180629: If you're a serial killer aficionado like myself, this made for television movie might provide some entertainment. If you're not, you'll be better served finding another avenue.

I'm from the Wichita area, so am very familiar with this case and was shocked by the factual errors and poor quality of this film.The single redeeming quality of this movie is Henry's portrayal of Dennis Rader. He did an excellent job of capturing Rader's mannerisms and bore a striking resemblance to him.I'll try to list the factual errors sequentially. First off, Magida is a fictional detective, probably based on Ken Landwehr. There were no female detectives in lead roles on this case. I'm surprised at the leaps the movie makes, using the real names of the judge and attorneys but fictional names of law enforcement officers. Also, no detectives who were present at the scene of the Otero murders were on the team that eventually caught Rader.Second are the location errors. The Sedgwick County courthouse, where Rader's trial was held, is NOT a small, old-fashioned building in suburbia!! It's actually a very modern building, several stories tall in a busy downtown area. The "Cousins Cafe" is also a complete fabrication. Rader went home for lunch, as he was a creature of habit the police knew what time he would be headed there and apprehended him on his way to lunch.Third are the errors in the crimes committed and reported. He was only linked to 8 murders until shortly before his capture, the Hedge and Davis murders were not committed in Wichita and originally not thought to be BTK killings. The Bright murder was not portrayed correctly either, I will not go into the specifics...read the books if you want to know.On to the film itself. It begins with Rader in the courtroom recounting the murders, but abruptly shifts to a portrayal of the case from the fictional Magida's eyes. Either point of view would have been fine, but if this is meant to give an accurate look at the horror of the murders, several have been left out.If you are interested in the BTK case, I would NOT recommend watching this movie. Read one of the books, but not Beattie's, unless you're interested in long and irrelevant diatribes on the author's life.

60 years old Dennis Lynn Rader, was a model Wichita's citizen, suburban Park City's compliance officer, former Kanzas Cup Scout leader and the president of the local Lutheran Congregation Council, yet the neighborhood's ultimate nightmare.The four members of Joseph Otero's family killed in early 1974 were first victims of the B.T.K. strangler. The killing spree in the area that further spanned throughout the following seventeen years has abruptly ended in 1991.Despite tireless and meticulous investigation the police had failed to reveal the murderer's identity that time and the the case was remaining one of FBI's top unsolved mysteries until the killer resurfaced again in early 2004.In an attempt to draw media attention he sent a letter to Wichita's local news room claiming credits for a number of unsolved murders. This has triggered resumption of investigation and eventually led to detention of Dennis Rader who was accused of murdering at least ten people between 1974 and 1991.The account of Rader's crimes were dramatized in two feature movies released in 2005 the year when Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms.'The Hunt for the BTK Killer' focuses more on exhibiting Rader's sweet facade as a considerate family man, meticulous civil servant and committed community leader rather than elaborate depiction of grisly acts he has committed to materialize his sick sexual fantasies (which are only sporadically shown in flashbacks in the course of the court proceedings).The film features memorable, impeccable performance from (hardly recognizable - kudos to the wizards from the makeup department) Greg Henry as the aged killer. He made it to alter flawlessly between mild mannered, affable and respectable Wichita's resident and sinister, calculating shape-shifter contriving a cat and mouse game with the police.He could have managed to further evade justice unless his paranoid lust for limelight has eventually exposed his disguise.Only a mere accident and Rader's computer illiteracy has enabled the forensic lab experts to derive a badly wiped out file from a dumped floppy and identify the BTK strangler.The killer's shocking revelations at the interrogation room about his frightening past when he refers to his poor victims as the "projects" are presented in a semi-documentary manner.Of course the creators of the film took some liberty in simplifying the story and adapting it to the TV movie format, modifying some details and introducing fictional elements and characters like collective figure of Det. Madiga convincingly played by veteran actor Robert Forster.Nonetheless it is pretty accurate in providing insight to the tragic events that has kept Kanzans on tenterhooks for over three decades. I guess it deserves to take a worthy place among the best examples of TV true crime dramas like 'The Deliberate Stranger' (Bundy), 'Out of the Darkness' (Berkowitz), 'To Catch A Killer' (Gacy) and 'Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker' (Ramirez).

The Story of BTK was a complete misrepresentation of actual facts. In a rush to get a story out, MANY facts were blurred, or altogether made up. A scene retelling the 70's attempt to place subliminal messages in newscasts to have BTK contact the police is depicted as happening in 2005. Events happening in the daytime are shown at night. At one point it is implied that Wichitans were turning against each other as suspects to BTK. If anything, the community was unified in its desire to find the person responsible for terrorizing their families. The pivotal piece of evidence, the note relating to the floppy disk, is shown being found in the back of a truck at home depot, when it was actually thrown away at the employees home, but not disposed of. It was at their home that the evidence was found. Probably the most disturbing element of this story, is the minute amount of time spent on the victims. The story is alleged to be taken from Robert Beattie's book "A Nightmare in Wichita". If that was the case, the producers of this story would have known the bulk of this book was dedicated to telling the stories of the victims, not the killer. At least they got the letters B T and K right.........