...at least they didn't have to sit through this piece of garbage!Take an interesting subject and present it with the directorial finesse of a mentally retarded 12-year-old on Quaaludes who's just been handed a video camera and you'll come up with something pretty close to this pseudo-documentary. I'm not sure what was more entertaining, the fake mustaches in imminent danger of falling off during the reenactments or trying to count the number of different ways the director tried to use the same three pictures of the perpetrator.And let's not forget the 1,914 uses of the closing-iris-fade-to-black effect (not sure what it's called but if you managed to get through at least 10 minutes of this cinematic abortion then you'll know what I'm referring to.) Perhaps the best use of "H.H. Holmes - America's First Serial Killer" would be as a primer on how *not* to edit a movie.Look up "amateurish" in the dictionary and it'll lead you to HHH-AFSK. Those with in interest in the exploits of the good doctor would be best served to read Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City" or, at the very least, to look him up on Wikipedia.Ugh...I think I need to go take a shower.

Torture chambers, acid vats, greased chutes and gassing rooms were just some of the devices of death designed by the Torture Doctor, H.H. Holmes in his castle of horrors. Follows Holmes' entire life as a criminal mastermind.As a resident of Wisconsin, I have always found serial murder interesting. Yes, I do think there is a connection, because we have Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer in our state legends. And HH Holmes, being from Chicago, is one of those that captures my interest -- Chicago is the closest large city, and its history is almost local.This is a pretty good documentary. Of course, being a story that happened in the 1800s, you can only have so much video footage. But they flesh it out with photos, reenactments, and plenty of modern-day experts on Holmes and murder. I was pleased, and at just over an hour it gives you plenty of information without dragging on.

Alright. Not much to say, other than READING is far more entertaining than this horribly narrated and presented documentary is. I will just get right down to what wasn't good about it. And there wasn't that much bad about it. It's just that the falling points to the film are constant and never expand nor decrease.The narrator to me was like an older Ben Stein telling me all about the 19th century. I really don't like listening to Ben Stein attempt to educate me. The information is also poorly presented. For example, a big part about Holmes was his building he designed. Now they do have a segment on it, but they really don't emphasize (enough in my opinion) how he really went about it. They did a sad little black and white RE-ENACTMENT of a innocent victim going through the labyrinth and being caught and placed inside the trap-walls. But it seriously just belittled Holmes.The chronology was poorly paced and just didn't have much direction to it. I found myself wondering what was pacing through Holmes as his evil began to really take part.Now I understand that Holmes existed before modern science and psychology, so everything about who he was, how he was, and all of that is pure assumption. But we have a thing called educated guess and I don't think anyone will be upset about several educated guesses to breathe some life into the film. This was not done at all.The entire film seemed to drag on. The first thirty minutes felt like two hours. Literally. I was hoping that it would pick up so pace towards the end. But it actually just slowed down.Overall, this film is very educational, but I would seriously recommend having some background knowledge first. I would seriously expect this film to be on a shelf at some high school; an idle threat to force the students to watch and take notes on the film. Because it's extremely dry on a very INTERESTING subject. Honestly though. You will thank me and yourself for picking up a book or essay vice watching this dry cardboard cut out of HHHolmes.

Who says you have to spend so much money to make a good quality film, well you don't. John Borowski's documentary on the notorious Dr. H. H. Holmes born as Herman Mudgett is a perfect example. It's creepy and reminds you of the golden days of good thriller films where it didn't take much to scare the life out of you. The story of Dr. Holmes should not be forgotten. The reenactments are not that graphic or bloody. I like the fact that Tony Jay narrated the documentary. He was wonderful. John Borowski is an up and coming director from Chicago where the house of horrors and part of Dr. Holmes' crimes took place. Nobody could imagine the horror not even by reading Harold Schechter's book, Depraved, about his crimes. Schechter gives great commentary but I think he could have been used more regarding his knowledge of information. The forensics specialist came off kind of too detailed for the average person. The criminal profiler reminded me of Chris Parnell with blonde hair. He kind of had a good sense of humor despite the horror. I recommend watching the behind the scenes the making of the documentary. It's well documented and looks 100 percent professional.