The Gray Man

Plot synopsis:
A dedicated detective tries to capture Albert Fish, a serial killer who abducts, abuses, kills, and occasionally eats children, leaving no trace behind. Will the obsessive manhunt across several states succeed in apprehending the killer? Albert Fish, one of the earliest known serial killers of 20th century America, is the subject of this movie. A true cannibal. Compared to Albert Fish, Hannibal Lecter was a saint. Yet, this is definitely not your average horror movie. If you crave gratuitous violence, you 'd better look elsewhere. Rather, this is the story of the hunter versus the hunted. Albert Fish leaves clues at the crime scene that the detective must follow. Soon enough, this is getting personal, a veritable clash of personalities.The shocking true story of Albert Fish, the most monstrous yet least known serial killer in the history of true crime in America. In 1928, the angelic 10-year-old Grace Budd is abducted by a kindly old grandfather and never seen again. After scouring the country for her for six years, detectives finally arrest Albert Fish for her kidnapping but are unprepared for the horrors they are about to uncover... Aged 55 when the film opens, Hamilton Fish, aka Albert Fish, is the father of six grown children whom he has raised on his own after his wife abandoned the family to run off with their boarder. A compulsive liar and letter writer, Fish corresponds with women through "friendship" magazines, woos several under false pretenses, and even marries a few -- even though he is still technically married to his first wife -- but eventually repulsing all of them with his sexual perversions. Having always struggled with leading his life according to his religious convictions, Fish now teeters on the brink of complete surrender to his sadomasochistic tendencies. It is the kidnapping of Grace Budd that leads to his downfall. When he is finally arrested, the authorities discover a trail of murder, mutiliation and cannibalism. Fish is found guilty despite overwhelming evidence of his insanity, and promptly sentenced to die in the electric chair.
[D-Man2010]

Tags: murder

Review:
Director Scott Flynn chose to tell the story of Albert Fish, a serial murderer who is believed to have murdered and cannibalized several young children in the late 1920s and early 1930s in the environs of New York City.
Flynn's film gives the viewer a slight background of Fish's character so that even the most offended audience member can understand Fish's motivation.
Albert Fish is scary because he looks like the earnest, hard working sort of character who you'd hire to repair your furnace.
"The Gray Man" is also a significant work in horror, because it puts to rest the idea that a grisly tale must rely upon grisly depiction in order to unsettle the viewer.
It might seem ridiculous that I would even have to point this out, but anyone who knows contemporary horror understands how little credit all too many Gothic film makers lend the imagination of their public anymore.
I don't want to belabor the point, suffice it to say that "The Gray Man" puts films like "Saw" and "Hostel" to shame.
Very few things in this life are as terrifying as a child murderer, Flynn and his cast put this true story across without much reliance on the sensational.
Imagine that.Leading the cast is veteran actor Patrick Bauchau, who brings the character of Albert Fish himself a terrifying but not entirely unlikeable quality.
Following Bauchau up as the intrepid Missing Persons investigator Will King is Jack Conley, whose world weary demeanor I found very welcome in this age of celluloid depictions of lantern jawed law enforcement officials who always know what to do.
He's sort of an anti-bureaucratic bureaucrat.The other supporting cast members are quite good, most notably the perpetually bemused children of Albert Fish, Gertrude and Albert Jr., who know him alternately as both solid family man and abusive personality.
Jillian Armaneni is powerful as the mother of Grace Budd, the victim of Fish whose disappearance finally put investigators on his trail, and Lexi Ainsworth is very fine as Grace herself.
Ben Hall holds his own as Grace's brother Albert, and character actor Bill Flynn has an appearance as the notorious Dr. Frederick Wertham (yes, he of the controversial 1950s anti- comic book crusade) who was a defense witness at the Fish trial as Fish and his crew pleaded insanity.As for accuracy, who knows?
Albert Fish has entered that realm of real-life bogeymen with a distinction known by few, so the scuttlebutt will continue to blossom.
