Killer: A Journal of Murder

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This article is about the film. For the book, see Killer: A Journal of Murder (novel).

Killer: A Journal Of Murder is a 1996 American film. It is based on the life of serial killer Carl Panzram, and uses passages of his biography. ^[1]

1 Plot outline
2 Thematic elements
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot outline

During the latest of many imprisonments for burglary, Panzram (James Woods) forms an uneasy friendship with prison guard Henry Lesser (Robert Sean Leonard). Panzram asks Lesser for writing equipment and proceeds to write his life story, in which he confesses to several murders.

After recounting his life of homicide and crime, and refusing to apologise for any of it, Panzram ends up beating to death a prison trustee, and is sentenced to death. Lesser tries to convince the condemned man to appeal by claiming insanity, but Panzram stubbornly refuses, and in one scene makes his hatred of his own existence clear to Lesser by angrily declaring "I want out of this body, I want out of this life!"

In the end, Panzram gets his wish and is hanged. In his last hours he steadfastly refuses to appeal for clemency and even chases away a priest who comes to hear his confession.

Despite showing obvious disgust at Panzram's crimes, Lesser is troubled by Panzram's death. Throughout the movie, Lesser's relationship with his wife Esther (Cara Buono) is briefly touched upon. It is to her he confides his experiences with dealing with Panzram's violent and nihilistic outlook on life, although she has difficulty understanding the people her husband must deal with in his line of work.

[edit] Thematic elements

The film employs many flashbacks to flesh out Panzram's adult life, although significantly it only briefly mentions his murders and instead concentrates on his experiences in prison. In some of these flashbacks, Woods narrates by reading the actual words of Panzram's confession.