VividSimon Simply Perfect

Alasdair Orr Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

mockinghare There are movies based on real life serial killers that are for entertainment only. This isn't one of them. I wouldn't even go as far as professing it's infotainment. The movie has a very documentary style feel to it with the only element missing being a narrator. It doesn't live off of big action and doesn't cater to the gore and torture porn fans either (like Bundy: An American Icon did for example) and luckily so. The essence of this movie is the interaction between Bob Keppel (Bruce Greenwood) and Ted Bundy (Cary Elwes). The chemistry between these two actors is simply incredible and both are playing their parts so convincingly that it took my breath away at times. Cary Elwes was quoted as saying that this role took a part of his soul away and I have no problem believing it. If you ever listened to Bundy's confession tapes (available on youtube) you know how easily he switched between joviality, bravado and a cold, psychopathic glee when talking about about his murderous deeds. Cary Elwes does such an authentic job switching back and forth between these sentiments that it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. His mimic is subtle, oftentimes even understated; his eyes do all the work. There's an underlying rage emanating from him during his conversations with Keppel that made me wonder if he had trouble switching back to his regular Mr. Joe guy self once the director called "Cut!" Likewise he chose the right tone of voice, the right pitch and pronunciation, that reminded a lot of Bundy himself in his interviews. After rewatching "Kiss The Girls" recently I was yet again reminded of how versatile this actor's voice is. As for Bruce Greenwood, his portrayal of Robert Keppel is equally on par as Elwes'. The struggle between being - or rather playing - a family man and "ordinary cop" and trying to delve deeply into both Bundy's as well as Gary "The Riverman" Ridgway's psyche are bone chilling. There's grief in his expression about the things Bundy confides in him, but as he tries to mentally connect, yes even "become," the Riverman in order to catch him he gets lost. He loses connection to himself, his wife and children, he slowly but steadily becomes obsessive-compulsive in his quest to uncover the truth. Although Sam Jaeger, who plays Detective Dave Reichert, has considerably little screen time his performance is equally strong as Bruce Greenwood's and Cary Elwes. Last but not least there is "The Riverman" himself, played by David Lawrence Brown. The last scene is based on one of the confession tapes of Ridgway's and he absolutely nails the killer's odd, choppy speech pattern (hinting at his low IQ of a mere 82) and his oddly blank face during his interrogations. If you are interested in understanding the machinations and motivations of serial killers, witty dialogues, psychological suspense, and Ted Bundy's case in particular, I guarantee that you will appreciate this movie greatly. A fair warning: It is haunting, literally haunting. It has stayed with me for weeks after first watching it, occupying my waking thoughts and dreams. Which is far more than I had expected of a "low budget TV movie."

Alex-372 Riverman is a pretty good made for TV movie. Many movies based on books are of a better quality, because the screenplay has a lot more to work with.Riverman was written by Robert Keppel, and published long before Gary Leon Ridgway was caught for the Green River serial murders.The book is based around Keppel's interviews with another serial killer, Ted Bundy, who also committed many of his murders in Washington State. The idea of a profiler going out and interviewing a (famous) serial killer was also the basis for the movie Silence Of The Lambs, with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins.Where the movie is very good, is in showing the internal world of so many serial killers - the sociopath's inability to feel emotion except under extreme circumstances, the childhood abuse, etc. What it only slightly touches upon is the fact that for Ted Bundy, killing was only a means to an end. He was a necrophiliac who enjoyed the corpses more than the live persons, and God knows whatever other psychotic factors were in play as well. It remains a mystery why he kept the skulls - sex? Did they talk to him? These issues are brought up in a rather rushed manner, compared to the book. But that is only a minor quibble, and perhaps inevitable in a made for TV movie.The irony is that Robert Keppel was only marginally involved in actually catching either Bundy or Ridgway. Bundy was caught because of a traffic violation, and Keppel wasn't even involved at all in Ridgway's apprehension in late November 2001.I would like to add that the movie also accurately shows that these individuals are rather pathetic geeks once apprehended. They prey on the most vulnerable people in society, and often only then during their most vulnerable moments. They abuse the general trust people and societies need to operate. In short, anyone can sneak up on someone and hit them over the head. It is also why female serial killers almost exclusively target the very old and the very young, and very often use poison. They only very rarely kill adult men by violent means (Aileen Wuornos is the exception).This is a very good true crime movie, however as a movie, it has some problems.