Be that as it may, "The Gray Man" is a finely crafted, ambitious and riveting horror film, one of the few in the contemporary samples from the genre that is worthy of the time it takes to view it..
Albert Fish was one of the first serial killers to live and die in America in the early part of the last century.
Although he committed crimes beyond comprehension, his tale was relatively unknown, until now.The story is based on a solid script with emphasis on plot and character rather than gore and violence.
At the same time, it attempts to read into the mind of the killer, even portraying a bit of his human side.There are great performances by Patrick Bauchau (Fish) and Jack Conley (Detective King).
Solid film about 1930's real life serial child killer.
A solid thriller about Albert Fish (a very fine performance by Patrick Bauchau), the real life serial killer of children in 1930's America.
Fish seemed a harmless old man, but in 1934 he was arrested as the murderer of several missing children he somehow duped their families into leaving him with (using an assumed name throughout).
Part character study and part detective procedural, The Gray Man wisely avoids graphic horror and sensationalism (Fish's murders, for instance, are never shown on camera), and while it is rather conventional, it is nevertheless quite chilling nonetheless and it shows a director with a very keen sense of storytelling..
Although there's solid performances from the main cast, particularly Patrick Bacau who plays the notorious Albert Fish, this film seems to lack something - thus it's left like its title, grey.
What could and should have been an excellent film becomes, because of bad direction, a lack of character development (the detective in particular is poorly developed), plus a poor script, an unsatisfying B movie which is at times tedious and plodding.Regarding the subject matter, there's too much skipping over of important facts, and the characters are mainly one dimensional clichés.
While this movie shows him being prepared for electrocution, after he was convicted of kidnapping and cannibalizing a little girl, he taunted his captors that he was also responsible for nearly l00 other unsolved murders.
Everything in this film is clean, glossy, sunny and the actor who portrays Albert Fish is so handsome and charming that it's like he walked in from a soap opera.
The horrendous life of Albert Fish and the horrors he perpetrated deserves a shocking, bloody, horrific treatment.
Albert Fish - An Early Serial Killer.
I thought it would be a more focused character study of Albert Fish - the kidnapper/murderer/cannibalizer of young children in New York City in the late 1920's-early 1930's.
The movie opens with a depiction of Fish as an abused child in an orphanage, giving some insight into where he developed his sado-masochistic tendencies, but really this movie focused more on the police investigation into one case - the kidnapping, murder and cannibalizing of 10 year old Grace Budd.
The Budd case was the one that eventually brought Fish down, and the movie really revolved around Police Detective William King, who headed the investigation into Budd's disappearance.Fish seems to have been one of the earliest serial killers to prey on young children.
The movie, thankfully, isn't very graphic, although the details of exactly what was done to young Grace are talked about but not depicted.
As far as the Budd case is concerned, the movie seems to be a pretty accurate depiction of real events, but really the Budd case is the only one looked at in any detail, even though there were several other child killings that Fish was responsible for.Patrick Bauchau was pretty convincing as Fish.
I wasn't entirely taken with Jack Conley as Det. King, and I found the depiction of Grace's mother (Jillian Armanante) to be strange.
That may be true (everything else in this seems pretty accurate based on what I've read so I don't know why they writers would make that upon) but it still seems pretty strange to me.Really, this provides a glimpse into the mind and one crime of a notorious serial killer.
Considering that this film was supposed to tell the story about one of the most bizarre serial killers in history, it's absolutely amazing that the end result we get served is this tedious muck.
Something is definitely wrong when you realize that the film you are watching easily can be labeled " a film for the whole family", a film the Hallmark channel would "proudly present." Instead of a thoroughly deep-dive into Mr. Fish's murky psyche, a proper probing into the mechanizations that drove this deranged specimen of a man, a both tell and show with the slaughter and cannibalizing of Grace Budd, what you get is a badly acted detective-story ( with film-noiresque monologue ), a lead that don't remotely look like Albert Fish, and a misplaced focus on the detective in charge.
The gore is of course non-existent, and while this "tell, don't show" approach work excellently in films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dahmer, here it is sorely missed.
