Customer Reviews
Average film - By: Smiler2007, 05 Jun 2007 
This film is based on the true story of Andrei Chikatilo, who is renamed andrei evilenkoin the film. The film starts with chikatilo attempting to rape one of his students at a school where he is teaching, he is then fired from his job & this is when he starts to murder innocent children.
Overall this film is very average, the only reason I gave it 3 stars is because the actor who plays andrei evilenko (malcolm mcdowell) played the part very well but apart from that the story is very average & seems to jump from scene to scene. If you want a better film about andrei chikatilo I suggest you watch "citizen x" which is a very good film.
An extraordinarily powerful look inside the mind of a serial killer - By: Daniel Jolley, 28 Jan 2007 
Serial killers are probably the most monstrously fascinating individuals on the face of the Earth,in part because we still know so little about these rarest of men (they are almost always men, after all). While many a film has been made on the subject, few manage to offer a compelling look at the minds behind these horrific crimes, choosing instead to concentrate on the blood & gore of the killing acts. Evilenko doesn't cater to prurient interests, concentrating instead on the mind of a deranged killer & the authorities' determined search to find him & bring him to justice. Adapted from the novel The Communist Who Ate Children by Italian journalist David Grieco, the story was inspired by the real-life serial killing spree of Andrei Chikatilo, the Rostov Ripper, who killed 52 Russian women, boys, & girls between 1978 & 1990, sexually molesting many of them & reportedly indulgingin some degree of cannibalism. Technically speaking, therefore, Evilenko does not attempt to tell Chikatilo's story as it actually happened.
With such a fascinating subject & acclaimed actor Malcolm McDowell taking on the role of the sadistic Evilenko, it's a pity this film has garnered such little publicity. Yes, it's an Italian film, but it deserves both critical & popular success herein America. McDowell is mesmerizing as the psychological time bomb that turns to killing rather latein life. Despite Evilenko's evil, McDowell makes him approachable, thereby drawing you into his unique window on the world. What lies behind his rage? That is really what the movie is about. It also explains why we never actually see the victims; showing us the viscerally monstrous results of his handiwork would have robbed him of his humanity & prevented us from even trying to understand him.
The film's most disturbing scene actually takes place within the first few minutes, when Evilenko tries to molest one of his young female students. That incident costs him his teaching job & adds a super accelerant to the fire already burning within his heart. Evilenko is, at his very being, a devoted Communist. As such, his very self-image is being increasingly diminished by the mid-1980s reforms of Gorbachev & the clearly imminent death throes of Soviet Communism. This, we are led to believe,in conjunction with Evilenko's hatred for the anti-Communist father he never knew & certain sexual issues, is the driving force behind his killing spree. His victims are all young, ranging from small children to young ladies, & include both boys & girls. While we are aware of the mounting numbers, the actual murders are almost of secondary importance as we maintain our focus on the mind of Evilenko. The killing spree baffles investigators, with bodies turning upin various locations & no witnesses coming forward with anything resembling a lead. The public, of course, are not even informed of the danger because of the Communist government's reluctance to admit that a comrade could dare do such things.
Detective Vadim Timurovic Lesiev (Marton Csokas) is given charge of the investigation & pursues the unknown killer relentlessly. He even goes so far as to enlist the help of a psychoanalyst (a gay Jewish doctor initially counted among the scores of men investigated as suspects)in coming up with a profile of the killer. Dr. Richter (Ronald Pickup) himself becomes a most fascinating character. He does succeedin aiding the investigation - but onlyin the most unexpected of ways. In the end, though, it really comes down to a contest of wills between Evilenko & Lesiev, culminatingin the most bizarre interrogation scene imaginable. Lesiev will stop at nothing to bring the killer to justice.
The film does leave a number of unanswered questions. While we are given compelling reasons for Evilenko's crimes, we are not treated to a complete psychological evaluation of the man. We learn almost nothing about his childhood or young adult years, for example. His kind of sickness would have definitely revealed itselfin different ways during his formative years. There's also the matter of his wife, a dour woman who must have become aware of her husband's "hobby" at some point before the murders ended. The film also introduces the idea that Evilenko possesses some kind of hypnotic power over his victims as well as potential witnesses. I can buy one soldier going mad after witnessing Evilenko cannibalizing a victim, but it's really problematic when another soldier has no memory of his face-to-face encounter with the man. The investigation into the crime itself becomes problematic when Lesiev's boss tragically discounts human life by insisting that Lesiev make his move on the suspect only after he kills his next victim, wanting to remove all doubts as to whether or not Evilenko is guilty.
If you're looking for blood & gore, this isn't your movie. This is a psychological thriller, not a horror movie. Some will still be repulsed by the very nature of the story itself, but the sad fact is that men like Evilenko do existin the world, deranged individuals whose powerlessnessin society leads them to dominate the most vulnerable of human beingsin the sickest of ways. This film is particularly interesting & important because it examines a sociopolitical influence on the serial killer's actions. Evilenko represents Soviet Communism itself, with his personal collapse mirroring that of the state. That, McDowell's extraordinary performance, & so many other aspects of the film I don't have time or space to talk about, make Evilenko one of the most impressive & compelling serial killer-based movies I have ever seen.
