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‘Zodiac Killer Project’ Review: A Frustrated Filmmaker Takes Aim at the Industry’s True-Crime Addiction
Director Charlie Shackleton had his Zodiac killer documentary shut down. Debuting at Sundance, his new film explains how it would've unfolded.
“Zodiac Killer Project” sees Shackleton recounting the narrative beats he’d planned for the film, speaking in a wandering, reflective cadence over long shots of Bay Area exteriors. Throw in a few insert shots of things like crime-scene flashbulbs and burning documents — visual tropes that Shackleton calls out as such — and “Zodiac Killer Project” gets remarkably close to resembling an actual true-crime doc. There are plenty of other drive-by criticisms against the product that has proliferated in the past decade, including the fast-eroding restraint of “Making a Murderer” and the hypocritical moralizing of Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer series “Monster.” In one segment, noting how many former cops call themselves “bulldogs” in talking-head interviews, Shackleton finds humor in how the genre can operate with “no direction required.”
Or read this on Variety