On the other hand, if you want a properly nasty horror-film about good old Albert, you better keep your fingers crossed for a director that truly have the courage to handle this dark material the way it deserves!
One thing that has always bewildered me about movies portraying true events is the film makers' habit of changing the story to suit their Hollywood vision.
Fish didn't lay eyes on little Grace until the second visit to the Budds' house at which point he immediately decided to dupe the family into letting him take her away with him.
One more thing that the movie decided to change, maybe for effect, was Fish's arrest.
Certainly the story of Albert Fish needs no twisting or exaggeration to be one of the most horrific tales in American History.
The film is an abbreviated account of years of Fish's criminal history.
In addition to making very brief mention of his crimes against Billy Gaffney and Francis McDonnell and focusing mainly (as the media did at the time) on the murder of Grace Budd.
I would have liked them to spend a bit more time detailing the criminal trial as it was very revealing into Albert Fish's psychopathy.
**SPOILERS** Interesting film about the life times and crimes of one of America's most notorious serial killers Albert Fish, Patrick Bauchau.
Fish not only murdered his victims he cannibalized them as well which made him a perfect candidate, when he stood trial, for an insanity defense that would have saved him a one way trip to the Sing Sing electric chair.
Being that Fish was actually looking froward to get strapped into the chair, he was reported to say it would be the biggest thrill in his life, he made little if any attempt to defend himself in trying to convince the jury that he was, which was very possible,insane and ended up getting his wish.
For all the crimes that Fish was reported to have committed, that included some half dozen murders, he was tried convicted and executed for the kidnap murder of 12 year-old Grace Budd, Lexi Ainwsorth.
It was Fish himself who by sending an anonymous letter to Grace's parents admitting his crime that lead the police to track him down and finally put an end to his reign of terror.The film "The Gray Man" goes deep into Albert Fish's sick mind in showing how he as a young boy became fascinated with pain, that was inflicted on him at the orphanage he spent his early years in, and how that fascination, that lead to his purposely torturing himself, shaped his entire adult life.
Fish also became some kind of religious fanatic who explained away his horrendous crimes in saving his victims, all young children, the pains of either being raped or corrupted in the future!Like most serial killer Fish,in him being in his 50's and 60's when he committed his crimes, came across as a both sweet and kindly old man to his intended victims, and their family members, that masked the real intentions that he had in store for them.
It was Fish's own sense of invincibility, by getting away with his crimes for so long, that in the end did him in.
It also took the efforts of New York City Police Detective Will King, Jack Conley, to track Fish down and finally bring him to justice.Det. King never gave up in trying to find little Grace Budd's murderer when everyone else did.
Suffering a serious mental breakdown that landed him in the hospital for weeks Det. King still worked on the Grace Budd murder case, from his hospital bed, until he got the brake that he so long, for some six years, had waited for.
And ironically that brake came from Albert Fish himself!.
This film surrounds the life of Albert Fish, one of the most well-known serial-killers in the world.
Active around the start of the 20th century, Fish's life is hastily and blurry dealt with before before he started killing children at an old age.
This film is based upon two tracks: Fish's life and that of William F.
What saves this film from becoming a Hallmark spectacle and debacle of the usual sort, whenever films about serial killers are concerned, is the direction, which is a double-edged sword; director Scott L.
Flynn sheds focus enough upon the b-actors not to let their flaws shine through too much, but at the same times created a truly dull and stereotypical view of the American police through the King-angle.
Sure enough he dealt quite thoroughly with Fish's meet with Grace Budd, the 10-year-old girl that he killed, even though I'm not really sure if her mother was the media-crazed person that Flynn really tries to emphasise that she was.
I miss more psychological diving into Fish, not to mention the very little time which was spent on Fish's post-capture.
Interesting account of a real-life serial killer.
Fish is a prolific serial killer who targets young children, killing them & eating their bodies afterwards, who haunted New York City in the 1920s.
Missing Persons Unit detective William King dedicates himself to the case & attempts to track down Fish.
