Murder in Mordor

Rating: 3/10 (6 November 2019)

A potentially fascinating subject (very loosely based on the case of serial killer Andrei Chikatilo during the eighties, but relocated during the fifties to make it even gloomier) founders in the usually welter of drab colour, wobbly steadicam photography, hushed dialogue in impenetrable 'Russian' accents and extreme overlength.
The Russian authorities withdrew the film because of the grimy picture it painted of the workers' paradise during the fifties and the incredible idea that a serial killer could have operated with impunity at such a time; but the activities of the German serial killer Bruno Ludke during the Nazi era - also hushed up at the time for reasons of political expediency - had earlier also been the subject of their own film, 'Knachts, wenn der Teufel kam' in 1957.