Customer Reviews

Aileen Wuornos - The Selling of a Serial Killer [VHS]

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This excellent 1992 British documentary by Nick Broomfield about "America's first female serial killer" poses more questions than it answers which is indicative of the quagmire of duplicity that surrounded the case. Aileen was a prostitute convicted of the shooting murder of 7 men in central Florida between 1989 and 1990 and sentenced to death by electric chair. She is a tragic figure since she appeared to be surrounded by people who wanted to see her die and profit from their association with her. Her lesbian lover helped her be arrested, her adopted stepmother convinced her to plead guilty, her lawyer more excited about his rock career, the police more interested in the movie rights, state politicians who needed her dead to be re-elected. When we finally get to meet Aileen in prison we see what an intelligent and open person she appears to be, which deepens the tragedy, though we never learn her fate. Broomfield spends a lot of time on camera with Aileen's stepmother and lawyer, filming their negotiated contracts, and travelling the area trying to unravel the story, though ultimately failing. Aileen claims that the killings were all acts of self-defense, an opinion we tend to believe when we hear her horrific evidence in a filmed trial. The most fascinating person is the one we never meet - the vanished ex-lover whom Aileen is willing to die to protect and who seems to hold the key to the truth.

Well documents the sad and absurd people and circumstances in Aileen Wuornos' new life as a serial killer in 1992. Best if seen with the 2002 interviews "Aileen - Life and Death of a Serial Killer" in order to appreciate how bizarre it all gets over time. Actually, it is essential to see them together.

Very objective in trying to find the truth in Aileen's unfolding and complex insanity.

This is a startling documentary that offers riveting insight into the way the legal system can abandon the disenfranchised and the poor. The movie also stands as a good companion piece to the Charlize Theron's Monster. While current Oscar Queen Charlize did a terrific job of portraying the homely, luckless lesbian hooker, this film ultimately gives a much more accurate insight into the real Aileen Wuornos. In Monster, Theron portrayed Wuornos as a kind of stupid, helpless victim who was addled by drugs and alcohol - which in some respects she was, but in this documentary she comes across as quite articulate, intelligent, and totally aware of what's going on around her. Aileen is very alert to the fact that certain individuals are trying to make money out of her story, and she's very conscious of the fact that the legal system and society as a whole is eventually intent on casting her aside.

Between 1989 and 1990, Aileen Wuornos haunted the interstates of jerkwater Florida, and committed seven murders. All of the victims were middle-aged, white males, who had tried to pick her up, and according to her, abused and raped her. Directed by Nick Bloomfield, this 1992 BBC-funded documentary focuses more on the ensuing media frenzy than the actual killings and their aftermaths. Wuornos is now on death row and is being steadily convicted of all seven murders. Broomfield interviews Arlene Pralle, who has adopted Wuornos as her spiritual "daughter." Arlene is a horse breeding Christian fundamentalist who prattles on about the glory of God and feels the need to rescue and save this poor woman from her predicament.

Also interviewed is Steve Glazer, Wuornos' generously proportioned, hippie public defender, who offers second-rate legal service, and is more interested in promoting his music than truly representing Eileen. Both Pralle and Glazer come across as conniving and duplicitous, and after promising Broomfield that he can have an interview with Wuornos and see all her personal effects for a mere $25,000, it rapidly becomes clear that they are ultimately out to make money from Wuornos while she lies rotting in jail.

Broomfield's also uncovers a bit of media scheming by the county police departments' to sell the rights to the story, which eventually results in a lieutenant's resignation. And there's also the revelation that Wuornos' original court assigned public defender didn't bother to present the evidence that Wuornos' first victim had been previously convicted of rape. Wuornos comes across as paranoid, bitter, and resentful about a system that has let her down. Everybody was against her, her one true love had abandoned her and turned her in, and no one would listen to her when she claimed to have committed the crimes in self-defense. This is a chilling and sad story, but it's a story that certainly needs to be told. Mike Leonard September 04.

Very interesting account of how lowest of the low swarmed in to try to make money off Alieen. The born-again christian? who adopted Alieen and then tried to sell her story. Also, the attorney was a complete and total joke. The disorgainzation of Alieens personality became apparent as the film progressed. I felt the movie was well done and a must for anyone interested in this case.

Potential viewers turned off by the subject matter should be apprised that the murders committed by Aileen Wuornos are not shown, not dwelled upon, and not the main interest of this film; Broomfield is more interested in focusing upon the gallery of eccentrics, lunatics, and con men who have descended upon the imprisoned Wuornos to profit from her notoriety. Serious questions are raised by the conduct of her lawyer, a fringe-type who, here, is more interested in playing his folk songs on the guitar (presumably dreaming that this documentary will earn him a wider audience) than he is in fighting for his client; the thunderbolt that he was not licensed to actually defend a client in court is enough to make you realize that Wuornos, whatever her crimes, was entitled to more. By the time Wuornos appears for a brief interview at film's end, she emerges as the most sympathetic character in the film! Broomfield, who also made quality documentaries about Heidi Fleiss and Courtney Love, is no shallow celebrity-chaser; he has a genuine talent for getting people to reveal their true souls on film, often to their extreme detriment -- but to the benefit of the truth that may have been overlooked by more conventional news coverage. Nobody could have made up this stuff -- and it is frequently very, very funny.

