''Gacy'' (also known as ''The Crawl Space'') is a 2003 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

horror

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

written and directed by Clive Saunders, and co-written by David Birke. A

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

release, it is based on the crimes of

John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as " ...

, an American serial killer who raped, tortured, and murdered at least thirty-three men and boys in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

during the 1970s. It stars

Mark Holton Mark Douglas Holton (born April 2, 1958) is an American actor, best known for portraying Francis Buxton in '' Pee-wee's Big Adventure'' (1985), Chubby in the ''Teen Wolf'' film series and Ozzie Jones in ''Leprechaun'' (1993), and '' Leprechaun Re ...

as Gacy.

Plot

In 1953, the teenage

argues with his father, who says he will "never be brave enough" and kicks him. In 1976, the adult Gacy's lunch with his family is interrupted by a neighbor demanding something be done about the stench coming from his

crawl space A crawl space is an unoccupied, unfinished, narrow space within a building, between the ground and the first (or ground) floor. The crawl space is so named because there is typically only enough room to crawl rather than stand; anything larger t ...

. Gacy responds angrily that he will. Lunch is interrupted again when Steve, an employee of Gacy's, complains he has not been paid for two weeks. Gacy says he will be paid and orders him off his property. Gacy consults a friend who advises

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

for the smell. While driving at night, Gacy abducts a man, brings him back to his garage and tells him about his problems, then releases him. At work Gacy angrily berates his workers for smoking on the job. He asks his latest employee how he's enjoying working for him, and if he likes wrestling. They wrestle in Gacy's back yard where Gacy pins him down and Steve, watching with another man, calls him a faggot. Gacy is furious. The next day, Steve and two other men attack Gacy as he comes out of a shop. Steve takes the money from Gacy's wallet, gives some to the other men and tells Gacy that he quits. Late that night, Gacy's wife, Kara, is awake in bed when she hears a car pull up. Gacy gets out and brings out Steve, who's

handcuffed ''Handcuffed'' is a 1929 American silent mystery film directed by Duke Worne and starring Virginia Brown Faire, Wheeler Oakman and Dean Jagger.Munden p.322 Synopsis Gerald Morely's father is ruined in a stock fraud and commits suicide. When sho ...

, and shoves him into the garage. Investigating, Kara finds clothes strewn about in the garage. She runs to the crawl space entrance where Gacy bursts out, saying that he had been laying down lime. Gacy hosts his 4th of July fancy dress party, during which he offers Tom Kovak a job, and a speech is made honoring Gacy as an asset to the community. He hires an exterminator to take care of the

maggot A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and crane flies. ...

s and

cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...

es gathering in the crawl space. Questioned by two police officers about Steve's disappearance, he says Steve told him he was going to Costa Rica or

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. One day, Gacy hits one of his employees over the head with a hammer. After cleaning him up, he pays him for his silence and lets him go. Kara discovers a pair of handcuffs and some homosexual magazines in the garage. Gacy blames some employees, saying "you know how I feel about homos". A few days later, Kara takes the two girls and leaves Gacy alone with his mother. Tom is having problems at home, so Gacy suggests he rent Gacy's spare room. Another late evening, Gacy picks up a male prostitute and stuffs a chloroformed rag into his face. The prostitute awakens suspended by chains in Gacy's garage. The next morning, Gacy leaves the prostitute in the park where he stumbles away. Gacy lays concrete in the crawl space to try and cover the stench. He meets with James Burrel and agrees to buy his car. Inviting Burle in for a drink, he instead drowns him in the bathtub. Gacy is running out of room in the crawl space. As Gacy and Tom are watching a video reel of how Gacy started his business, the video cuts to pornography. Tom freaks out and spends the night awake and terrified. Tom decides to leave, but Gacy tricks him into being handcuffed and starts strangling him. Tom manages to escape and runs to the police. While Gacy is out of the house the police enter and find dozens of watches and drivers licenses. Gacy is arrested as the police exhume the bodies from the crawl space. The film ends with Gacy's last words before he's put to death. They are, "Kiss my ass!"

Cast

Reception

On the film review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Gacy'' received a 17% approval rating, based on six reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. Chuck Wilson of '' LA Weekly'' found ''Gacy'' to be an "unenlightening" and "unconvincing" film that suffered from "dime-store psychology" and a failure to "convey the subtleties of Gacy’s scheming intellect." Mike Long of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

gave the film a half star out of a possible five, opined that it "offers no suspense, no gore, and no thrills" and concluded, "If nothing else, a film about a serial killer should offer a glimpse inside the criminal mind. If it can't do that, it could at least be an entertaining

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

. ''Gacy'' is neither of those things and there is absolutely no reason to see this movie." Reel Film Review's David Nusair commended Mark Holton's performance as Gacy, but lambasted the film itself, which he derided as being an ineptly written and directed "bore" that "completely fails to make any kind of impact." Conversely, ''Gacy'' was praised for its "dark, disturbing insight into Gacy" by Steve Barton of Dread Central, who went on to write that the "horrifying and informative" film was "well-worth seeking out to learn more about America's most notorious serial killer." Buzz McClain of AllMovie also praised the "ruthlessly fascinating" film, which he gave a score of 3/5.

References

External links

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Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links