| Boston Strangler | |
|---|---|
 Release poster | |
| Directed by | Matt Ruskin |
| Written by | Matt Ruskin |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ben Kutchins |
| Edited by | Anne McCabe |
| Music by | Paul Leonard-Morgan |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Hulu |
Release date |
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Running time | 112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Boston Strangler is a 2023 Americanhistoricalcrime drama film written and directed byMatt Ruskin. It is based on the true story of theBoston Strangler, who, in the 1960sBoston, killed 13 women. The film starsKeira Knightley asLoretta McLaughlin, the reporter who broke the news for theBoston Record American, withCarrie Coon,Alessandro Nivola,Chris Cooper,David Dastmalchian, andMorgan Spector.
Boston Strangler was released in theUnited States on March 17, 2023, byHulu. It received mixed reviews from critics.
In 1962,Boston Record American reporter Loretta McLaughlin investigates three cases of older women who were raped and murdered by strangulation in the Boston area. She confirms the victims all had stockings tied around their necks in a bow, probably connecting the crimes to aserial killer. The story angers Boston law enforcement as well as Loretta's boss, who plans to kill the report to protect the company.
When a fourth victim is found, Loretta and fellow reporter Jean Cole decide to continue the investigation. The two women endure rampantsexism in their workplace and society. Loretta's marriage is strained by her long hours and her family is harassed. While writing the articles, Loretta coins the name "the Boston Strangler".
A year later, a seventh woman named Sophie Clark is murdered. A neighbor encountered a man who could be the killer and she provides a vague description. Sophie was much younger than previous victims, which breaks the Strangler's pattern. Loretta and Jean later discover that theBoston Police Department is botching the investigation and not sharing information with other cities. Similar murders, like one committed inNew York City by a man named Paul Dempsey, have been overlooked.
Albert DeSalvo, a suspect in the investigation, is taken into custody. Sophie's neighbor is asked to identify him in aline-up but she picks a different man,George Nassar. Despite this, in 1964, DeSalvo confesses to all 13 murders. Police do not have enough evidence to tie him to the murders, so he is instead convicted for earlier crimes of robbery and sexual offenses and sentenced to life imprisonment.
By 1965, Loretta learns from a police detective inAnn Arbor, Michigan, that there have been six murders there that are identical to the Boston Strangler's work. She travels to Ann Arbor and learns the most likely suspect is Daniel Marsh, an ex-boyfriend of a Strangler victim. Marsh is later arrested but refuses to cooperate with police. In 1973, DeSalvo calls Loretta and tells her to come to visiting hours the next day to hear his side of the story. Before Loretta can meet with him, he is stabbed to death by another prisoner.
Following an anonymous tip, Loretta meets with Harrison, a former patient atBridgewater State Hospital. He reveals that DeSalvo, Marsh, and Nassar were all held in the same ward at the same time. Harrison also claims DeSalvo's confession was coached by Marsh and Nassar. Loretta visits Nassar in prison. He denies that he and Marsh coached DeSalvo but admits he hoped to claim the reward. He accuses Loretta and the media of creating a sensation around the Strangler and insinuates that there is more than one murderer but that the public does not want to come to terms with it.
Loretta and Jean create a theory that Paul Dempsey killed the first six older women in Boston before he moved to New York. Once Dempsey left Boston,copycat murders arose, resulting in the later victims being much younger. DeSalvo confessed to all 13 murders so Nassar could collect a $10,000 reward per victim. In return, Nassar arranged for DeSalvo to be represented by a high-profile lawyerF. Lee Bailey. DeSalvo was also deceived into believing he would get a million-dollar book deal that could support his family. TheRecord American publishes Loretta and Jean's theory.
An epilogue tells of Loretta becoming an award-winning medical reporter atThe Boston Globe. Jean continued working as an investigative reporter for 30 years. She and Loretta remained close friends. Marsh was never charged with murder. Nassar never received a reward and is incorrectly said to still be in prison as of 2023.[a] In 2013,DNA evidence linked DeSalvo to the 13th murder but not the other 12.