Though by now outdated, this 1992 documentary of Aileen Wuornos outlines a tragic, horrible story of a woman who was fated for disaster from childhood, with one terrible event following another, until she was labeled as the "first woman serial-killer" for the murder of seven men during 1989-1990, and was betrayed by her girlfriend Tyria Moore into a confession, and also allegedly had her case manipulated by some investigators who were at the same time making movie deals.
Aileen was a person who comes off as a tough, street-smart woman, who is also an emotional and psychic disaster zone; the doctors who examined her described her as "a damaged and primitive child",

Made by Nick Broomfield, this documentary has some fuzzy audio at times, and camera shots that on occasion weave and jump, but there are many sections that are gripping, like the footage of Wuornos in court as well as being interviewed in jail, and the chilling tour of "Old Sparky", as the Florida electric chair is nicknamed (in January of 2000, Florida Legislature allowed lethal injection as an alternate method for death).
I first heard of Wournos from the TV film "Overkill: The Aileen Wournos Story" which had a fabulous portrayal by Jean Smart, but which Wournos herself called "bogus". Since then there have been many books and films on her story, and much money has been made from this woman who lived in poverty, and scratched out a living as a prostitute.
Aileen Wournos was executed on October 9th, 2002, by lethal injection.

Total running time is 1 hour and 28 minutes, and the only DVD "Extra" is the trailer for "Monster", the 2003 film for which Charlize Theron received an Oscar for her portrayal of Wuornos.

the subject is of the sort that has become cynically debased on tawdry daytime chatshows - the 'world's first serial killer' is turned in by her lover, adopted by a fervant Christian, persuaded to file a no-contest plea - but the treatment is an accumulatively scathing look at the US justice and legal system, the police and the media.

Like most 'post-modern' documentary makers, Nick Broomfield doesn't pretend that he is a distant observer - he puts himself and his equipment in the picture; and, in one way, the process of making the documentary IS the documentary: the financial wrangles with Aileen's self-appointed guardians; the inability to get an interview with the police etc.

Among the shocking things that emerge include: an (alleged) deal between the police and Aileen's lover to profit on movie deals; the persuading of Aileen by her adoptive mother and her lawyer to confess so as to increase her marketability as a serial killer, despite Aileen's (not unjustified) claims that the killings were in self-defence. this 'self-reflexivity' doesn't try to modishly undermine the documentary form - it gives the viewer a heightened awareness of the media, the way it tries to manipulate stories for various interests. When we finally get to meet Aileen - having seen her filtered through others' so-called personal testomonies, news reports, hearsay, speculation, official videos of statements, confessions and trials - the impact is winding.

Rather than unveiling the 'truth', Broomfield, like Errol Morris in the similar 'The thin blue line', succeeds in casting doubt on received and official truths. This is also one of the best films about US 'trash' culture; or, more precisely, a culture that turns all humanity to trash. The fact that this all takes place in Florida gives the film a contemporary resonance, especially the nauseating, 'Rebecca'-like scene, where an state execution is described in all its technical chill, a ghostly premonition of future horrors.

Documentarian Nick Broomfield has crafted a low-budget and somewhat choppy view of serial killer Aileen Wuornos life "after" she is incarcerated. There is little discussion about whom she murdered or exactly for what reasons other than Ms. Wuornos claim of `self-defense'. Although it can be interesting to see the large range of human reactions from Ms. Wuornos, there is little insight as to her motives. The big stars here are the putrid, immoral folks who befriend her `in her best interest'. Enter her absolutely beyond sleazy attorney `born-again' Christian lawyer. Ms. Wuornos even has a middle-aged woman adopt her and despite her cutesy attitude, it becomes clear she is a moronic minded scammer as well. Both the lawyer and the adoptive parent are out to make money on the selling of movie rights of their `client' and `daughter'. The only thing more sickening is the revelation that several local police are also into `cashing in' on movie rights. This is a tale of greed and dehumanization; not necessarily a story on a female serial killer. It is not the least bit pleasant, nor does it contain any useful message, other than people can be cruel. In this case, one wonders who is the cruelest of all.
There are no extras - that, in itself, is a plus.

Tabloid documentarian Nick Broomfield (yeah, the same guy who did the Heidi Fleiss pic) obliviously went into this project with the intention of exploring/exploiting (your call) then-interest in the woman who was erroneously being hailed as "America's first serial killer." When it became apparent that he wasn't going to have much access to Wuornos or to first-person accounts of the events leading up to her arrest (there seems to be some evidence she was railroaded), Broomfield simply shifted his attention to the money-grubbing folks around Wuornos (a sleazy lawyer, an opportunistic "fan" who actually adopted her, a former john, corrupt cops), turning his "how-I-didn't-get-that-story" into a tut-tutting tirade about how everyone was exploiting poor Wuornos for their own gain. An ironic premise, to say the least--considering that's exactly what Broomfield was doing himself. Still, fascinating in its own odd way (to pad his skimpy newly-shot Wuornos interviews, Broomfield hauls in everything from old TV newscast footage to a human "bomb" who denotates himself for the amusement of patrons at a bar Wuornos once frequented!). But when all is said and done, Broomfield comes off looking every bit as scummy as the people he purports to expose--actually even scummier, due to his sanctimonious attitude. Onscreen, at least, justice is served.

I love Alieen Wurnous! I dont know but I just do. I bought this new for only a couple of cents. It was in great condition when I bought it.