The Iceman

The Iceman

True crime is something that has always fascinated Hollywood and over the years we have seen real life stories brought to the big screen.

And that fine tradition continues today as The Iceman, which is based on the story of contract killer Richard Kuklinski, hits the big screen.

To celebrate the release of the movie we take a look at some of the movies that have been inspired by real crime stories over the years.

- Summer of Sam

Summer of Sam saw Spike Lee return to the director's chair in 1999 as he told the story of Son of Sam.

In 1977 serial killer Son of Sam Richard David Berkowitz) terrorised New York as he went on a killing spree. He wrote to the media confessing his crimes before admitting that he intended to kill again.

Summer of Sam does look at the crime but Lee focuses more that the crime had on the people of the city as they feared for themselves but suspected others.

Summer of Sam is a powerful movie that looked at love friendship and betrayal, all set to the backdrop of murder.

  • - Monster

One of the most famous films in this genre came in 2003 when Charlize Theron took on the role of Aileen Wuornos in Monster.

Directed by Patty Jenkins the movie told the story of troubled Wuornos was convicted of killing six men in the late eighties and early nineties.

Theron delivered the performance of her career as she underwent a physical transformation that left her almost unrecognisable.

Theron really got under the skin of this character in what is a powerful, disturbing and yet ultimately sad movie.

Theron went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for her central performance in the film.

- Zodiac

Another great movie in this genre of recent years came in the form of Zodiac as Jake Gyllenhaal teamed up with Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo and director David Fincher.

The movie was based on the hunt for the notorious Zodiac killer who terrorised the San Francisco Bay Area in the late sixties and early seventies.

The killer would send cryptic messages and clues to newspapers about the murders... and yet the case still remains unsolved.

Zodiac is a riveting film from start to finish as Fincher bring to together crime and newsroom drama - which is something that works incredibly well.

The film follows the cop, the journalist and the cartoonist, who all use different methods in the hunt for a killer. This remains one of Fincher's best movies and is not to be missed.

- Dahmer

If you are a Jeremy Renner fan and you want to watch some of his earlier movies then Dahmer is a great place to start.

The movie looks into the life of one of America's most notorious serial killers; he murdered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991.

The film itself does not focus on the crimes themselves - that involved rape and cannibalism - but it rather focuses on the mind of Dahmer and the battle within himself.

It is a fantastic and haunting central performance from Renner - it was this performance that landed him the role in his breakthrough movie The Hurt Locker.

This is a great character study that is troubling and chilling as Dahmer's mind grew more and more twisted over time.

- Badlands

Terrence Malick has always been a terrific director and that was known the second he make his feature film directorial debut with Badlands.

The film is loosely based on the Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate killing spree of the 1958. The pair murdered eleven people in the states of Nebraska and Wyoming.

The movie follows Holly (Sissy Spacek) and Kit (Martin Sheen) on their killing spree as Malick mixes fantastically moments of violence with moments of romance; love and death really do go hand in hand in this movie.

Badlands remains one of the greatest directorial debuts of all time and Malick just went from strength to strength as a filmmaker.

The Iceman is released 7th June


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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