David Arquette

Gloria Reuben

Stefanie von Pfetten

Melissa M. Montgomery

Em Haine

Jordana Largy

Mittita Barber

Josh Blacker

Crystal Mudry

Kelly-Ruth Mercier

David Allan Pearson

Vanessa Walsh

Peter Flemming

Kurt Evans

Daryl Shuttleworth

Spencer Drever

Jody Thompson

Karyn Mott

Peter Bryant

Darren Moore

April Telek

Chilton Crane

Valerie Sing Turner

Eliza Faria

Hunter Dillon

Todd Daulby

Brett Armstrong

Rick Bota

Steve Kelso

Richard Christian Matheson

Terry Leonard

Gordon Rempel

Harvey Kahn

Marc Baril

Adam Sliwinski

Jackie Lind

Hal Beckett

Renée Read

Rebekka Sorensen

Betty Dubney

Valerie Biggin

Stephen Cheung

Barry Liu

Meagan Carsience

Miguel Nunes

Darcy Davis

Sergei Bachlakov

Sean Riley Kirby

Yale Kussin

Trevor Holbrook

Nick Malcolm

Colin J. Czarnecki

Janella Churchill

Ronald Richard

Lohengrin Zapiain

Doug Oke

Mike Crain

Rick Senechal

Tana Lynn Moldovanos

Jamie Lake

A. Blair Stevens

Tom Suski

Alex Kuchera

Tyler Walzak

Sally Cook

Holly Atchison

TV Movie

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Happy Face Killer

Front Street Pictures

Canada

United States of America

Happy Face Killer (2014)

The Jesperson Temper.

Happy Face Killer is directed by Rick Bota and written by Richard Christian Matheson. It stars David Arquette, Gloria Reuben, Daryl Shuttleworth, Stefanie von Pfetten and Josh Blacker. Music is by Hal Foxton Beckett and Marc Baril and cinematography by Adam Sliwinski.

This is an interpretation of the real life events surrounding the workings – hunt for – and capture of Canadian serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson.

It’s one of those bone of contentions with adaptations to screen of real life serial killers, with poetic license etc, that invariably many feel cheated of not getting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The story of Keith Hunter Jesperson, who would become known as the Happy Face Killer, was not known to me, but when it caught my eye in the TV listings, with Arquette in a serious dramatic role, I had to take a look. Crucially for someone like me who was unaware of the case, it helped me to get more from the viewing experience by reading up on Jesperson after the viewing. I would urge any potential first time viewers to do the same.

The core essence of Jesperson’s crimes and his mindset is correct, but motives and means, and crucially childhood traumas, are sketchy at best. If able to accept the poetic license factor, this is still a very detailed and skin itching take on a man who it is confirmed killed 8 women. The murders are staged expertly by the makers to get the required impact to stun the viewers, the procedural aspects of the investigation, led by FBI Agent Melinda Gand (an excellent Reuben) are insightful and gripping, and Arquette, in spite of not remotely fitting the physique or profile of the real Jesperson, works very hard to convince as a man who could turn murderous by the slightest provocation.

In the pantheon of serial killer movies this is hardly essential stuff, but it is well worth a look and worthy of inspection by those interested in the topic to hand. 6.5/10

English