- Directed by: Stuart Ortiz
- Written by: Stuart Ortiz
- Stars: Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYyTpuk8Zuk
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was put together in a realistic documentary style, as detectives recount their struggles trying to catch a serial killer in California. One key difference is there is a lot more gore than a documentary would have. It gets steadily creepier as we hear more details and learn that the murders were not at all typical. If you’re a fan of true crime television, you might especially like this. We both thought it was very good.
Spoilery Synopsis
Detective Joe Kirby is being interviewed about a crime in Los Angeles– something unusually terrible happened to the Sheridan family. After hearing from a few involved people, we start seeing police bodycam footage of the officers on the scene. They find three bodies tied, taped up, and posed as well as being obviously murdered. There’s a weird symbol painted in blood on the ceiling. The office recognizes the symbol, and it’s not good. Credits roll.
Detective Lexi Taylor, Joe Kirby’s partner, tells us about why she became a cop, as does Joe. They describe some ritualistic serial murders that they were involved with. The first was in 1993, and the victim, a girl, was missing several body parts. The suspect’s name was discovered at a local motel, “Albert Shiny.”
In 1994, an old man was found and killed in a similar fashion; he was missing an eye. The killer left a fingerprint, but that didn’t pan out. In ‘95, a little boy was killed and his liver removed.
Eventually, the police received a letter from the killer. It claimed there would be ten more killings. Then there weren’t any more killings for fifteen years until the Sheridan family in 2010. The family, after being tied up and posed, were cut and made to bleed out into carefully measured buckets.
Then there were more. A woman’s head was found in a park and her boyfriend was set on fire– but didn’t die. They come up with a suspect, Victor Shamaz, who is really sketchy, but he turns out to be innocent.
Another murder is a man who was killed by a huge number of leeches. A lot of leeches.
A homeless man barely escapes being killed, which leads the police to a house in the hills. The house was rented to Albert Shiny. They get a fingerprint, and this time, it identifies a man named Leslie Sykes.
The next murder is caught on a livestream, as the victim is an influencer. We see his weird mask as he draws the symbol on the wall. As he begins some kind of ritual, the camera flakes out. The victim actually survives somehow, but then is killed inside the hospital.
One thing leads to another, and they learn that Sykes had spent that missing fifteen years overseas. An occult bookseller remembers a spell book that Sykes stole. They find a storage locker that belonged to Sykes, and there are body parts inside. “Hail Azragor” is painted on the wall. It appears that there’s only one more murder before “Azragon” is set free.
Sykes kidnaps a baby on Friday the 13th, the same day as a weird triangle-shaped planetary conjunction. The police track down Sykes in a campground park and do a search. Thanks to a 911 call, they find a cabin where he was seen with the baby. By the time two police officers got there, Sykes had fled into the woods. The police pursuit, drawn by the baby crying, went very badly for the officers.
We watch on one of the cops’ bodycam as Sykes gets his ritual started. The baby is on a pyre that Sykes lights up. The bodycam shows a bright light appear in the sky that turns into a cloud with red eyes. Detective Kirby shows up, shoots Sykes, and all the weirdness stops. The baby is saved, one of the attacked cops survives, and they find Sykes dead in a nearby creek.
We then see the various interviewees discussing their feelings upon hearing that Sykes was killed. Sykes did, however, send a final letter, where he promised to return…
Brian’s Commentary
It’s all done in the style of a true-crime documentary, and it’s really well done. The difference is the graphic footage of the victims and sometimes the murders.
The killer sends various letters that are briefly shown on screen while a computer-altered voice reads it. The letters aren’t on the screen long enough to read and the voice is unintelligible.
I’m not generally a fan of true crime tales, but this is really well done!
Kevin’s Commentary
I wasn’t aware of this movie at all before Brian fired it up, and it took me a few minutes to determine it was a horror movie not a documentary. It’s put together very much like one. We’re told all about a number of murders in California, done by a serial killer they referred to as Mr. Shiny because the name Albert Shiny was given more than once. It’s very realistically made. But the graphic nature gives it away as horror. There is a lot of gore shown, the bodies of victims, which a real documentary wouldn’t do.
I thought it was excellently made and thoroughly creepy. Chilling even.