Freeway Killer (2009)

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I could barely make it through the whole thing. THe problem is there's no suspense or mystery. It's just one killing after another and to me that's not remotely interesting. I guess if you just like watching true crime - without the investigative element or police procedures or anything else - maybe you'll like it. Not very interesting camera work, lousy production values, mostly badly acted (the lead dude is OK tho) and terrible script. I really can't find anything much to like about it. I was so bored by the end of it I finished scrubbing down my walls ready for painting while it was on. Still - like I said - maybe if you just like watching serial killers killing people you'll like it so I gave it a 3 coz it does what you expect, tho nothing more than that.

William Bonin was a real-life serial killer who murdered a number of young men in the Los Angeles area around 1980. The plot of "Freeway Killer" gives us a character study of this man as an adult already in the process of carrying out his evil schemes.We see him as he entices young boys into his blue van; gets to know them with general chitchat; then, without warning, strikes, like some wild animal attacking its prey. As Bonin, Scott Anthony Leet gives a really fine, naturalistic performance, with emotions that run the gamut from cheerful normality to blatant hatred. Bonin had at least one accomplice, a young man named Vernon, well played by Dusty Sorg.The film conveys some gore, though not a lot, mercifully. On the one hand, we do not want a sanitized version of Bonin or his crimes. But we also don't want gratuitous gore and violence that seem to sensationalize people and events. I think "Freeway Killer" strikes a reasonably good balance.The guys being picked up by Bonin were so similar in age and appearance, they were almost interchangeable. I never did pay much attention to them; they were like stick figures. Any given victim could almost substitute for some other victim, so impersonal and fleeting were their roles in the script.This is no police procedural; very little time is spent on police investigation. Also, there is no mystery here and very little suspense.In this low-budget film cinematography is competent. There are lots of close-up shots, with emphasis on peoples' faces, showing their anger, desperation, fear, and deception. Rear-screen projections are noticeable in a few scenes.Intended mostly for viewers with an interest in true crime, "Freeway Killer" zeroes in on the Bonin character, a madman with the demeanor of a normal guy who liked to mess with the minds of his prospective victims. I rate the film above average for its genre.

Serial killer movies. They are a dime a dozen and this is low low budget. So low no effort is made to get the background details correct. Set twenty years in the past cue all the modern cars and contemporary food items. But look closely at major offerings like Donnie Brasco for example and even with big budgets they still produce continuity errors.Ican overlook the flaws here as the acting here is spot on. The killer and his assistant are portrayed as simultaneously creepy and seductive. Between acting out their murder fantasies they also attempt to lure in other disenfranchised young men into their world and this is what hastens their downfall. The murder scenes while not overly graphic are disturbing in the way they show the pleasure obtained by the killers and their sociopathic attitude to human life.Ironically Michael (Henry!) Rooker plays the cop who pops up at the end to nail the killers. Based on real events no attempt is made to show the police investigation until the end and the killers real life homosexuality is only alluded to in the movie. For accuracy better off sticking to the many books published on serial killers - for me this is close enough

I never saw a flick with Scott Anthony Leet but what he performed here really did impress me. His face and his laughter really gives you the creeps. And after doing some research on William Bonin he really looked like him. As you all know who follows me on the net I'm not only into horrors I do dig serial killers too. And I have seen a lot of movies about serial killers, some really bad (B.T.K. for example with Kane Hodder) and some really good. This one here I do file under a real good one. Why, because it delivers what you expect from such kind of movies. You really go into the character and not that much into his killings. Now and then we are confronted with some killings and they are gruesome. It isn't all based on the real life of William, he was a pedophile and killed 45 boys. But he was also as we can see in this movie the first one who got a lethal injection. The fact of Vernon is true but he had more companions than shown in this flick. Of course the director couldn't show them all, then he should have made a flick like The Deliberate Stranger or To Catch A Killer which both clocks in over 3 hours (to catch even clocks in at 360 minutes). It's funny to mention To Catch A Killer because Scott did remind me of Brian Dennehy's performance. I guess that the production changed the names of his companions with a reason, just let me say that William Pugh was sentenced to 6 years. Bonin was prisoned for 17 years before he got his injection so the end of the flick wasn't really right. Whatever, a great flick to see and collect if you are into serial killers and horror. And of course don't forget to catch the short performance of Eileen Dietz of The Exorcist (Pazuma) fame and it's also funny to see Michael Rooker playing the good guy in a serial killer flick due his fame as a serial killer in Henry: A Portrait Of A Serial Killer.