Zodiac Killer Project

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Zodiac Killer Project

2025

1h 32m

Crime

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

32 Reviews

Popcornmeter

0 Ratings

The true crime genre's ubiquity is driven by people's endless fascination, disgust, and -- bizarrely -- search for comfort in genre conventions that still have the ability to generate complex emotions despite their predictability and familiarity. Having tried and failed to make a documentary about the infamous Zodiac Killer, filmmaker Charlie Shackleton walks the viewer through what his film would have been like and why, using Bay Area landscapes, reenactments, film and TV clips, and voice-over. In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work, a filmmaker chews over what might have been and playfully probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point.

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Any students and/or devotees of the true-crime spree rampant in our modern storytelling will find Zodiac Killer Project a must-see.

Mar 9, 2025

Full Review

Adam Kempenaar

Filmspotting

…a deconstruction of true crime… [that] comes around to arriving at some of the same kind of epiphanies that that material, in its best form, often arrives at.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 3, 2025

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David Fear

Rolling Stone

It’s a full-frontal assault on a way-too-popular genre, done with a trickster’s deft touch.

Feb 28, 2025

Full Review

Abby Olcese

The Pitch

It’s a true crime documentary for people who hate true crime, and for people who love it, and for people who hate that they love it. Whatever your position, Shackleton is right there with you.

Mar 8, 2025

Full Review

Jonathan DeHaan

Nightmare on Film Street

Part video essay, part investigative journalism, the heavy-meta doc peels back the curtain on the tricks of the trade and the reliably predictable tropes that have completely overtaken true-crime documentaries writ large.

Rated: 73%

Mar 1, 2025

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

A slick piece of media criticism that uses humor to dissect how the true crime genre has lost the plot ethically (or maybe never had it to begin with) as it has become a cottage industry with its own formula for easy consumer consumption.

Feb 28, 2025

Full Review

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Charlie Shackleton

Director

Charlie Shackleton

Narrator

Catherine Bray

Producer

Anthony Ing

Producer

Charlie Shackleton

Producer

Xenia Patricia

Cinematographer

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Synopsis

The true crime genre's ubiquity is driven by people's endless fascination, disgust, and -- bizarrely -- search for comfort in genre conventions that still have the ability to generate complex emotions despite their predictability and familiarity. Having tried and failed to make a documentary about the infamous Zodiac Killer, filmmaker Charlie Shackleton walks the viewer through what his film would have been like and why, using Bay Area landscapes, reenactments, film and TV clips, and voice-over. In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work, a filmmaker chews over what might have been and playfully probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point.

Director: Charlie Shackleton
Producer: Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing, Charlie Shackleton
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 32m