"He might have a penchant for young men, but it's not illegal!"
A movie as plausible as it is sensitive, "Gacy: Serial Killer Next Door" imagines the final days of John Wayne Gacy's serial killing career as a brush with death for a family of three, who get wise to the evil contractor/clown in their midst and incompetently attempt to bring him down over the course of the movie. Think of it like a low-rent, bland version of "Disturbia" or "Summer of '84" without any kind of pay-off. Although it has a few fleeting resemblances to the real-life story of Gacy, this is an almost totally fictional account that will either grossly offend or bore you, depending on your disposition. The plot is predictable, the characters are indecisive dullards, and the overall tone of the movie is just flat and weird.
As Gacy, Mike Korich is almost comically evil not only when he's donning clown make-up to torment his victims (something Gacy didn't actually do) but even in scenes where his evilness should probably be downplayed. As Bobby, the teen boy who discovers Gacy's killing ways and thus puts himself and his parents in harm's way, Mason McNulty resembles a bland(er) Trevor Morgan regen and acts accordingly. As for Caia Coley as Bobby's mother Darlene: I'll do her a solid and not say anything.
This is a terrible movie borne of a terrible idea that might have worked just a little better were it not tied to real-life murders that warrant a more sensitive treatment. And while I'm not one to clutch pearls over such things, I do at least expect some semblance of quality in the trade-off. Alas, what few things I enjoy about this movie I do so ironically. It really is a turd.
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