10 Rillington Place

From a true crime story about an achingly terrifying miscarriage of justice, middle-aged serial killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough) lives an unassuming life with his wife in their quiet London flat when he decides to rent the adjoining property to an illiterate laborer (John Hurt), along with his wife and infant child, who will soon face the hangman’s noose for one of his landlord’s unspeakable crimes. Filmed just doors down from the site of the actual killings, Richard Fleisher’s 10 Rillington Place is bleak, muted, and understated with Attenborough creepily effective and Hurt totally credible in the tragic role. *** out of ****