An above-average cast (for a direct-to-video movie) can't do much with the subpar script of DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER, in which writer Gary Busey unwillingly gains the confidence of killer Arnold Vosloo and uses him as the basis for a magazine article.
A new "girl" at an LA drag bar is actually journalist Nelson Keece (Gary Busey), researching an article called "Through the Eyes of a Transvestite." His live-in girlfriend Juliette (Julia Campbell) is worried about his insistence on empathizing with his subjects, but the nearly broke Keece is
desperate to sell another article. On the street, recognizing a man (Arnold Vosloo) he saw at the club, he follows him and tape records him murdering a young woman. Reece tries to report it to the police, but is followed and stopped by the murderer, Stefan. When he finds out what Keece does, he
agrees to be the subject of an article by him. Keece makes other attempts to go to the police, but is stymied by either Stefan's presence or bureaucratic snags at the police station. He tells Stefan that he expects him to refrain from killing during their collaboration, but Stefan breaks his
promise and stabs a woman in a library. He takes Keece to a transvestite prostitute he plans to kill, but Keece is able to foil him. For revenge, Stefan decides to make Juliette (who has separated from the troubled Keece) his next victim. Keece stops him in time and, seizing Stefan's knife during
a struggle, stabs him to death. Dying, Stefan says he wanted Keece to know how it felt to kill someone before writing about it.
Aside from a good cast and competent production, there's really nothing to recommend DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER to the thrill seeker. Despite the title, the script does next to nothing to get into the mind of a murderer. And its depiction of writer Keece is confusing: it's never clear whether he
really wants to do Stefan's story, or if he's just biding his time until he can turn him in, or if he is conflicted. Costar Michael Madsen is wasted in a supporting role as a detective obsessed with the notion that this recent string of killings may be the work of whoever killed his daughter, just
as the subplot in which the police come to suspect Reece of the murders is ultimately insignificant. It seems likely from some of what is in here that the original script was altered at some stage: it almost certainly was an improvement over what made it to the screen. (Violence, sexual
situations, adult situations, profanity.) leave a comment
