I saw this Robert Downey Jr. serial killer thriller 17 years ago and I’m still crazy about this one thing

When it rains true crime documentaries, it rains heavily. The streaming world loved the Netflix documentary The Menendez brotherscurrently ranked seventh on the service’s top ten film list. And Netflix’s true crime series is coming soon. This is the zodiac speakingbased on the Zodiac murders of the late 60s.

And while I’m excited for the upcoming Zodiac documentaries, it also brings back a bit of film trauma that I haven’t forgotten in 17 years.

In 2007, I sat in a cinema and watched the wild and suspenseful serial killer film. Zodiacwith Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr. and Chloë Sevigny. As a Millennial, I was only vaguely familiar with the events, based on a true story, that unfolded dramatically before me. Five victims? A murderer sending coded messages to the press? An entire nation on the brink? I was thrilled.

But then the end came. Yes, it’s been 17 years. And yes, I’m still mad about it.

First, Zodiac is a must. The film was brilliantly directed by David Fincher and is truly exciting and frightening. The performances from Gyllenhaal, Ruffalo and Downey Jr. are very, very good.

And the story is incredible. Prime Video’s description reads: “A newspaper cartoonist obsessed with solving the infamous case of the ‘Zodiac’ serial killer in San Francisco finds himself on the trail of a suspect long after the case has spiraled out of control.”

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And obviously I’m not the only one who thinks the film is magical. The reviews were quite positive and the film is considered 90 percent “fresh”. Rotten tomatoes.

But as I said, I wasn’t particularly familiar with the actual events surrounding the Zodiac Killer, so watching it I didn’t know how it would end. Who would be the murderer? I couldn’t wait to find out the twist ending.

A warning about the said ending: spoilers ahead.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

As with any film based on true events, the ending is the ending. It’s exactly what happened in real life. And what exactly happened? They never caught the murderer. WHAT?! The film suggests that the main suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen, is the murderer. But it doesn’t answer the question for sure. And I’m still mad about it. There is actually no end to such an incredible film. It remains ambiguous. One of the greatest crime novels in history simply has no reveal at the end.

As I said, the film is worth a watch, but I wish I had known that the murderer got away scot-free before I started so I wouldn’t be completely disappointed by the ending.

Now that I know this (and have had 17 years to stew over this fact), I will definitely be watching the Zodiac documentary when it hits Netflix this Wednesday. And you should watch the fictional version on Prime Video in the meantime.

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