HH Holmes: America's First Serial Killer
Directed by John Borowski
Available from www.johnborowski.com
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“If he wasn’t such a sociopath, he probably would have been a great man.”

Man, I’ve been hearing that my whole life as well, Mr. Holmes, so I know how you feel. This fascinating documentary on the slime and crimes of “America’s First Serial Killer”, the bowler-hat wearing, cookie duster sporting, 19th century death-dandy HH Holmes, is no more lurid or exploitive than anything you’d find on the History Channel, or A&E. In fact, it closely resembles a cable TV doc, which is to director Borowski’s credit, as he was working with just a sliver of your average television budget. But what it lacks in grue and shock scenes, it more than makes up for in truly compelling storytelling. Narrated in classic throaty Orson Welles-ian style by the aristocratic sounding Tony Jay, this hour long descent into murder and mayhem meticulously follows Mr. Holmes from his days as a put-upon scamp in New Hampshire, where a childhood prank with a skeleton may have sealed his fate as a grade A freak later in life, to his life as a medical student in Michigan, where he learned the skills necessary to slice and dice his way to infamy, and on through his actual life of crime. Oh, and his death-by-crime, as well.

After college, Holmes moved to Chicago, where he scammed and possibly murdered his way to owning his own drugstore. For there, he swindled and stole enough seed money to construct a vast, city-block long “castle” that housed room after secret room, where he could torture, gas, stab, dissect, and boil away the bones of anyone foolish or unlucky enough to cross his path. Later, he found an accomplice-of-sorts in the alcoholic schlub Benjamin Pitezel, who helped with the day-to-day business of screwing decent folks outta dough, leaving Holmes to construct ever more complex installations of hell, as well as ever more cockamamie swindles.

Murder is easy, but swindling takes actual talent, and Holmes eventually snagged himself in his own web. There was kidnapping and child murder and cross country chases, but ultimately, Holmes was brought to justice. Maybe. Quite honestly, there are so many jaw-dropping twists and turns in this story, that it’s almost impossible to summarize without giving away some of the truly stunning revelations. So I’ll stop, because you really do owe it to yourself to see this weird tale yourself.

Utilizing vintage photographs and newspaper headlines, as well as brief, black and white reenactments (which are pretty convincing, save for the hilarious, phony walrus mustaches on the detectives), Borowski paints a very vivid and detailed portrait of the most deranged flim-flam man this country has ever seen here. Classically constructed and carefully executed, “HH Holmes” is a wild, and recommended, ride into pure evil. Don’t miss it.

-Sleazegrinder

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