BODY OF EVIDENCE
US, 1988, 100 minutes, Colour.
Margot Kidder, Barry Bostwick, Tony Lo Bianco, Caroline Kava.
Directed by Roy Campanella II.
Body of Evidence is a telemovie murder mystery which reveals the murderer in the middle and turns it into a suspense thriller. It shows a serial killer who turns out to be the district attorney's assistant in autopsies. He is married to a nurse played by Margot Kidder. The complexities of the plot mean that the wife discovers the truth about her husband and communicates this to the investigator. The expected tensions follow. Barry Bostwick is the autopsy expert. Tony Lo Bianco is the investigator. It is quite efficient in its style and offers the expected suspense entertainment value.
1.Interesting telemovie, murder mystery, suspense thriller?
2.The use of city locations, homes, school, police precincts, morgues? The realism - and the suspense about serial thrillers? Musical score?
3.The title, the bodies of the victims? The collecting of evidence? Alex and his manipulation of evidence?
4.The mystery plot, the visualising of the victims? The investigation? The revelation that Alex was the killer? The build-up of suspense?
5.Carol: her background, ex-husband, child, married to Alex, the relationship between them? Her work as a nurse? Fear of the murderer? Friendship with Campbell? Her girlfriend and her help? Domestic sequences, wondering about Alex? The murder victim, the evidence beneath the nails, its disappearance? The suspicion about Alex having a girlfriend, her death? The build-up to the confrontation in the house, the daughter, the fear?
6.Alex, his work, skills, relationship with his wife? The truth, his covering up his tracks, the lies, tampering with evidence? His relationship with Campbell, the fight with Carol and his arrest?
7.Campbell, his skills, the mystery of the investigation, relying on Alex, the gradual suspicions, the visits to Carol? The final confrontation?
8.Carol's friend, the work, out together, going to see The Maltese Falcon, suspicions about Alex and a relationship, the irony of their discovering the truth? The rescue?
9.The glimpses of the victims, the brutality of the murders? The nurse and her vanity, her death?
10.The portrait of a mad killer? Atmosphere of terror? The use of forensic evidence and investigations?
