- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: McClelland & Stewart; First Edition edition (Mar 27 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 077105033X
- ISBN-13: 978-0771050336
- Product Dimensions: 16.1 x 2.7 x 23.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 658 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#45,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #78 in Books > Nonfiction > True Accounts > Murder & Mayhem
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“A detailed, well-constructed account of a diabolical real-life Dexter. Lillebuen has written a riveting, true crime page-turner about aspiring filmmaker Mark Twitchell, who turned his obsession with fantasy into horrible reality.”
—Robert Remington, co-author of Runaway Devil: How Forbidden Love Drove a 12-year-old to Murder Her Family
—Robert Remington, co-author of Runaway Devil: How Forbidden Love Drove a 12-year-old to Murder Her Family
Book Description
Reality and fantasy collide with shocking results in this riveting account of the notorious case of Mark Twitchell - and the police investigation into one of the most bizarre murders in recent memory.
In October 2008, Johnny Altinger, a 38-year-old Edmonton man, was on his way to a tryst with a woman he had met on an online dating website when he emailed the directions to their rendezvous to a concerned friend. He was never seen again. Two weeks before Altinger's disappearance, independent filmmaker Mark Twitchell began shooting a low-budget horror film about a serial killer who impersonates a woman on an online dating website to lure his victims to their gruesome deaths. But these are just the starting points of the stranger-than-fiction case of Mark Twitchell, a man with a startling plan to turn his life-long love of fantasy and desire for fame into reality:
- Did Twitchell, in a horrific example of life imitating art, act out the grisly premise of his own script?
- Obsessed with Dexter, the popular TV show and book series about a fictional vigilante serial killer, Twitchell assumed Dexter Morgan's profile on Facebook. But how far did he intend to take his fascination with Dexter?
- Is the shocking document "S.K. Confessions" a graphic work of fiction that, as Twitchell claims, he wrote to promote his film? Or is it a diary he kept of his transformation into a killer, and proof that the police stopped a prolific serial killer at the very beginning?
Veteran journalist Steve Lillebuen provides a gripping investigative account of the nesting doll intricacies of the case, plunging us into the world of pop culture fanaticism and into the mind of a self-professed psychopath. Drawing on extensive interviews, Lillebuen illuminates what can happen when some of our culture's darkest obsessions are pushed to extremes.
In October 2008, Johnny Altinger, a 38-year-old Edmonton man, was on his way to a tryst with a woman he had met on an online dating website when he emailed the directions to their rendezvous to a concerned friend. He was never seen again. Two weeks before Altinger's disappearance, independent filmmaker Mark Twitchell began shooting a low-budget horror film about a serial killer who impersonates a woman on an online dating website to lure his victims to their gruesome deaths. But these are just the starting points of the stranger-than-fiction case of Mark Twitchell, a man with a startling plan to turn his life-long love of fantasy and desire for fame into reality:
- Did Twitchell, in a horrific example of life imitating art, act out the grisly premise of his own script?
- Obsessed with Dexter, the popular TV show and book series about a fictional vigilante serial killer, Twitchell assumed Dexter Morgan's profile on Facebook. But how far did he intend to take his fascination with Dexter?
- Is the shocking document "S.K. Confessions" a graphic work of fiction that, as Twitchell claims, he wrote to promote his film? Or is it a diary he kept of his transformation into a killer, and proof that the police stopped a prolific serial killer at the very beginning?
Veteran journalist Steve Lillebuen provides a gripping investigative account of the nesting doll intricacies of the case, plunging us into the world of pop culture fanaticism and into the mind of a self-professed psychopath. Drawing on extensive interviews, Lillebuen illuminates what can happen when some of our culture's darkest obsessions are pushed to extremes.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best true crime book I've ever read... and I've read a lot of them!,
This review is from: The Devil's Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell's Kill Room (Hardcover)
I've read many many true crime books and I'm always left with the question "but WHY did he/she do it? What makes a killer do it?" The Devil's Cinema comes as close to answering the question of how one person can take another's life in cold blood as is probably possible to us non-serial killers. It tells the story of the lead up to the death of Johnny Altinger by exploring the spiral into madness of his killer Mark Twitchell. It parallels Mark's life with his victims for the year before the crime, explaining how they both arrived at that fateful night in the garage.The book is very well researched and reads like a novel, with excellent characterization and a well constructed story told from from multiple angles. Even the court room drama, which I find is where many decent true crime books fall apart, is gripping. The personal communication the author had with Twitchell, while adding compelling insight into his mind, is far from the only voice in this book. Most importantly Lillebuen is very respectful to the victim, and Johnny features prominently in the story, allowing the reader to get to know the gentle kind man his friends and family so adored. It makes it all the more heartbreaking to learn how Twitchell disrespected him so much before and especially after death. The book could have easily sold out to the gore and horror of that night in the garage, but Lillebuen manages to retain dignity for the victim while still allowing the reader to discover what a twisted mind Twitchell truly has. I highly highly recommend adding this book to your true crime collection!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very accessible and highly recommended,
By Tim Campbell (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Devil's Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell's Kill Room (Hardcover)
I was hooked after the first couple of chapters as its such an amazing peek into a seriously strange case. The author has written a book that reads more like a novel even though it is true. Very good storytelling.The killer is Mark Twitchell and at first he just seems to be a big geeky Star Wars fanboy who happens to get caught up in a police investigation because he also likes the Dexter TV show. But the book really captures his big ego and personality and shows how his secret dark side is slowly escaping and then destroys himself and everything he touches. What Lillebuen described here was the rot spreading underneath the facade of "normal" life. This was about more than just the scummy side of urban life that cops have to face. It is also about a marriage falling apart and a group of friends finding out they are now in the middle of an insane story they simply cannot believe is true. The book has a lot of insight into the story and really, brilliantly captured it. Quick read and a great read.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! Great story, great read, very well-written.,
This review is from: The Devil's Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell's Kill Room (Hardcover)
So why did I like this book so much? I remembered the story from the news but there was actually so much more in the book that I had never even heard of before.The story is a really thoughtful one and makes you think. There's also a lot of behind the scenes details and lots of suspense. I was hooked and kept reading it. The book is pretty much divided into three sections and starts off with the police detectives and then goes into the lives of the killer and the victims. The author does a good job of building up how things happened. By the end, it was like I knew these people. I also liked how Facebook was a big part of it. It's pretty crazy to think that this all really happened and I kept thinking about it for a few days after reading it. I really recommend the book for anyone. I'm not big into true crime but I still found it so fascinating.
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