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Ghost Canyon

'D.C. Sniper'
(Ken Foree, Tory N. Thompson, et al / DVD / R / 2010 / North American Motion Pictures)

Overview: D.C. Sniper takes you back to October 2002 when John Allen Muhammad (Ken Foree, 2004’s Dawn of the Dead) and his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo (Tory N. Thompson), held Washington D.C. and surrounding areas hostage with a terrifying three-week murder spree.

DVD Verdict: What 'D.C. Sniper' suffers from, first and foremost, is that it is directed by Ulli Lommel - the master of plot less, no-budget, (usually) factually inaccurate, pseudo-art flicks about real-life mass murderers. This one is no exception.

Shot in a low, low, low budget handheld camera manner, 'D.C. Sniper' opens as a hit is about to go down, with John Allen Muhammad (Ken Foree) explaining to his 'son' Lee Boyd Malvo (Tory N. Thompson) that God had spoken to him and that he (the young accomplice) was the Chosen One.

In real life, the DC Sniper (also referred to as the Beltway Sniper by the media) committed a three-week reign of terror throughout the DC/Maryland/ Virginia area in October 2002. Here we see most all the killings, none really bloody, no gore at all, and for the most part (if they are actually factual) each killing was truly as random as the next.

And so why did John Allen (Muhammad) set out on this impulsive bout of serial killing (although he never once pulled the trigger and he would not allow Malvo to kill children), and what brought the terror to an end?

Well, without giving it all away, Allen heard voices after coming back from Desert Storm. Voices that manifested themselves to him as God himself, telling him that whites over ran blacks 7-1. And what was he going to do about that? "God sacrificed his plan to the Devil," he tells Malvo, "and I'm gonna get it back. Tyranny always rules in this world so we have to create a reign of terror. I got this message from God."

The narrative of the detective following leads on the case is boring, his pit stops at gas stations and endless footage of him looking through binoculars tedious to say the least. And why oh why the subplot of him searching for his daughter lost in the soft porn world was even brought up and given valuable air time is also beyond me!

And, how he and his cowboy detective colleague actually stumbled across Allen's car one day at lunch smells of more factually inaccurate Ulli Lommel mumbo jumbo, sorry! I've heard of right place at the right time but this takes the cake! And as for the actual film's ending, wow, I have NEVER seen anything so abrupt in my life!

Anyway, as it panned out in real life, during three trials and years of appeals, Allen (Muhammad) professed his innocence (which, in this film he never does in black and white flash forwards) and Malvo (who testified against him) tried to “make amends,” but to no avail. Muhammed was executed by lethal injection Nov. 10, 2009 and Malvo, protected by juvenile law, is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with Special Features of:

Photo Gallery
Scene Selection

www.northamericanmotionpictures.com





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