Christopher Berry-Dee

I gave this a good 45 minutes on audio before bailing. This was most of the prologue and introduction and I just could not get along with the tone of the author. He takes aim at Lord Longford's belief that criminals can be rehabilitated and implies that the eye for an eye should be a sound approach to modern sentencing. The passage where he denigrates the prison service is not a high point. If that makes me a soft liberal, so be it; I am happy with my position. I decided I didn't need a show more further 8 hours with this person in my ears. show less

In Serial Killers at the Movies, investigative criminologist Christopher Berry-Dee presents the real life killers who inspired film characters, either in whole or in part.

Through archival research and extensive interviews with many of the serial killers, Berry-Dee shows that fact truly is stranger, and more evil, than fiction. Whether a film character is based entirely on a given killer or is a composite of several, this background adds a new dimension to watching and appreciating the show more films.

An important element of this book, which I think is often overlooked when a book examines film based on any aspect of real life, is the author's willingness to point out which films got things wrong. Not always simply facts but presentation and even exploitation. One can certainly argue than any use of real life serial killers to create film characters, even for films claiming to be as factual as possible, is exploitation. That broad argument aside, there is blatant misuse of facts and procedures strictly for monetary gain that goes beyond any questionable appropriation and exploitation. Reading about those instances shed new light on those films.

I recommend this to fans of true crime as well as film lovers who like to know the story behind some of their favorite, or not so favorite, films.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

The author blew his own horn a lot, frequently mentioning how many people he interviewed and how he is the first to do so etc. I was surprised how sensationalist he sounded. The style didn't do much for his credibility.
Also, I expected more analysis and less chronicling. It makes me want to read more about serial killers, but only because it left so much open.

The book is about female murderers, some are serial killers, some aspects of the book are interesting to read but I think that the author has a biased/sexist opinion and they think in of women and what they are really capable of.
Everyone always disregards, underestimates what women are capable of in various ways which pisses me off as a woman.
This book is proof of acts of incredible cruelty, sadism, sexual sadism that some women are capable of.
With everyone good thing a woman is capable of show more curse are also capable of unflinching and unspeakable evil acts and not think twice about doing it again and again.
Like the joker from the barman universe said, "some people just want to watch the world burn" said

Unfortunately this book is taking me a long time to read due to be overly detailed trivial information added that no one asked for, just get to the point already! The only reason I chose to read this book is because all I wanted to know we're the facts, such as: who thee female murderers are, why they felt they were justified to kill one of more people, what drove them to kill, why and how they were caught, if they confessed at all, when they were convicted of murder in court.
I don't need to read about insignificant details that have nothing to do with the murderer or the victims of the crimes, just report the facts, in a interesting, informative way, instead of going off on a tangent just because you like to world on and on and trivial things.
This book is starting to test my patience.
I don't know who all the female serial killers, murderers are that are mentioned in the book, so a image of them would have been helpful.
I am not a fan of the has a fitting style, going of on a irrelevant tangent a lot, or adding unnecessary details that don't specifically relate to the murderers directly, but somewhat indirectly sometimes, so it makes reading this book a full slot to get to the point of each separate chapter about different people.
There are many better and more interesting a detailed books about male/female serial killers that are worth read about, such as mindhunter. Now I have finished reading this book, I did find it it interesting and sometimes disturbing to read, I'm not really a fan of the writer's style of writing but I would recommend the other books the author has written as well as this book if you like reading true crime books.
I would warn people however that if you don't have a strong stomach, or are squeamish about blood, and the gory details relates to real life murder investigations, then these types of books are not for you, for everyone else that can stomach all the gory details however you would find it interesting like I do. show less