Since the actual Green river killings occurred around my area and in the neighboring state of Washington, I was interested in the real murder cases. I mean, nearly fifty female victims have been counted, some of them never identified, and the murderer, Gary Ridgeway, was one sick man. So, naturally, I thought I'd rent "Green River Killer" when I saw it at a local video store. The DVD packaging looked rather professional, so I decided to give the film a chance. Boy, I'm so very sorry that I even wasted the three dollars.
Where do I even begin with how completely horrible this film is? It's supposed to be a semi-biography on Gary Ridgeway and the murders he committed, but it's so horrible constructed that I could hardly bare to watch it. First of all, the story is a complete and utter mess. It makes absolutely no sense and is extremely confusing. Second, the acting. Oh, the acting. It was horrible amateur, and extremely unbelievable. Third, the direction and cinematography. This film had to have been shot on an old VHS camcorder, or at least that's how the quality looks. The camera angles were terrible and the film just looked bad. Really, really bad. I also had the viewing pleasure of Ulli Lommel's other film "Black Dahlia", which was almost as bad as this. I would have reviewed that film also, but for some reason IMDb doesn't have a listing for it yet (hm... I wonder why?).
Lommel seems to have a history of directing true-crime films, but the problem is that they are all so horrible. This guy really needs to give up on his film career, because his movies are an insult to the film industry. Please, no more of these cheapo, straight-to-video true crime films. If I could give it a zero, I would. Overall, this film is purely and simply pathetic. Avoid at all costs, and never rent a film from this director, because it's guaranteed to be bad. 1/10.
