In the early ‘60s the city of Boston was terrorized by a series of murders that came to be known as the Boston Strangler murders. These gruesome killings saw the victims raped and strangled with their stockings. Some of the women were even stabbed. Thirteen women’s lives were claimed from June 1962 to January 1964. Albert DeSalvo confessed and was arrested for the crimes. However there are doubts as to whether or not DeSalvo was the sole killer of all 13 crimes and some of the murders were committed by copycat killers. That is what The Boston Strangler-The Untold Story investigates. In a re-creation of the events it tries to demonstrate that the work of the Boston Strangler was not committed by one Albert DeSalvo but rather another and far more sinister individual.
This is an interesting glimpse into a famous case in recent New England crime history. There are many theories as to what truly happened to those women and this DVD attempts to make sense of all of the conflicting evidence. The story is one of habitual rape and untimely death that makes for a harsh and grisly portrayal of a dark moment in Bostonian history. The acting is mediocre and there are times where it is obvious that they were working with a budget.
If you are into conspiracy theories or just like serial murder mysteries than you might enjoy this intriguing account of the infamous New England case. However, I would suspect that the average movie-goer will have a hard time with this film. It is violent, graphic in nature, and probably not going to win any academy awards for production. I don’t mean to insinuate that this is a bad film, because you could do a lot worse, however the dark subject matter and blasé performances aren’t going to appeal to many for a nice cozy dinner-and-a-movie.
Reviewed by
Ben Black
