I first saw the Oscar winning performance of an unrecognisable Charlize Theron in Monster, and then I saw the original 1993 documentary film from British filmmaker Nick Broomfield (Biggie & Tupac), I was looking forward to this second documentary that also featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Whereas the first film focused on interviews with all the people that knew and had acquaintance with Aileen Carol Wuornos, the former prostitute and America's first female serial killer, and ending of course with the interview of the woman herself, this film focused on the last days of her life before her execution, sentenced for seven counts of murder in the state of Florida. There is much more explanation of the life Wuornos had before turning to prostitution and of course becoming the savage murderer, including her troubled childhood where her father Leo Dale Pittman may have abused her, becoming homeless and forced to live out in the open, becoming a prostitute and spending most of her time on the road, and information about the seven men she killed, she claimed it was all in self defence, but there is no evidence to suggest this being true. The big difference with this followup film is the Broomfield gets to have much more time with Aileen, and it is obvious that her mental state is declining, with her twisted theories that the authorities are trying to mess with her in her cell, and her deluded reasons for killing the seven men, she did not want to talk all details on camera, but her true feelings were caught without her knowledge. Aileen was getting especially angry that her execution was constantly being changed and delayed, because she had to keep waiting to die which she apparently wanted to happen, she had already been sentenced to death seven times, but eventually a date was confirmed in 2003, when the judge ruled her mentally stable to go ahead (this is debatable). Broomfield does get to talk to her once more time, the day before her death, asking how she was really feeling and what she would be thinking about before the lethal injection would be carried out, and he also mentioned interviewing her mother Diane who asked for her forgiveness, she refused to do so and left the final interview angry, not necessarily with him, but with the authorities and stuff. With interviews and footage from Jesse 'The Human Bomb' Aviles, Cannonball, Sgt. Brian Jarvis and Mike Reynolds. This documentary is much more close and personal than the original, especially with having more interview time and footage of Wuornos, she was clearly insane and demented with her views on the world, and showed no remorse for the murders, with disgusting verbal insults to the authorities and opinions, she did at least open up more, but she deserved what she got, and this is a terrificly engaging documentary film about her. It was number 22 on The 50 Greatest Documentaries. Good!
