Build a movie plot around this: Who wets his pants at the scene of the Vialo murder? Smith
Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a wealthy, successful businessman recently honored by the Portland, Oregon Chamber of Commerce as "Man of the Year". However, Brooks lives a secret life as a serial killer, known as the "Thumbprint Killer". Brooks has abstained from murder for the past two years by attending twelve-step meetings for addicts, to try and cope with his "killing addiction". He feels the compulsion to kill rising again, however, as his id, Marshall (William Hurt), becomes more insistent. Brooks gives in to his addiction and kills a young couple while they are having sex in their house and, as part of his psychopathology, leaves each of the victims' bloody thumbprints on a lampshade. Brooks follows his meticulous modus operandi, including fastidious preparation, cleaning up the crime scene, even locking the doors before departing, and burning the clothes he was wearing during the killings. Marshall then realizes that the couple's curtains were open, facing an apartment building.Brooks' daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) unexpectedly arrives home, having dropped out of college in Palo Alto, California. She visits Brooks at work and mentions that she would like to get a job with his company. The same day, a man calling himself "Mister Smith" (Dane Cook) turns up at Brooks' work and blackmails him with photographs of Brooks at the most recent murder. Smith demands that Brooks take him along on a murder, to which Brooks reluctantly agrees.Brooks' wife, Emma (Marg Helgenberger), reveals that Jane dropped out of college because she is pregnant. The Brookses are then visited by detectives from Palo Alto who want to interview Jane about a murder committed in her former dorm building. Marshall and Brooks realize that Jane committed the murder and consider letting her go to jail to "save her" from becoming like them. Eventually, however, Brooks uses an alternate identity, flies to Palo Alto, and commits a similar murder to make it appear as if a serial killer is loose, thereby exonerating Jane.Brooks...