Zodiac
Was it under the fireworks of the fourth of July celebrations that it began, or was it already in progress, just that nobody had noticed? A pattern is not a pattern until it has repeated enough times to become apparent, and the vicious unprovoked attack on Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau in Vallejo, California which left her dead and him fighting for life but later sufficiently recovered to describe the events, a lone man who approached their car and opened fire, was not immediately linked with any similar incidents.
The term “serial killer” not having come into common parlance until the mid-seventies, though subsequent reviews of historical records make it apparent that even with the blurring of the passage of time there is sufficient evidence to indicate that there have long been those driven to prey on others in such a manner for reasons explainable only to themselves, Jack the Ripper being one of the best known, one of the first to make the headlines was the Zodiac.
Identifying themselves as such a month after the Vallejo attack with letters sent simultaneously to three San Francisco based newspapers alongside a cryptogram manifesto and confession, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Paul Avery and Robert Graysmith taking a particular interest in the case, one was a crime reporter and the other a political cartoonist for whom cryptography was a hobby though it was his interest in film that provided the additional clue that a phrase in the eventual translation was quoting The Most Dangerous Game.
The killings and the communications continuing erratically over the following months and years, the modus operandi changing, evolving, ambiguity meaning it was difficult to pin specific crimes to the Zodiac while others previously not associated might have been earlier cases leading up to the admitted killings, the need for publicity raised the profile of the case but also brought noise which drowned out the facts even as it bred suspicion and anxiety, possible copycat killings, attention seekers claiming insider knowledge and culpability.
Graysmith having written two non-fiction books about the investigation and his experiences, they were adapted by screenwriter James Vanderbilt for David Fincher, director of Seven and Fight Club, with Zodiac released in 2007 and starring Donnie Darko’s Jake Gyllenhaal, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’s Robert Downey Jr, Poor Things’ Mark Ruffalo and Top Gun’s Anthony Edwards as Graysmith, Avery and investigating officers Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong, wading through mountains of circumstantial evidence and testimonies to find an elusive truth about the dangerous and unpredictable man who taunts them and terrorises the city.
Being a Fincher thriller, the film is technically perfect, flawless in the dedication to the recreation of the period and produced with input from Toschi and survivors Mageau and Bryan Hartnell, attacked along with his girlfriend Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa in Napa County in September 1969, a dramatisation which emphasises the process where there are no shortcuts and correct procedure must always be followed lest oversight or eagerness preclude viable prosecution, where evidence is inconclusive and contradictory, witnesses are not always reliable and leads do not pan out.
The broad ensemble which includes Carnivàle‘s John Carroll Lynch and Clea Duvall, Westworld‘s Jimmi Simpson and An Adventure in Space and Time‘s Brian Cox convincing throughout, their performances dedicated to veracity rather than showmanship, despite the lack of a definitive conclusion, the killer never having been conclusively identified though a prime suspect was known, carried by the unceasing, nagging conviction that the answer is there, waiting to be revealed and understood, Zodiac is enthralling and engaging for its entire near three hour runtime.
Presented in 4K High Dynamic Range, the new edition of Zodiac is accompanied by a plethora of background evidence both on the production of the film with two commentaries from Fincher and many of the principal cast and extensive detail on the digital manipulations to transform locations to their appearance in the era, and on the original case, with footage, crime scene photos and interviews with survivors and those who knew suspect Arthur Leigh Allen.
Zodiac is available on 4K Ultra UHD and Blu-ray double disc now from Warner Bros
