littlezero As many reviewers here have noted, the events in this film are substantially different from Dennis Rader's BTK crimes. It's poorly acted and just plain gruesome. But I do think I understand what this production was attempting to do.This film picks up in 2004 when the BTK crimes had become a cold case to the police, who are surprised to start getting letters from BTK again. We enter the deranged mind of Dennis Rader as he sleeps -- and DREAMS -- about the other crimes he has been considering committing, and how it might play out if he were caught. Yes, folks, this whole thing is a BTK dream (but the audience's nightmare). Rader admitted freely that he had been stalking and planning other murders when he was finally arrested in 2005, and several of the women he harasses/kills in this film fit the known details of his intended targets. In reality, a couple of women had restraining orders on him and one even moved away because of his harassment -- and two of the women he stalks in this film are clearly based on them.At first, while watching this, I didn't understand why they would include so much factual information (actual poetry and drawings) but then depict murders that never happened. But the similarity to his intended future victims is what made me see what they were up to: the cliché old dream sequence technique.However, even understanding that doesn't redeem this voyeuristic and gratuitously violent film. The lead actor physically resembles Rader in many ways and does his best to appear menacing. The women mostly overact (his wife "Susan" and one of the daughters, for example) or underact (the other daughter).Wish I had never watched this. Made me feel like I had been dragged through scum and needed to take a shower.

Paul Andrews B.T.K is set in Wichita in Kansas where a serial killer is at large, by day Dennis Rader (Kane Hodder) is a respectable figure of authority as a local compliance officer & has just been voted in as President of a local Church & with a wife & two daughters Dennis seems the model citizen. However Dennis hides a dark secret, he is the notorious B.T.K. killer who taunts police with his notes & terrifies the city with his horrendous crimes. Dennis becomes sloppy though & as the net closes in on him maybe his reign of terror can be ended once & for all...Produced, written & directed by Michael Feifer this opens with some on-screen text that admits B.T.K. is a fictional story featuring a real character so don't expect some in depth true life biography of Dennis Rader the infamous serial killer who killed ten people between 1974 & 1991 in Sedgwick County & went uncaught until 2005 after he had resumed sending letters in 2004 & was sentenced to life with him being eligible for parole after 175 years by which time he will be long dead. This film focuses on Rader's later years & the build-up to his capture which here is because he was traced by one of his letters but what else is actually accurate here is open to debate, there's something about a prostitute ripping him off & lots of bland scenes of Rader living his everyday life between his murderous activities as he is a local compliance officer who measures peoples grass to check whether it's to long & there's a few scenes of hi at home with his wife & kids who talk about the B.T.K. killer while Rader is quick to reassure them. Every so often there's a kill scene which are quite grim I suppose but are never scary & the film never gets into the mind of Rader or gives him any real motivation & his interaction with people in his normal life just comes across as bland as much as anything else & the interaction between Rader, the police & the media goes all but untouched upon. At 90 odd minutes it feels like quite a long film & despite trying to retain an air authenticity throughout there's a cheap 'it was all a dream' style ending you would expect from a teen slasher rather than a serious serial killer biography.There's a bit of gore here, there's a couple of gory gunshot wounds as he shoots a couple of people, a cop gets hit by a car & we see his mangled body & a woman has a spade shoved into her stomach along with an unpleasant scene in which he suffocates a woman with a plastic bag around her head. Kane Hodder also appeared in director Feifer's biography Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007) as Gein so he has now played two of America's most notorious serial killers on film while also appearing in Feifer's serial killer biography (how many has this guy made?) Bundy: An American Icon (2008) which chronicles the deeds undertook by Ted Bundy I assume. B.T.K. has a made for telly feel about it, it's competent but underwhelming & forgettable.The budget for this was probably fairly low but it does have decent production values & doesn't look that cheap. The acting is mixed, the three who play Rader's wife & kids are terrible but Hodder in the lead is alright.B.T.K. is another one of those biopics that try to live off the name of a notorious serial killer, while not the worst example out there it's not the best either. For die hard serial killer enthusiasts only. B.T.K. Killer (2005) & The Hunt for the BTK Killer (2005) also deal with Rader & his crimes.

Michael O'Keefe Writer/director Michael Feifer offers us a fictional story based on the very real B.T.K. serial killer Dennis Rader. A seemingly mild mannered member of the Lutheran church, Boy Scout master, husband and father of two, Rader(Kane Hodder)is an ordinance enforcement officer of Wichita, Kansas. He relished his job and it helped his ego greatly. I guess every man needs a hobby. This story is supposition of the grisly and horrid murders committed by Rader between 1974 and 1991. B.T.K. meaning bind, torture and kill. The actual killings were graphic and nightmarish...but none of that in this film. Rader thought he was so intelligent, he teased the Wichita Police Department with letters in 2004 that led to his murder conviction in 2005. According to who you talk to, Rader was responsible for 7 to 10 or more slayings.Also starring are: Amy Lyndon, Daniel Bonjour, Caia Coley, Dru Ashcroft and John Burke.

Woodyanders Kane Hodder gives an excellent and convincing performance as Dennis L. Rader, the infamous sadistic serial killer who tied up and tortured his victims prior to savagely murdering them. Writer/director Michael Feifer presents Rader as a complex and fascinating bundle of contradictions: he's a dedicated, but overzealous compliance officer, a loving family man with a wife and two daughters, a boy scout leader, and even the president at a local church, but also suffered from sexual problems and an irresistible urge which compelled him to commit these atrocious and inhumane acts of calculated murder (the scenes with Rader manhandling his hapless victims are extremely harsh, brutal and disturbing). Moreover, Feifer admirably refuses to explain Rader; instead he presents in a stark and unflinching manner Rader as the ruthless and vicious murderous beast that he was. Hodder really holds the film together with his first-rate portrayal of this horrifying human monster; it's without a doubt the best acting he's ever done to date. The rest of the cast is equally sound, with especially stand-out work from Amy Lyndon as Rader's proud, loyal wife Susan and John Burke as no-nonsense Detective Lutz. The last third which shows the severe impact Rader's heinous actions had on his family is positively devastating. Matt Steinauer's polished cinematography and the shuddery score by Andres Boulton and Jermaine Stegall are both up to speed. Really strong and upsetting stuff.