#movies #television #truecrime #crime #murder #horror #writing
The Hunt For the Unicorn Killer (1999), directed by William A. Graham; starring Naomi Watts, Tom Skerrit, and Kevin Anderson.
This is a four-hour miniseries about one of the most famous murder cases of the 70s, the so-called “Unicorn Killer” case. (Although the murder took place in 1977, the killer was so slippery that he wasn’t convicted until 2001–-thus, the saga was in the news for almost 25 years.)
This miniseries is a cut above the average Lifetime or A&E crime fare. It’s got a strange, creepy undertone that lurks beneath the factual presentation of the case. It’s not a masterpiece but it is a good way to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon.
The miniseries follows the story of Holly Maddux (Naomi Watts), from the late 60s to the late 70s. Holly is a beautiful, blonde, sorority-type girl from Texas who is attending Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania (a prestigious private liberal arts college which is one of the so-called “Seven Sisters,” the female equivalents of the Ivy League universities).
Holly, however, wants more out of life than the typical girl of her social class, who, in that era, usually went to college in hope of snagging “Mr. Right.” She finds her purpose—or so she thinks—in Ira Einhorn (played by Kevin Anderson), a semi-famous campus radical from the University of Pennsylvania, who is credited with inventing “Earth Day” (April 22).
The name “Einhorn” means unicorn in German, and Ira has adopted it as his personal symbol and mascot, which Holly interprets as glamorous and exciting. Ira and Holly become romantically involved, and Holly moves in with Ira, a controversial decision in that era. (She hides her living arrangements from her conservative parents.)
Ira, however, is a Jekyll-and Hide-character, who preaches peace and love at campus rallies, while at home, treats Holly like a slave. He cheats on her openly; physically abuses her; humiliates her in front of his rich and powerful friends; and even makes her work as a stripper so that he can finish his “important” book.
After years of abuse, Holly finally meets a man who isn’t anything like Ira, and leaves Ira for her new love interest. After one last argument with Ira, however, Holly disappears.
Ira claims he doesn’t know where she went. Soon, however, Ira’s neighbors in adjoining apartments begin to complain of a horrible smell in their building; the tenants in the apartment directly below Ira’s experience a strange, nasty-smelling liquid dripping through their ceiling.
Holly’s devoted father, (Tom Skerritt) hires a private detective (William G. Schilling) to find her. After months of dogged investigation with little help from police, the trail leads to a large, antique steamer trunk hidden in a closet in Ira’s apartment. I won’t spoil it by going any further into the story, but you’ve probably gotten the idea by now of what's in the trunk. . .
Filmed in 1999, this series debuted a couple of years before Watts stunned the acting world with her bravura performance in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). She’s by far the best thing in this production, too, with her compelling portrait of Holly, whom she imbues with a touching fragility and a rare kind of gallantry. Anderson, Skerritt, and the rest of the cast provide great support, but none can match Watts’s starpower--it's easy to see, even in this largely forgotten production, why she became a big star.
Aside from the stellar acting, the camerawork by Ralf Bode (he shot the excellent Dressed to Kill in 1980 for Brian DePalma) does a great job in establishing a gripping atmosphere. Bode shows us a Philadelphia that’s often dark, rainy and moody. The interiors and costumes are all very accurate for the era; someone in the art department did their homework.
This real-life case generated several very good true crime novels. The miniseries is based on the book, The Unicorn’s Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius, by Steven Levy.
Unfortunately, the DVD for this miniseries appears to be out of print. An unused disc will run you $100-$250; even a used one is $25. However, all is not lost--there's a very good copy on YouTube, as of this writing.