But Fish is an exceptionally clever killer & the only thing that stands in King's way is Fish's deteriorating mental state.This is a retelling of one of 1920s America's most infamous serial killers.
Fish was a menace to society at the time.The film does a good job of recreating 1920s' America, right down to the buildings & shop-signs (where you could get a soda for only 10 cents!) & the attitudes of the society at the time.
Also of note is the fact that the limited forensic resources of the era allowed Fish to kill & eat as many children as he ultimately did & that the detective in charge of the case nearly lost his sanity chasing down the killer.
The film is not perfect, but director Scott Flynn manages to make a passable detective yarn & in part an insight into how such a deranged mind could wreak as much havoc as he did at the time.
Patrick Bauchau dives deep into the Fish character with fearless abandon, portraying a disturbed mind who was partly shaped by the bad childhood he experienced in the orphanage he grew up in (the ghostly pale boy that appears in some scenes is meant to be a symbol of Fish's lost childhood).
For the supporting cast, Jack Conley is solid as the detective after Fish while Silas Weir Mitchell, who Steven Seagal fans will remember as the militia's second in command in the uber-flop The Patriot, does his role as Fish's unwitting son well.
This isn't a slasher and given the fact that most of Fish's victims were children, which he sexually molested and cannibalized, that isn't too surprising a fact.
Further evidence of this if needed was the fact the Chiller channel released this alongside Hitchcock's "Psycho" in a masters of suspense double bill.****Here starts the spoilers, in so much that reference will be made to the true story on which this is based and how this was portrayed in this film****What this is, notwithstanding, is a film that focuses on the murder of Grace Budd and the police investigation that leads to Fish's eventual arrest.
Set against the backdrop of the great depression, the film shows the effects such crimes have, not only on the victims and their families, but indeed, the killer and his loved ones as well.
Mention has been made of a train and metal railings that were not to period, but given the budget and location this in itself is laudable and such things were well hidden from anyone but the most perceptive and in my mind no way interferes with the film or the telling of it.
Shot mostly in Gutherie and Oklahoma City the film does give one the look and feel of Depression-era New York.
An Easter egg in this scene are the flower and sweet sellers, which are the two news anchors for Fox 25, who ran coverage of the filming of the Gray Man under the heading "Okiewood"!!Drawing from the original letters Fish wrote to his family, lawyer, doctors...
Several scenes were also created around photographs of Fish and his family and while this doesn't add anything truly to the overall film, it does speak to the intelligent use by the director and makes for another wonderful Easter egg.This is one of the films you wish they had made a mini-series of.
Plunging into the darkness the film maker holds on the central plot of the abduction and murder of Grace Budd.
Flynn uses Bauchau in the vein of Wells, portraying him as a grandfatherly figure, the demonic is seen in flashes and in a command performance Bauchau's Fish is absolutely chilling.Further comparison can be had to the old masters in the stylized filming of the Budd scene in which we are introduced to the angelic Grace Budd.
While this wasn't a slasher or indeed, a documentary, what it is is a nicely crafted true crime story that is entertaining and makes one talk, think and feel.
Overall the acting, camera work and direction were above par, with the jobs done by Bauchau, Flynn and Rudd respectively worth higher praise.
I didn't know much about this Albert Fish until this week.
I saw 'Albert Fish: In Sin He Found Redemption' a few days before and even though that was not a good film, the story remains one that is haunting, to say the least.
I went on reading up on him on the net and came across this film.Patrick Bauchau does a very decent job of portraying The Gray Man, but overall I found this to be a mediocre film.
Beside Fish, the viewer is presented with the primary detective on the case - voice-over included - and his investigation.
Then there were the children of Fish, which made for an interesting angle, but somehow that didn't impress me much either.
If only David Fincher would take it upon him to make more films about infamous serial killers....
I've never forgotten that close encounter, nor Albert Fish, "cannibal." While I think that Bauchau is probably a lot more cultured than the real-life Fish was, his is still a riveting performance and helps make THE GRAY MAN a true crime movie worth watching.