Tales of the Grim Sleeper
Tales of the Grim Sleeper
| 29 August 2014 (USA)
Tales of the Grim Sleeper Trailers

When Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested in South Central Los Angeles in 2010 as the suspected murderer of a string of young black women, police hailed it as the culmination of 20 years of investigations. Four years later documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield took his camera to the alleged killer’s neighborhood for another view.

Reviews
EssenceStory

Well Deserved Praise

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Micransix

Crappy film

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Organnall

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

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Salubfoto

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

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punishmentpark

A scary, intriguing look into the life of a(n alleged, since he is yet to be convicted) serial killer through the statements of people who knew him first hand. And that look expands to the neighborhood of South Central, Los Angeles, which almost looks like a third world country place. Very likely, hundreds of women, girls, have been abducted, tortured and killed by this Lonnie David Franklin. Considering the vast amount of evidence that was present very early on, this man could have and should have been taken off the streets pretty much straight away.But Franklin was a man of (relative) stature, and to the L.A.P.D. most black lives appear to be not worth so much. The victims were mostly hookers addicted to crack, so he was even praised by them for 'cleaning the streets', if we may believe his son Chris. The picture that the women (prostitutes who knew Franklin, but also mothers of victims) paint throughout the documentary leaves hardly a shred of hope for the citizens of South Central. It is a community in which people seem to look out only for themselves, and in which drugs, violence and gangs get the better of many, and women like Margaret Prescod are admirable, yet rare voices for justice.This is a grim tale, which is not over, and for the people of South Central, things are looking bleak as ever. The only positive outcome is that the Lonnie David Franklin is off the streets of L.A. forever - I at least want to assume that he will be convicted.9 out of 10.

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mel kelly

This documentary has so many holes. Nick Broomfield is an idiot who doesn't listen to the people he interviews. He needs to stop making documentaries. Example: He'll play a 911 call but goes no further to explain the van mentioned by the caller. Why would the killer call 911 and report his own van and license plate? He asks frustratingly DUMB questions (Often more than once per interview). He even runs a stop sign while driving around. He's inept and I can't stand the way this movie was done. Could have been great. But he made it unbearable with far more questions than answers. What a shame. These people deserve to have their story told by someone who knows what they're doing.

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Phil Hibberd

It's not bad - it shows that LAPD are incompetent, and that in South Central life is very cheap indeed. Usual Broomfield faux-incompetence. Can't quite prove the allegation that LAPD were complicit rather than incompetent in the non-arrest of a prodigious serial killer.The impressive thing is the interviews, which Broomfield plays down. He can have people who were hurling insults at him tearfully recollecting, or admitting their own complicity as they realise they cleaned bloodstains or found victims.I'm surprised some local tough guy didn't take him out, there seems to be a strange reliance on the police, who no-one remotely trusts for anything else, to solve the problem of a serial killer in the neighbourhood - looks like local people who weren't related to the victims didn't care any more than the LAPD.

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R Bruce Hudson

This documentary is about Lonnie Franklin who killed 10 women over the course of 25 years in South Central LA.The documentary served as an attack on the LAPD's inability to do the right thing, to investigate and release warnings to the public.It is also a testament to Nick Broomfield's persistence, as an outsider sporting a big microphone and a funny accent he was able to wear down and break communication barriers, witnessed by the evolving stories of those interviewed. Once inside a subculture within the gnarly South Central LA district, he reveals a full spectrum voices that speak the message of outrage from victim's loved ones and their supporters, to witnesses of sexual deviancy in the form of Franklin's friends.

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