Bazaar Bizarre on AllMovie

The darkest fantasies of a sadistic madman become a horrifying reality in filmmaker Benjamin Meade's chilling portrait of serial killer Robert A. Berdella. Had it not been for the naked and bloodied would-be seventh victim who mercifully escaped Berdella's tormenting grasp on the day before Easter in 1988, odds are that the horrific killing spree would have gone on unnoticed indefinitely. In addition to sexually torturing his six victims, Berdella also confessed to using electric shock on those unfortunate enough to fall into his hideous trap, pouring bleach into their eyes, injecting them with animal tranquilizers, and preventing them from crying out for help by injecting drain cleaner into their voice boxes. In perhaps the most sickening revelation of the grim proceedings, Berdella recorded every minute detail of his revolting actions in a shocking torture log that included graphic photographs of his hellish handiwork. For true crime buffs with a strong stomach and a taste for the macabre, novelist James Ellroy hosts a horrific look at one of the most shocking stories in modern history.