Well written, very well acted psychological thriller. Enjoyed it.

Taught, well-acted, facinating ! ,.. although it does get to seem overlong. "Based on a true story" means not trimed for conventional plot devices, ..or a comforting ending. P.S. Kev's PICkS: If you like "Zodiac" ,.. check out the evin better .."The Killing Fields".

Although the film is based on a true story, the lack of resolution and length of time period weakens it as a movie. Both Downey and Gyllenhall have great acting in places, but their parts are written inconsistently, so their good work is often wasted.

It was O.K for a home TV movie. I was entertained and interesting. But it was NOT worth the long library wait or the price to rent from a Red Box.

It’s pretty easy to see how anyone might get obsessed by this series of murders. There’s secret code used to send messages to the police through the newspapers, an on-going taunting of the killer to be identified, a massive time-scale, and all of the victims are young people with whom it’s tough to sympathise even before they become victims. The tantalising nearness of the answer to the identity of the murderer makes the fascination all the more rich. In order to be more ‘streamlined’ than the film-makers already made the tale, there ought to be a few more bits removed or combined than we see here. The sub-plot involving reporter Paul Avery (played by Robert Downey Jr. [when did he get sufficiently sober he could be in every other movie released, by the way?]) might be done away with, but this would result in the question of ‘why does the newspaper cartoonist end up being the one who writes the book?’ and we also wouldn’t be able to see one of the better supporting roles Downey has done in awhile. Given the complexity of the narrative and its details, Fincher wisely opts for a linear narrative with next-to-nothing of his usual digital wizardry wherein the image jumps all over the place as it dances to his de-constructionist media tune. That said, he has done a massive amount of digital post-production to make the scenes more historically accurate, apparently, what with San Francisco of today looking very little like it did in the early 1970s. His abilities with the extreme changes of other films makes the work done here far smoother, probably. An excellent story which richly conveys the experience and effect that the events had on both the individuals concerned with it as well as the community as a whole, plus the herculean task of locating a killer given any any circumstance.

Tense

great movie! it was so creepy yet had only a few violent scenes. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The movie was a little long but worth it. A very intelligent and well-acted film.

Fantastic movie! Well acted and intriguing from start to finish!

Just a great film. The pacing of the story telling was extremely well done. The introduction of so many characters is spaced out throughout the movie, so as not to confuse the plot and provides pleasant surprises (one great actor after another - not the plot which of course is an otherwise unpleasant topic) as it progresses.

Must see - Tense viewing throughout with some horrific scenes of violence. Obsession and what that obsession could do to relationships is the theme of this picture. Note the scene when the journalist goes into the house of what he believes could be the Zodiac murderer - one of the most frightening scenes in film (and no gore - imagine that). Psychological horror is probably the most frightening of all means - a horror movie does not have to has a slasher to scare you. All you need is the proper lighting, the proper score, good acting and your imagination.