Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Name: Tales of the Grim Sleeper
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Released: December 26, 2014
Duration: 110 min
Rating: 85

2014

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Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

HBO Documentary Films | Release Date: December 26, 2014 | Not Rated

Summary: Nick Broomfield digs into the case of the notorious serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper, who terrorized South Central Los Angeles over a span of twenty-five years.

Director: Nick Broomfield

Genre(s): Crime, Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 110 min

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Critic Reviews

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Dec 8, 2014

Tales from the Grim Sleeper concludes by offering up the haunting possibility that even if the killer has been caught, the systemic failures that let him get away with it for so long remain firmly in place. Read full review

The Playlist Chris Willman

Dec 8, 2014

Wisely, Broomfield doesn’t harp on alleged police incompetence, beyond letting a handful of activists and locals repeatedly raise it as an issue; Tales is far from overbearing as far as agitprop goes, letting the outrage quietly seep in. Read full review

Scott Foundas

Dec 8, 2014

What emerges, finally, is an urgent distress call from one of America’s many, predominately black inner cities cast adrift by decades of municipal neglect and institutional racism. Read full review

Gary Goldstein

Dec 11, 2014

The film is as much a provocative exposé of Franklin, who awaits trial on murder charges and has proclaimed his innocence, as it is a vivid portrait of a community long plagued by drugs, crime, poverty and desperation. Read full review

Ben Nicholson

Jan 29, 2015

The dark recesses of a diseased mind may make the headline, but it is the indictment of far more widespread infection that rings out and is striking in its prescience. Read full review

Nathan Rabin

Dec 17, 2014

The film is an appropriately dour and intense indictment of a law-enforcement community that did not value the lives of some victims enough to devote anything but the slimmest of resources to tracking their killer down. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Godfrey Cheshire

Dec 19, 2014

If there are any heroic figures in this sad tale, it’s the women of Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders, a grassroots activists organization that took notice of the killings back in the ‘80s and spent decades trying to bring official and media attention to them. Read full review

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mocha44

Apr 30, 2015

astonishing in its cumulative effect. Portrays an entire society and culture that has lost most--but, crucially not all--of its moral bearings. Shows the best and worst of humanity, with no redemption possible.

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