Zodiac (David Fincher)

Would anyone be interested if there was a thread about the zodiac, himself; the suspects; the crimes; the evidence, etc?
I would be, but I don't know if others would. I think this thread about the film could get bogged down with a bunch of that stuff. I am not saying your post doesn't belong here, just that the OP may want to stick to discussion about the film. Or he may not care - I'll let him speak for himself. And thanks for the post, I'm checking out your links.

 

Fascinating case that I continue to read up on from time to time. The movie is fantastic. I like the use of Hurdy Gurdy Man in the Ferrin/Mageau scene.

 

Are we sure that's really him though? I thought it was genuinely accepted that the last canonical letter came in 1974 or so?

 

The recently released U.K. bluray of this is outstanding.

 

A masterpiece, and initially I did google the case, but aside from a few suspects, it looks as if the case will continue to remain unresolved.

 

Great film, Bob Downey rules, whole cast is great, Fincher-s best film, should have won some Oscars, origin of my poorly chosen user name.

 

Here's a great 10 years later article from Birth. Movies. Death.

An Epic Of Unknowability: ZODIAC, Ten Years Later

 

My favourite film of the last 10 years. I've watched it several times. As an aside, virtually
every actor in this movie I was familiar with, which isn't always the case.

 

I know what you mean, I almost refrained from posting it but it was just so interesting I couldn't resist. If anything this has me wanting to see the movie again and look for my old book and see if I can find it.

 

I love movies with an investigative flair. Zodiac, All The President's Men, and the recent Spotlight are some of my favorites.

 

Washington Post just wrote an article about this film today:
Opinion | Ten years ago ‘Zodiac’ hit theaters. It’s still terrifyingly relevant.

 

I saw it once and remember I thought it was good but Gyllenhaal (who I normally like) didn't sell his performance for me.

 

10 Rillington Place is a great movie. It documents the murders leading up to the last hanging in the UK (and gives a very good reason why capital punishment was abolished there). Very low key and even creepier because of it.
Zodiac is a great movie - one of my favourites. Chance playing a huge part in the killer getting away is incredibly frustrating. It sounded like they had their man, but he died just before he was finally pinned.
"Catching Milat" is a rather good semi-doco on the investigation into an Australian serial killer called Ivan Milat and worth watching. Like the USA, Australia has vast areas of bush to dispose of bodies, and we've had a serial killer that was recently caught after a 20 year investigation into the murders in a popular nightclub area of Perth - look up the Claremont serial killer.

 

My second favorite film of Fincher's, after Fight Club. I find something about this film really hypnotic.

 

Zodiac is also a good example of the Director's Cut that really is an improvement over the theatrical version.

I can also thank this movie for introducing me to the deliciousness of the Aqua Velva.

 

Not for me.

The murder at the lake is one of those "I've seen it, now I never have to see it again," moments.

 

I love that scene where the woman asks Toschi "have you considered that Paul Avery might be Zodiac?" and he replies "frequently". Gets me every time!

Music related Z bit: back in the 80's Bleeker Bob's sold a Zodiac t-shirt. It had the Lake Berryessa police sketch.

 

A great film, was some truly scary moments (especially the use of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, quite possibly the darkest and most menacing song of the rock era). Top-notch direction, with solid performances all around.

As for the history end of it, there are (as with many Hollywood "non-fiction" films) some serious issues, most especially concerning Greysmith's research (and conclusions) in regards to the guilt of Arthur Lee Allen. While appearing on the surface to be a solid circumstantial case against him, research by others in recent years has cast serious doubt on much of Greysmith's "evidence", and has revealed a great deal of it to be little more than a forensic "house of cards." No doubt Allen was an extremely creepy and unpleasant character, but his actual involvement in The Zodiac Killings now appears to be of a very low order of probability.

 

I agree that this is Fincher's finest work, and one of the very best films of the past several years.
An interesting tidbit related to the frequent mentions of the effective use of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is that Ione Skye - Donovan's daughter - appears briefly as a mother with a baby who encounters the killer when her car breaks down. It's one of the most chilling scenes in the film.

Aaron

 

Very fascinated by the case. I've even spent time 'deep diving' on some Web Sleuthing type websites about it. The film is indeed a masterpiece, Fincher's best in my opinion. Not a single moment wasted.

The Blu-ray bonus material approaches Criterion levels of minutia and it's all the better for it.

 

Bryan Hartnell is the man who survived the knife attack at the lake. His companion Cecilia Shepard did not. In one of the DVD extras Hartnell talks about seeing the film, and specifically watching that scene. It' unbelievable how calm and objective he is when talking about it and verifying its authenticity.

The man has some kind of inner strength I certainly feel like I do not. Not only would I never be able to watch that scene if I were him (or probably any of the film at all), I went back and watched the scene just to be sure that my post here accurately reflected what was shown and . . . I never want to see that scene again. I've seen plenty of violent and upsetting scenes in films, but there is something about that one that just makes me feel sick inside in a way I can't even fully describe.

I'm sure I'll re-watch the film at some point, but I don't even want to HEAR that scene.

 

Damn. I only reserve that kind of evaluation for very few scenes out of the hundreds of films I've seen.

 

If you like Zodiac I'd recommend reading The Red Riding Quadrilogy or watching The Red Riding Trilogy (they made 3 movies from 4 books).

 

The book and the movie made me pretty fascinated by the Zodiac killer and the investigation.

I like this site devoted to the subject: On the trail of California's notorious, still-at-large serial killer, the Zodiac. Forums The host of the site is very convinced about the identify of the Zodiac.