Monster Life And Death Of A Serial Killer Selling A Serial Killer

Synopsis

Box set relating the true story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. In 'Monster' (2003), Charlize Theron turns in an Oscar-winning performance as Wuornos in this gritty, hard-hitting drama by first-time writer/director Patty Jenkins. After a horrifically abusive childhood in Michigan, Aileen, known as 'Lee', is working as a prostitute on the highways of Florida, with truck-drivers as her main clientele. Just as she is nearing suicidal despair she meets Selby (Christina Ricci) a young woman sent to live with an aunt to 'cure' her of her homosexuality. The two quickly fall into an intense and dysfunctional relationship, and Lee continues to work the streets to support Selby, who has become her lifeline. When one of her customers turns violent, Lee ends up shooting him in self-defence, and her string of killings begins. Wuornos was finally convicted of killing six men, though she claimed to have been acting in self-defence, and was executed in Florida in 2003. Also included are two documentaries by maverick director Nick Broomfield. 'The Selling of a Serial Killer' (1991) raises a number of questions about official corruption, not least of which is whether in fact she is a serial killer at all, or if that label was just a commercial means of selling Aileen Wuornos and her story. Broomfield's follow-up documentary, 'The Life and Death of a Serial Killer' (2003) shows the last months of Wuornos' life, and an exclusive interview with her, before she was eventually executed in Florida by the electric chair in October 2002. Broomfield again raises questions about official corruption.