Tales of the Grim Sleeper (Nick Broomfield, 2014): USA/UK

Reviwed by Rebeca Forward. Viewed at the AFIFilmfest 2014.

The documentary Tales of the Grim Sleeper is about a crime that lasted for 25 years and the police couldn’t figure out who was the man behind the killing of over hundreds of prostitutes. Finally in 2010 the police found the serial killer Lonnie Franklin, Jr. because of his sons DNA, that was similar to his and the ones on the victims.

Director Nick Broomfield went into the streets of South Central Los Angeles to do a documentary on this case. It is state clear that he is a very convincing man. He talked to family members, friends and other colleges that worked for the serial killer. As we all know it is still a dangerous area, it’s stressed that most of the people that were close to him, had no clue what was really going on behind the doors of the Franklin house. They knew that he had a lot of contact to women’s and that he took a lot of pictures of them in all kind of poses. He claimed himself as someone who had to clean his neighborhood.

The documentary starts with a google maps picture and the zooming into the street and directly to the house where the suspect lived. It was a really good and interesting start, even if the quality of the first few scenes weren’t that good, it continued with high quality interviews and camera material. In between pictures of his victims were blended in and a press conference at the time where they police announced that this 25 yearlong killing had an end. At the end a picture of Lonnie Franklin is shown in front of his house.

It is really striking that he got so many people to talk about this case, even victims that survived. Nick Broomfield is a very convincing man, with the help of Pam he even got the serial killers son talking to him. He was the only person that was really close to Lonnie.

He uses his own footage, official interviews and pictures of the victims. He shows interviews that were taking in the back seat of his car and his office. While the people were talking to him. You could see the anger that people are afraid to talk to him and how hurt they are.

It is horrible to see how people still suffer and the words of a woman “if that had been white woman there would have been help earlier” are really shocking, but to be honest it is the sad reality. People in the whole world should see this documentary and change their point of view. Be more open and aware of the things that are still going on out there in the world. – However I think he did a really great job and I loved it!