This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Blistering performances.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

seriously? i only watched this movie because i am really interested in Keith Jespersons case. but wtf is this? i understand changing the victim and family names but he never painted a smiley face on his victims, the fbi didn't even know there was a serial killer at large, and they didn't even mention his infamous death game torture as he strangled the victims! they took the very basic story and transformed and altered it into something that would attract more audience when the original story would be so much better. it didn't do anyone any justice David arquette was a good actor but wasn't the best. he didn't put enough effort in the role. they skimmed over everything and just got to the kills, and the music was just too much

Flagged on the IMDb as "American," this is yet another in the long (too long) line of Canadian knockoffs posing as something they are not.Produced by a Vancouver production house specializing in projects with "strong female characters," starring Canadian actress Gloria Reuben (as the lead FBI investigator) and also starring "token" American David Arquette (the killer), this film pretty much is the poster child for 100% forgettable "poseur" films from the Frozen North.As far as this reviewer can tell, Reuben has never carried an entire film on her back before. And this may be the last time she gets the chance.Arquette has played baddies before, but is lost here with weak writing and direction. He struggles in the role.One single example if I may be permitted: when Reuben's character receives a hand-written letter from the Happy Face killer -- with a happy face as the return address -- you might expect her (if you are a regular film goer) to wear gloves and call a CSI before opening it...? You would be wrong. In this script, in this sloppy production, she opens it with the gusto and abandon a 12 year old would reserve for a Big Mac.Prints? Forensics? That is something you see only in "real" movies.Which this is not.

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

First of all, Arquette does not look at all like Jesperson, who was a very large guy. Names of real victims not used.Cell phone used in one scene in movie not available back then , a much more advanced model than what was available back then. We lived thru this back then , agency I worked for investigated this case... Movie more fiction than reality.Too bad Lifetime jumped the gun on making this movie as it could have been dealt with more facts than fiction. Again, casting of main character (s) way off.Very weak acting. Next time when making a movie about a real case, get it factual. This was a big disappointment .