David Fincher’s ZODIAC (2007) expands and extends on the 2005 feature about the Zodiac serial killer, THE ZODIAC. The first section covers the same ground, but it continues by detailing all key events of the case. Adherence to the case files is a flaw of both films—particularly as it expands the running time to an overly-long 157 minutes in Fincher’s film—although the detail does allow the audience to become amateur detectives, which for those with an interest in serial killers, is an enjoyable puzzle. For others, the documentary detail will slow down the narrative pace, and it is easy to become impatient and want the case solved.

Rather than being anchored around the main detective on the case, as in the 2005 film, Zodiac is anchored around the journalists at the San Francisco Chronicle, particularly the cartoonist Robert Graysmith who becomes obsessed with figuring out the identity of this most notoriously elusive serial killer. The development of the journalist characters saves the film in the later part, making the film more personal and engaging, especially the excellent performances of Jake Gyllenhaal as the cartoonist who puts his family life at risk to pursue the mystery, and Robert Downey Jr. as the alcoholic crime writer.

As the recent Appropriate Adult television series about Fred and Rosemary West proves, audiences have an insatiable appetite for real life serial killer cases, and certain cases capture the imagination and are constantly revisited. For amateur detectives seeking a good long mystery, ZODIAC presents an engaging case.

Claire Henry