siglo_xx This was decent, though not all that great. I thought some of the acting was good, by Greenwood and Elwes. The cinematography was well done. Conceptually the story was decent, but not all that intense. You learn some new things about Bundy, if you're interested in the serial killer (which seems to be primarily an American phenomenon).I thought the story was a bit disjointed though. You go from the introduction of the kilings, to Greenwood, the ex-detective/ cop, to Bundy; but there's this Green River Killer, whom, to me, was sort of left in the background, with Bundy apparently attempting to assist in the investigation.I thought the story was more telling of how many additional people Bundy killed, or what his thoughts and background was, rather than concentrating on the Green River Killer. Yes, they reveal, briefly, in the end, who The Green River Killer is, and how many he killed, etc., but it didn't do all that much for me. I thought there'd be some real connection there other than people or serial killers and 'going inside the mind of a killer'.I'd almost have rather they left the entire Bundy thing out of it, or at least not concentrated on it so much. It's an interesting point of view, but I believe they relied too heavily on it. I'd have rather seen more about the actual serial killer and his story, perhaps with an additional half hour of material (but this is a TV movie, hard to do with all those commercials). I'm fascinated by serial killers in general, not sure why exactly. Just find the American thing interesting (not that they don't exist elsewhere, but the fact that our media covers them so widely, it's like they become movie-stars, and famous for 15 minutes, just as Warhol predicted; how our pop society seems to want fame over anything else). I find that sickening personally. Therein I guess lies the fascination, odd as it may seem. I only partially enjoyed this film. Some good talent, reasonably well done, but a bit lacking in intensity I think. I didn't really feel all that creeped out by it, as others may have suggested. Intriguing but not intense. I gave it a 5/10. Almost deserves a 6/10, which seems to be the average so far.

starring-1 First I must say that Cary Elwes did a very convincing portrayal of Ted Bundy. I thought he looked a lot like him and did a good acting job.This movie is for those who want to go deeply into the killer's mind and perhaps discover new things about Bundy and his childhood. (For instance in one part he tells the detective that as a child his mother threatened to send him to stay with his grandfather if he wasn't good and that he would try to be good but she would send him there anyway; then his grandfather would lock him in a closet). It also caused me to think about how much more useful it would be to keep people like him alive to analyze, study and try to understand what triggered his heinous psychology. This is a dark movie and not entertaining; not something I would watch for entertainment or fun in any sense. It was more like watching reenactments and felt sometimes more like watching a documentary than a movie.The film also goes into the psychology somewhat of a serial killer known as "The Green River Killer."I think of this as more of an educational film. Women for instance could watch it with an eye to learn tricks Bundy and the Green River Killer used to catch their prey (both seemed to like the trick of pretending to be disabled and in need of help for example). The film also highlights what it is like for those who interviewed Bundy hoping he could help them get into the mind of another killer they were trying to apprehend -- how dark and freaky it is. All around, as is its subject, the movie it pretty grisly. Definitely not a "date movie," haha.Some people are fascinated with learning more about serial killers and for those people this is probably a film they would like to see; but for most of us, I think we would rather be spared all the grisly details.Good acting all around and good cinematography, etc.; slow moving, graphic photos of murdered women I would rather not have seen. I personally would not recommend this movie to anyone other than those I mentioned above -- who like to study this sort of thing and are always hungry for more details. Lots of creepiness here!And please, mothers, fathers and others: don't lock the kid(s) up in the closet!! I gave this a 5 rating.