Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes Review - Unearthing the serial killer of Chicago 

Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes has dropped on Netflix today and the documentary is gruesome enough to send chills down the spine of even the most hardcore true-crime fan.

When Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes dropped in 2019, which chronicled the crimes and history of Ted Bundy, Netflix received an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers, which encouraged the streaming platform to venture into the genre of true-crime.

Now, three years later, director Joe Berlinger is back with a follow-up with The John Wayne Gacy Tapes. The documentary brings to viewers a repository of nearly 60 hours of recorded interviews with the infamous mass murderer John Gacy.

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Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes shows the fall of the serial killer

Serial killers have lingered in public imagination as seemingly normal but psychologically disturbed social deviants, who are the manifstation of pure, unambiguous evil. Yet their conditions make space for them to be shown a certain degree of leniency that the judicial system thinks they deserve.

Gacy’s story is no different from this. Scarred by an abusive childhood, Gacy worked his way up the social ladder to become a reputed businessman, philanthropist, and also a socialite. He led a busy life tending to his work but under the demeanor of a healthy, happy, and ambitious person lay a psychologically disturbed and perverted man.

Gacy, over the years, murdered around 33 young boys and disposed of their bodies in and around his residence.

Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes attempts to chronicle the life and crimes of the clown killer of Chicago, John Gacy, through the eyes of the people who knew him, were close to him, and were affected by his wrongdoings.

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What does the docuseries feature?

The documentary features interviews with Gacy's lawyer, his employees who faced s*xual harassment from him, families of his victims, police officials who worked on Gacy's case, and many more. Compiled with archival news clips of the time and the crimes that were committed, alongside 60 hours of recorded conversations with the killer himself, the docuseries offers a holistic perspective of the serial killings of Chicago that took place in the late '90s.

While narrating the seemingly normal tale of John Gacy as a businessman and a socialite, Berlinger slowly introduces viewers to Gacy's traits, like his obsession with putting people in positions of psychological pressure or his relationship with his wife and his perverted urges.

Gacy professed both fascination and disgust towards homos*xuals and identified as a bis*xual, which according to him was him trying out new things. However, his involvement with numerous underage boys, whom he manipulated into working for him, was indicative of something suspicious.

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How are the episodes divided?

It all started with the disappearance of Rob Priest, which is when Gacy became the number one suspect in the case. The first episode of Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes starts off with the investigation of Priest's disappearance and slowly opens into the history of John Gacy, charting how the seemingly normal and healthy Gacy was psychologically unwell and engaged in various illegal acts, including sodomy.

The story unfurls into how Gacy manipulated and abused young boys, even killed some and hid the bodies in and around his house. The second episode is a deep-dive into the serial killings that Gacy had committed and how the police caught and unearthed around 33 bodies of missing boys whom Gacy had killed.

With every passing minute, the documentary gets darker as Gacy starts telling his own story and how he felt about the crimes he was accused of. The final episode opens up into the arrest of John Gacy and his trial, which eventually ended in him receiving the death sentence.

Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes does not deviate much and plays it safe by abiding by the rules of the true-crime genre. It is well-structured and follows a certain pace without being too overwhelmingly boring or slow. What is note-worthy is the ability of the docuseries to keep the audience captivated for the three-hour documentary, an ability that most true-crime series lack.

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With a perfect blend of suspense and anticipation, Netflix's Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes is certainly a must-watch.