Product Details

• Actors: Kevin MacCarthy, Jamie Lynn Hines, Massachusetts people of Fall River
• Directors: Kevin MacCarthy, Massachusetts people of Fall River
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: October 10, 1999
• Run Time: 47 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00002SSLL
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,512 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"He's playing a game, isn't he? And so far, he's winning."
-Author Lawrence Block on the Zodiac

In the late 60's and early 70's the serial killer who called himself "Zodiac" terrorized the citizens of Northern California with a series of seemingly random yet methodically planned murders. As brilliant as he was evil, the Zodiac taunted police and the media with dozens of letters and cryptograms that gave clues to, but never revealed, his identity.

Who was the Zodiac? Was he an evil genius who planned his murders to create a coded pattern of numbers and angles? Or was he the stereotype of the serial killer we see in books and movies? The killing suddenly stopped in the mid 1970's - is he still out there somewhere?

Lawrence Block, Edgar Award-winning author and best-selling crime fiction writer, proposes a new and interesting twist to the case of the Zodiac.

A brave new genre in storytelling, Case Reopened fuses history, mystery and scientific research by enlisting the greatest minds in crime fiction to re-examine some of our most notorious unsolved crimes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine case overview, January 10, 2000

By	dummy taylor (new york, usa) - See all my reviews

Despite the horrible acting of a terribly misplaced Lawrence Block as the host(he has the onscreen presence of a corpse), this is a fine overview of the Zodiac case. Both newcomers to the case and those familiar with it will be fascinated by this informative video. I myself happen to be one of those Zodiac-case "buffs", and I truly enjoyed the tape, especially the news footage from the Zodiac era. I particularly enjoyed seeing clips of an interview with main suspect Arthur Leigh Allen. I lent the tape to a fellow true-crime buff who had no knowledge of the case at all and she came away with her curiosity piqued. Needless to say, she is planning on purchasing Robert Graysmith's excellent book "ZODIAC". Buy and enjoy!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zodiac Video very informative., January 31, 2000

By	Thomas Amo (California) - See all my reviews

The zodiac case reopened, is a very well done documentry, although Lawrence Block, should hire someone else to do the tags to each segement, his bland non emotional comments leave you saying, get this guy out of here and let's get back to the program. Being a child during the time Zodiac was at the height of his reign of terror, I can remember the school taking extra percautions with all of us, I remember them talking about it in a very sensored fashioned, only telling us go straight home and do not talk to strangers etc. This video left me wanting more. I have read Robert Graysmith's chilling book and wished that the video could have delivered more on that level, however I enjoyed the old film footage and was impressed with how each of the re-enactments were staged. I was surprised how one segemnt was left out, where Zodiac took a young mother and her child on a ride, where she was taunted and told she would be killed, luckily she escaped! All in all, a beginner on the case will definatley catch the Zodiac bug from seeing this video.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ALMOST PERFECT, March 29, 2001

By	M. R. ZOGLIO - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This is an excellent tape for the Zodiac buff and novice alike. Using several different techniques to tell the tale, this 47 minute video does a great job of getting the story across. Having said that, why then do I only give it 4 stars? For the annoying "host", Lawrence Block. What? Was Carl from Sling Blade busy that day and unavailble for taping. If he could only be edited out, this would be a definite 5 star video on the Zodiac. As it is, this and the Limbic Region (a movie) are the only 2 available videos on the subject at this time.