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Boston Strangler is a co-production betweenScott Free Productions,LuckyChap Entertainment, and20th Century Studios. It was written and directed byMatt Ruskin, and produced byRidley Scott,Kevin J. Walsh, Michael Pruss,Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara. On October 4, 2021,Keira Knightley joined the cast.[8] In November 2021,Carrie Coon,Alessandro Nivola,Chris Cooper, andDavid Dastmalchian were added to the cast.[9][10]Robert John Burke andMorgan Spector were confirmed to star in early 2022.[11][12]
Ben Kutchins served as the film's cinematographer.[13] Filming began on December 6, 2021. A house inBelmont, Massachusetts, stood in for the home of reporter Loretta McLaughlin.[14][15][16] That same day, the Winn Brook Elementary School was transformed into the Cambridge Police Department forsecond unit filming. The school was paid $5,000 to be in the film.[14][15][17] Several private driveways on Statler and Waterhouse Roads were rented to park 1960s vehicles.[14] For the next two days, filming took place in theSouth End; scenes were shot on Dwight Street betweenTremont Street and Shawmut Avenue.[15]
On December 9, theBenjamin Franklin Institute of Technology was temporarily turned into a police headquarters for the film.[18][19] Between January 26 and 27, 2022, the former Josephine M. Foster Elementary School inBraintree was used as a set.[20] Filming also took place inJamaica Plain,Lowell,Lynn,Malden,Roxbury, andWellesley, Massachusetts.[15][21] Several health procedures had to be followed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The entire crew was vaccinated and tested for the virus three times a week until production concluded.[14] Filming wrapped in March 2022.[22] During post-production,Paul Leonard-Morgan composed the musical score.[23]
The film was released on March 17, 2023, byHulu.[24][2]
Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated thatBoston Strangler was watched for 206 million minutes from March 13 to March 19, 2023.[25]Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 21 million worldwide users of itsTV Time app, calculated thatBoston Strangler was the third most-streamed in the US during the week of March 19, 2023.[26][27] The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which monitors real-time data from 5 million users in the US for original and acquired streaming programs and movies across subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, reported thatBoston Strangler was the eighth most-streamed program during the week of March 23, 2023.[28][29]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 68% of 140 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Boston Strangler is nowhere near as gripping as it should be, but the worthy story and strong cast are often adequate compensation."[30]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[31]
Kevin Slane writing forBoston.com praised Keira Knightley's performance, asserting: "Knightley is perfect in the role of McLaughlin, able to convey her dogged determination with a single steely glance."[32] Nick Allen ofRogerEbert.com gaveBoston Strangler a grade of two and a half out of four stars, saying, "Boston Strangler reaches a point in which it is totally controlled by the wild course of events it is recreating, and it does make for decent, unsettling twists in a third act based on truth. But the emotional resonance is scant, even for howBoston Strangler casts another spotlight on game-changing Boston journalism. By the end, even Knightley only has so much space to construct a distinct arc from a dedication that lasted years and altered Loretta's personal life. Ruskin succeeds in paying tribute to Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole's hard work, but it's less successful in filling in the larger story."[33]
Several reviewers made unfavorable comparisons to the earlierThe Boston Strangler (1968) orDavid Fincher'sSeven (1995) andZodiac (2007).Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian gave the film a grade of two out of five stars, writing, "A director likeJonathan Demme or David Fincher would have gone for the jugular on this kind of material, but writer-director Matt Ruskin seems a little squeamish and keeps everything on the right side of contemporary taste. The chill of fear is missing."[34] Jeannette Catsoulis ofThe New York Times stated: "Despite the film's flaccid gestures toward the sexism of the period—to boost sales, the women's pictures are added to their bylines—'Boston Strangler' is a dreary, painfully stylized slog."[35]
Boston Strangler was nominated forOutstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[36][37] It won Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Limited or Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television at the2023 American Society of Cinematographers Awards.[38][39]
The storyBoston Strangler presents is largely historically accurate, including the details of the crimes and investigation, the names of the victims, the sexism Loretta and Jean faced, and the fact that Loretta and Jean coined the name Boston Strangler.[40][41][42] That said, authorities, authors and others still disagree about whether DeSalvo was the sole killer or whether the murders could have been the work of multiple individuals,[43] as posited by the film.
Director Matt Ruskin interviewed the children of Loretta and Jean as well as their former colleagues to learn more about them and their work.[44] In addition, Ruskin read all of Loretta and Jean's articles and "some of the headlines were pulled right from the paper. Keira has some voiceover in the film, where you hear what she's actually writing, and some of that was pulled directly from their stories, too".[44]
Several historical inaccuracies stem from condensing the timeline. For example, in the film Loretta begins investigating after three murders, while in real life she did so after four. Sophie Clark is murdered on New Year's Eve in the film but in reality, she was discovered on December 5. In the film, the copycat murders in Michigan occur in 1965 but they actually occurred between 1967 and 1969. The film shows DeSalvo's death as occurring shortly after his conviction. In reality, the Boston Strangler's final murder was in 1964, DeSalvo was convicted in 1967, and he was killed in 1973.[45][46]
Other major details changed for the film include:
