Adam Baldwin, Allison Lange, Charlie Weber

The most prolific (and perhaps horrific) serial killer in American history, John Wayne Gacy (Mark Holton) appeared to be a model citizen in his suburban Chicago neighborhood. He even volunteered as a ...( read more  read more... )clown at a local hospital. But a tip to the police led to his connection to 30 brutal murders -- and the gruesome discovery of his victims' bodies stuffed in the crawlspace under his home.

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31% liked it

3,268 ratings

R, 89 min.

Directed by: Clive Saunders

Release Date: January 1, 2003

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DVD Release Date: May 13, 2003

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Flixster Reviews (214)


  • March 24, 2009
    Watched this after watching the A&E Biography on Gacy. Felt like the screenwriters should have also watched that as they missed out on what could have been stunningly horrifying scenes in the film. In real life, one of Gacy's intended victims and then boarder escaped; he arrived ...( read more)home to find Gacy drunk and sporting his clown attire, he cuffed the young man and began taunting him in the clown voice, until Gacy suddenly snapped into a rage and began chasing and attacking the man, screaming "I'm gonna rape you!". This story was told by the man who lived it in the A&E special, which is available on Youtube if you like to see. In real life, Gacy also invited the police investigating him to dinner at his place where he served fish; the stench of rotting bodies from the crawlspace was overwhelming and enabled them to secure the search warrant ending in his arrest. Instead of recreating these precious eerie and REAL moments, the script distorts things greatly and I'm not even sure what the hell they're going for.

    Acting is unanimously terrible, with the lead being the only one to occasionally not suck.

    Very minimal on killing and violence; very scarce blood, no rape scenes, and few creepy moments from the actor playing Gacy. Some shitty shots of a few bugs crawling around attempt to add some grotesquery and movie plays with the idea that Gacy is psychologically tormented through audio montage but weakly and only for one scene towards the end.

    This is a big SKIP. Go for fiction or the Dahmer movie, or the penultimate real-life based serial killer flick Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
  • October 15, 2008
    Another "real life biography" that seems to skim over the true facts to make a more entertaining movie. It does get across the sickness of this serial killer but slowly without much depth. Still... clowns!
  • February 23, 2008
    Nasty man but a very good film showing how the loony operated....Ive always hared clowns...
  • February 27, 2007
    Disturbing, but true.
  • November 17, 2009
    This could of been alot better.

    I hate when they fuck up with real stories of serial killers.
  • November 10, 2009
    This movie is okay.It's somewhat disturbing at times as well as being sick and twisted too.
  • November 5, 2009
    Horrifying. I'm always fascinated by how serial killers kill and what's on their mind.
  • October 31, 2009
    I knew there was a reason why i hated clowns!!!
  • September 20, 2009
    This movie was disturbing, he was gay, he liked little boys and young teen boys, and he was abused as a child so is this why he did what he did? But the most disturbing thing was his OBSESSION with clowns... that is creepy, but the movie skims over a lot of details and makes it s...( read more)eem like his mother was an accomplice I mean seriously how could u not know what was goin on??? really??? and NOBODY ever suspected anything but the people who LEFT outta his life, and strangely if he had let Tom leave like he planned to he woulda gotten away to Belgium... but his obsession wouldn't allow him to let him leave and that was basically his downfall... but I'm glad he got his in the end, just goes to show u, GOD works in mysterious ways and u never know when all the horrible things u do, or did will catch up to u... but overall a good portrayal of John Wayne Gacy... but him bein on South Park, now that was FUNNY!!! LMAO!!!
  • July 26, 2009
    "I've been kinda naughty..."
    "When John Gacy was executed his last words were 'Kiss my ass!'"

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Gacy Trivia


  • who played john gacy in to catch a kiler  Answer »
  • In the film "To Catch a Killer" starring Brian Dennehy, the story is based on which real life serial killer?  Answer »
  • John Wayne Marion Gacy was not only a serial killer but a total cross-dresser and a clown that killed more jokes than children  Answer »

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