Diary of a Serial Killer (1998)

Here we have a story of a journalist, one who’s career has been lagging over the last eight months or so.  Our journalist, Nelson Keece, played by Gary Busey, is an interesting type of writer, a truth teller from a unique perspective, like a method actor.  He puts himself in the shoes, literally, of the subject of his writing.  He’s done everything from become a full-blown alcoholic to portraying himself as a transvestite in order to construct an accurate portrayal of his subjects.

It just so happens that one night, he stumbles upon a guy chatting a chick up in an alley.  Recognizing the man as Stefan, a gentleman from the transvestite bar the night before and being a journalist, always having his little handheld tape recorder on him (this was the 90’s guys, so gimme a break), anyways, Nelson decides to stealthily record this seemingly tawdry encounter.

The encounter swiftly turns from a guy trying to get his groove on to an angry rebuffed man murdering a poor, unsuspecting woman and Stefan sees Nelson running from the scene.

Now, Nelson, trying to do the right thing, attempts to get the attention of the homicide detective, a Mr. Haynes, enter Michael Madsen.  However, our killer Stefan is right behind Nelson in the crowd and prevents him from making contact.
At this point, the two of them strike a deal.  Stefan wants Nelson to interview him and well, Nelson wants to live so, it’s mutually beneficial for them to collaborate on this project.  Plus, Nelson sees it as a surefire way to get back on top in his profession again.

So, in the beginning Nelson tries a couple more times to contact the police until he realizes it’s futile.  He then asks Stefan to stop killing while they are working together.  Stephan just simply can’t do that and continues to fuel his passion for murder.

Eventually, Stefan tricks Nelson into actually taking part in a murder himself before ultimately being forced to kill Stefan personally in order to end his spree of bloodshed.

The best part of this movie is Michael Madsen.  He’s really the only reason for watching.  His never ending wise cracks and sarcasm were all that made this movie bearable.  I originally picked it because of Michael Madsen AND Gary Busey.  Madsen has always been a favorite of mine and Busey was awesome in Lethal Weapon.  But Busey really let me down in this movie. 

And Stephan, played by Arnold Vosloo, he’s just blah.  A monotone actor all the way around.  Rarely did this man’s facial expression or voice or anything ever really change.  It made for a fairly dull serial killer.  The only time he seemed to get into character was when he actually murdered the victims and even then, he made it appear to be such an erotic thing to him it was just weird and out of context with the rest of the movie, even though that is often a real motivator for such crimes.

Overall, the movie was slow and uneventful.  I can’t say that I recommend it for any real reason unless you just have to watch it for the Michael Madsen value.

RATING  2/5 Stars

***Note*** This movie is also known under the name Rough Draft.