Tim F
Harris and Peake were excellent. The rest of the story was irrelevant and boring. It was supposed to be a drama about the couple mentioned and the Moors Murders.
Instead we had to watch Myra’s sister account of what happened and her feelings. David and Maureen were the majority of the story which was uninteresting and had I known Brady and Hindley would feature so little, I wouldn’t have watched it.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/19/25
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Glen F
A bit of a slog, innit?
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
06/01/24
Full Review
Audience Member
True crime made-for-TV-movies can be a bit of a mixed bag since their very nature means that they cannot be too explicit and have a tendency to hamminess. On the other hand, they're allowed to be more slow and low key than cinematic releases, which always have the tendency to amp the drama and gore up to what has to be, for the families of the real victims, extremely distasteful levels. The best way to thread between these limitations is to take a psychological or clinical approach, which is fortunately the method adopted here.
The film handles the murders by essentially not handling them. By the time the film starts most of the murders have already happened. Which is good both because a TV movie could never show them and because there's no narrative which could make them anything less than unwatchable. Instead, the film focuses on the brother-in-law and sister, and shows their gradually being drawn into Ian Brady's orbit. It's a fantastic way into the whole mess and provides us with some at least moderately sympathetic characters. The brother-in-law's a bit of a dangerous tosser, and you can see why Brady might hook onto him as a potential accomplice. But while the film doesn't hide his faults (though oddly they neglected to mention him selling the interview rights for a family vacation) it also shows what his limits were. And they stopped well short of murder. If there is a problem with this part of the story it's that it goes on too long. We get about twenty minutes of these guys' relationship problems after the trial is over, and while it is somewhat interesting to see the sister rationalize Hindley's complicity away it feels drawn-out and unnecessary. The film should have ended with the pair being hounded by the public for their perceived role in the murders.
Ian Brady himself is very impressively handled. At the start he seems likable enough, if a bit intense and pushy, and his bloodlust only becomes apparent when it is far too late to do anything about it. I've rarely seen a psychopath done better. It's not that he's a different person when he's outed as a killer, it's that all those little details you didn't pay attention to and the odd bursts of emotion suddenly take on a new significance. The buildup to the reveal is, rather than setting them up as killers, setting them up as amoral thieves. When a totally gratuitous murder occurs instead it feels shocking. The actress playing Myra Hindley is impressive as well. Hindley's obviously a bit undermotivated due to her role as the eternal accomplice, but her callous indifference to people's suffering is astounding. As she wears a bit more of a mask than Brady it's good to see the actress is able to handle both the sympathetic sister and the manipulative psychopath.
The B side of this story is, of course, the detective hunting them down. The film does a good job making him seem proactive despite the fact that the break, when it does happen, falls right in his lap. And the actor playing him's a likable enough bloke besides, with a real working stiff quality about him. In the first part his basic role is just to let us know that these murders have been going on (since nothing Brady does really reveals it, vague boasts about having killed before aside). In the second part he's more proactive in leading the search for the bodies.
The film does of course fall into a few of the inherent flaws of the TV movie. We're given no insight into the murders themselves, not even in verbal form, and the darkest thought expressed come from the rather quaint Marquis de Sade. On the other hand, while the film does have plenty of indoor police station and flat locations, it also has some lovely shots of the moors. Given the purpose of these shots, it's rather disturbing to see just how lovely these locations are, and the film does its best to ensure that they are always cloud-covered and ominous. Overall I rather liked it, although it'd have been better if they'd trimmed down the last twenty minutes.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
decent dramatization of the moors murders, acting wasn't bad. worth watching if interested in the case.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/10/23
Full Review
Audience Member
from all the info and interviews, this film seems so well researched and events portrayed in a truthful, yet never gratuitous manner. The only mistake the film makers made was to cast an attractive actress in the role of Myra Hindley
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
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Audience Member
Nothing essential, but after I looked at the film, I saw a connection with the album of Sonic Youth: Goo. I do not know why I didn't see it before, because I love Sonic Youth and I love this cover many years ago... Movie is very good and the theme is intriguing, I love British drama
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
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