a Police Lieutenant) assigned by Fetisov to head the investigation. There was no Central Committee comprised of Communist Party and KGB men above the two (this was a plot device created for the film to show Soviet bureaucratic methods) and the main reason why the case took so long was that the investigators interviewed over 150,000 people trying to narrow down who the killer could be. The mistaken release of Chikatilo, and the botched blood-semen test, was accurate as it occurred in the investigation.
    • Goofs
      The film spans 12 years, yet Lt. Viktor Burakov's children don't age.
    • Quotes

      Fetisov: You spend enough time with a lion, the idea of roaring starts to seem more and more reasonable.

    • Crazy credits
      Epilogue:  "The mistake in blood and semen analysis that allowed Andrei Chikatilo to be released in 1984 has never been adequately explained.  Soviet Russia's head forensics expert has since asserted that she had discovered a rare new phenomenon--a man with a blood type of one kind, and a semen type of another.  Her colleagues around the world scoff at the idea.  Chikatilo led detectives to the graves of three undiscovered victims, proving conclusively that he was their murderer, and bringing the final body count to 52 dead.   Thirty-five of the victims were children under the age of 17.  Andrei Chikatilo was convicted of all 52 murders."
    • Alternate versions
      The 1995 UK video release was cut by 37 secs by the BBFC to reduce stabbings during the murder scenes.
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Roommates/Muriel's Wedding/Hideaway/The Good Old Boys/Citizen X (1995)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 25, 1995 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Громадянин Х
    • Filming locations
      • Budapest, Hungary
    • Production companies
      • HBO Films
      • Citadel Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 45 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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