Who payed the critics

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Please don't spend money on this.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although there's solid performances from the main cast, particularly Patrick Bacau who plays the notorious Albert Fish, this film seems to lack something - thus it's left like its title, grey. What could and should have been an excellent film becomes, because of bad direction, a lack of character development (the detective in particular is poorly developed), plus a poor script, an unsatisfying B movie which is at times tedious and plodding.Regarding the subject matter, there's too much skipping over of important facts, and the characters are mainly one dimensional clichés. The lack of intimacy in the direction and cinematography - which is perhaps intentional - doesn't work. As a viewer, I'm left not drawn in enough to the characters to really know them, and at times, this left me bored. No time is taken to explore motives of anyone. The film is OK - but that's about it.

I didn't know much about this Albert Fish until this week. I saw 'Albert Fish: In Sin He Found Redemption' a few days before and even though that was not a good film, the story remains one that is haunting, to say the least. I went on reading up on him on the net and came across this film.Patrick Bauchau does a very decent job of portraying The Gray Man, but overall I found this to be a mediocre film. The settings, the clothing, the music, it was all nicely done, but somehow something felt amiss. A well worked out storyline perhaps? Beside Fish, the viewer is presented with the primary detective on the case - voice-over included - and his investigation. I found it to be rather boring and cliché and not adding to the story of Fish. Then there were the children of Fish, which made for an interesting angle, but somehow that didn't impress me much either. It all just didn't come together.I'm glad I've seen this one, and it gets away with a small 6 out of 10, but that's about it. If only David Fincher would take it upon him to make more films about infamous serial killers...

One thing that has always bewildered me about movies portraying true events is the film makers' habit of changing the story to suit their Hollywood vision. This movie did a surprisingly good job of sticking to the facts, however, it still fails to be 100% truthful. For instance, it was not Grace Budd, but her little sister Beatrice who was asked to fetch her brother from his friends house on that first meeting. Fish didn't lay eyes on little Grace until the second visit to the Budds' house at which point he immediately decided to dupe the family into letting him take her away with him. Also, detective King finds a clipping in Fish's rooms saying that the Gaffney boy's corpse was found in a trash bin, but in fact, despite Fish's later confession that he dumped the boys remain in trash dumps, the body was never recovered. One more thing that the movie decided to change, maybe for effect, was Fish's arrest. He did not attack the detectives with a knife, but rather went willingly. These details it chooses to change (as well as a few others) aren't incredibly significant, but why change them at all? Certainly the story of Albert Fish needs no twisting or exaggeration to be one of the most horrific tales in American History. The film is an abbreviated account of years of Fish's criminal history. In addition to making very brief mention of his crimes against Billy Gaffney and Francis McDonnell and focusing mainly (as the media did at the time) on the murder of Grace Budd. It also chose to leave out some of the more unsavory details of his sexual paraphilia, such as his habit of soaking alcohol soaked cotton into his rectum and lighting it on fire, also omitted was his fetish for eating human feces and urine. Perhaps the filmmakers didn't want it to be a stomach-turning horror fest. However, as a crime drama it does just fine. The acting is not spectacular which gives the film a bit of a "made for TV" feeling. But the chronology and main details of the investigation were pretty right on, including many small details and direct quotes taken right out of case files and court room transcription. I would have liked them to spend a bit more time detailing the criminal trial as it was very revealing into Albert Fish's psychopathy. All in all the movie kept me entertained and I was impressed by the inclusion of minor details and the accuracy of the story telling.

Visually, this film is interesting. Light is literally thrown in a way, together with cinematography and an alluring introduction before the titles, that had my hopes up at the start, but then - a b-movie is a b-movie is a b-movie, no matter how much spectacle is seen. This film surrounds the life of Albert Fish, one of the most well-known serial-killers in the world. Active around the start of the 20th century, Fish's life is hastily and blurry dealt with before before he started killing children at an old age. This film is based upon two tracks: Fish's life and that of William F. King, lead investigator of the case. What saves this film from becoming a Hallmark spectacle and debacle of the usual sort, whenever films about serial killers are concerned, is the direction, which is a double-edged sword; director Scott L. Flynn sheds focus enough upon the b-actors not to let their flaws shine through too much, but at the same times created a truly dull and stereotypical view of the American police through the King-angle. Sure enough he dealt quite thoroughly with Fish's meet with Grace Budd, the 10-year-old girl that he killed, even though I'm not really sure if her mother was the media-crazed person that Flynn really tries to emphasise that she was. I miss more psychological diving into Fish, not to mention the very little time which was spent on Fish's post-capture. All in all, interesting for those who are into serial-killers, but mostly a let-down; however, if the director will make another film about another serial-killer, I'd definitely see it in hopes that holes were patched-up.