Sunday Post: Zodiac Killer Project (2025)-Film Review
There are two things you can do to have a surefire hit on your hands:
Make a movie about a serial killer
Make a movie about a REAL LIFE serial killer.
Now what if you come across a book, a true crime book, that was about the most famous serial killer case in the world but offered a different perspective on it? Everyone is familiar with the case in question but there had to be other angles to explore, right? Maybe something you didn't consider? And that's where the book The Zodiac Killer Cover Up aka The Silence Badge comes in. And the film I'm discussing right now Zodiac Killer Project.
Such a weird title, yeah? Like it was a placeholder for an actual title but they couldn't think of anything better so went "eh fuck it, just keep it. This is my zodiac killer project!"
Zodiac Killer Project was made by Charles Shackleton, a British filmmaker who previously made a movie called Paint Drying, an 11 hour movie about a wall that was painted white and you see it drying. This was made in protest of British censorship guidelines. Armed with this knowledge, you should know what to expect in this movie.
Actually, it started off as a straightforward documentary about The Zodiac Killer based on The Silence Badge book. The book was written by a California policeman named Lyndon Lafferty. Lyndon suspected a guy he had an encounter with was actually the Zodiac Killer. He tried to tell his superiors about this guy and they essentially said not to worry about it, causing Lyndon to go on this wacky journey of discovering coverups and being friends with the guy he thought was the Zodiac.
Charlie wanted to make this into a documentary. He messaged the family that had the rights to the book, he started scouting out locations in Vallejo, where Zodiac did most of his killing. And during all this scouting, he received a message that he did not get the rights to the book and couldn't make this movie. Most directors would've just swore a lot, went to a bar to drink away his sorrows, and work on the next project. But Charlie came up with a new idea: a documentary ABOUT what this documentary was going to be about. He turned his misfortune into a new idea.
So Zodiac Killer Project is Charlie sitting in a room, watching footage he shot, describing what would've happen in the movie he would've made if he got to made it. And trying to toe the line of what he legally can discuss about what happened in the book and what's public knowledge. It also is a great breakdown on how to make true crime documentaries, what all the tropes are and the fact almost all of them have the same beginning, middle, and endings.
The things that Charlie can discuss about the book keep the movie fascinating because Lyndon's story is fascinating. It's another version of the story we know. What if this other guy WAS the Zodiac Killer? What evidence did Lyndon have? And there's a part in the middle that plays out like a heist movie that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Lyndon (and Charlie) does mention Robert Graysmith, the guy who most famously wrote THE book about the Zodiac Killer, which was turned into the David Fincher movie in 2007 and how their lives intersect makes you go "what if?"
As Charlie's story goes on, we also wonder "what if" this movie did get made? And in a sort of odd way, I'm glad it didn't. What we got instead is a great behind the scenes film on how these things works, how they can go wrong, a neat version of a well known story, and the lesson of "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade".
I highly recommend this movie if you're interested in documentary filmmaking, true crime, and maybe even the Zodiac killer, even though somehow the Zodiac take a backseat (this is a grim joke if you know all the crimes Zodiac did) to the movie. I liked Charlie by the end of this and made me want to seek out his other films. Maybe not the paint drying one.
-Jason
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