I Watched This Robert Downey Jr. Serial Killer Thriller 17 Years Ago and I’m Still Mad About This One Thing

The film is 90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

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Updated Oct 19, 2024

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images

When it rains true-crime documentaries, it pours. The streaming world has been abuzz about the Netflix documentary The Menendez Brothers, currently sitting at number seven on the service's top ten movies list. And coming soon is Netflix's true-crime series, This Is the Zodiac Speaking, based on the Zodiac killings of the late '60s.

And while I'm excited about the upcoming Zodiac docuseries, it's bringing back a bit of film trauma I haven't forgotten about for 17 years.

Back in 2007, I sat in a theater taking in the wild and thrilling serial killer film, Zodiac, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr. and Chloë Sevigny. As a millennial, I was only vaguely familiar with the based-on-a-true-story events unfolding dramatically before me. Five victims? A killer sending encrypted messages to the press? An entire nation on edge? I was enthralled.

But then came the ending. Yes, it's been 17 years. And, yes, I'm still mad about it.

First of all, Zodiac is a must-see. It's brilliantly directed by David Fincher and is truly tense and terrifying. The performances of Gyllenhaal, Ruffalo and Downey Jr. are very very good.

And the story is incredible. Per the Prime Video description, "A newspaper cartoonist obsessed with solving San Francisco's infamous 'Zodiac' serial killer case closes in on a suspect long after the case has become cold."

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

And clearly I'm not the only person who thinks the movie is magical. The reviews were quite positive and the film is 90 percent certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

But like I said, I wasn't super familiar with the actual events of the Zodiac killer so as I watched, I didn't know how it would end. Who would the killer turn out to be? I just couldn't wait to find out the twist ending.

A warning on said ending: Spoilers ahead.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

As with any film based on real events, the ending is the ending. It's just what happened in real life. And what exactly happened? They never caught the killer. WHAT?! The movie suggests that perhaps main suspect Arthur Leigh Allen is the killer. But it doesn't answer the question for sure. And I'm still mad about it. Such an incredible film doesn't really have an ending. It's left ambiguous. One of the biggest whodunnits in history just doesn't have a reveal at the end.

Like I said, the film is worth a watch, but I just wish I had known the killer went scot-free before going into it so I wouldn't be wildly disappointed by the ending.

That said, now that I do know (and have had 17 years to stew over this fact), I'll definitely be checking out the Zodiac documentary when it hits Netflix this Wednesday. And you should check out the fictionalized version on Prime Video in the meantime.

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Philip Mutz

VP, News and Entertainment

Oversees news and entertainment content
Is an award-winning playwright and has hosted two entertainment podcasts
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