Wonderland

F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong: there are second acts in American lives. But all too many of them are sad, sordid or both, as this fact-based story of sex, drugs and murder featuring adult-movie superstar John Holmes aptly demonstrates. In July 1981, Los Angeles newspapers were plastered with the grisly details of what police dubbed the "four on the floor" killings. Four people were hammered to death with lead pipes at 8763 Wonderland Avenue, and a fifth was beaten insensible. What gave the case an extra shot of tabloid oomph was the rumor that fading but still legendary porn-star Holmes (whose turbulent life and times inspired the character of Dirk Diggler in ...