Horrorfest 2013: 10 Rillington Place

Good grief, why didn't anyone tell me Richard Attenborough could be so creepy? Here I was thinking he was the kindly grandfather type as seen in JURASSIC PARK and it turns out he can just as easily play real-life serial killer John Christie. To be fair I guess John Hammond in JURASSIC PARK is kinda creepy, now that I'm not 12 anymore, but still -- who knew?

I guess the votes on IMDB did, because their list pointed me towards 10 RILLINGTON PLACE, a chillingly detached and matter of fact account of the killings perpetrated by an unassuming Englishman in his cramped London flat during and just after WW2.

Richard Attenborough stars as the killer and the movie wastes no time assigning him motivations or delving into his psyche. Thanks to the great performance, we can see some of the thoughts the killer must be having right there on Attenborough's face, but it's never discussed or dwelled upon. You get the feeling the guy has an inferiority complex, as he seems very pleased with himself for having once been a war-time cop. He's also quite eager to pass himself off as a man with medical knowledge, although the extent of his knowledge appears to be his ability to gas his victims using domestic gas valves.

Attenborough claims a victim in the first scene of the film, and from the state of his garden it is clear he has killed before, but the majority of the movie deals with his interactions with new upstairs tenants played by John Hurt and Judy Geeson. Attenborough's crimes extend beyond rape and murder as he convinces Hurt to take the fall and even testifies against him in court, sending him to the noose.

The two strengths of this film that help it rise above others is its cold detached approach to the subject mater and the central performance by Richard Attenborough. The straight forward narrative helps steer the film away from being lurid or exploitative and avoids any annoying attempts at moralizing. However, with Attenborough's great performance, this approach might have left nothing for the viewer to latch onto. When a movie relies so heavily on subtext, you better hope your lead is compelling.

This performance by Attenborough is the best of Horrorfest 2013 yet, and there have been some good ones.