Search - To Catch a Killer on DVD

Excellent acting

H. D. Harvey | Wellington New Zealand | 01/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of my alltime favourite movies. Brian Dennehy is really scary as Gacy. If you want to watch a great movie, watch this one, but not alone. You really get the feeling that Mr Gacy must have been one sick man, but quite clever, until he got caught, that is. Thank God for Kozenzyk and his team and that they were so persistent catching him, otherwise, who knows how many more men he would have killed unnoticed....."

Perfect Choice For Dennehy To Play Gacy

Jason Scherer | Melbourne, Australia | 07/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I taped this off the tv i long time ago now, & i was astounded by Brian Dennehy's sheer power in this role, he is just so brilliant for the role, if you would put a photo of the real John Wayne Gacy alongside with one of Brian Dennehy, you would swear they are almost twins! Kudos goes to actor Michael Riley who played the detective detrmined to bring Gacy to justice for the brutal crimes Gacy commited, as a result of his relentless pursuit of Gacy, his home life suffers beacuse of this. One of the best acting roles of a real life Serial Killer i have ever seen."

Dennehy at his best - a chilling, cold and gritty movie

Paul Morris | Brisbane, Australia | 06/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An absolutely fantastic movie portraying the life of John Gacy, a simple man who runs a building contractor company. In his spare time, he loves entertaining sick children in hospital, dressing up as Pongo the clown. But what John does in his spare time is both inconcievable and terrifying. This film is based on a true story - that of John Gacy, and how in his spare time he sexually assaulted, tortured, and murdered thirty-three young men, making him America's single-most brutal serial killer of all time. "To Catch a Killer" begins as yet another young man goes missing, Gacy having lured him into his house and taken it from there. When his mother notices him gone, she calls the police. And in steps Michael Riley, who plays Lieutenant Packer, a man struggling to balance his job with his family, much to his son's dislike. Packer spends every waking moment pursuing Gacy, uncovering vital and astonishing clues along the way, revealling more and more about Gacy's twisted actions, bringing the movie to a terrifying ending where at last the boy's body is found. An excellent movie, with Dennehy's best performance ever, and a one even as good by Riley. It revealls the horrifying truth about "stranger-danger", and portrays that, like a breakdown on a lost and lonely highway late at night, it could happen to you. One memorable and terrifying scene has Gacy doing his performance as a clown at the children's hospital. Riley and his men track him down and watch him as he entertains away, showing off tricks and telling jokes. Then as Gacy notices Riley is watching, he performs a cunning trick in which he borrows Riley's handcuffs and demonstrates on a young boy a trick, to see if the boy can get himself out of the handcuffs without the key. Riley watches intently, and Dennehy's role is highlighted with the terror and fear he gives us."