Newer True Movies

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, I didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :)

 

In the past I've written several posts about true movies (films based on true stories) on the blog. My last one was about two years ago, a round-up of all the previous true movie posts. You can see it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/03/true-movies-round-up.html

 

The majority of the films I've seen were made in the 90s or early 00s but I have watched some newer ones as well. So today I'm featuring some more recent true movies (made in the past decade or so).

 

Trigger warning:

Most of the films are based on crimes (often murder or abuse) and I realise these are difficult subjects, so read with caution if you're sensitive to these types of films, or feel you may be triggered. 

These are all Lifetime movies. Post contains some spoilers and the videos are trailers.

 

I've previously written about a couple of  newer true movies in my other posts, which you can find below:

And More True Movies! (features Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret from 2013; scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/04/and-more-true-movies.html

Selection of True Movies (includes She Made Them Do It from 2013): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/04/selection-of-true-movies.html

 

Drew Peterson: Untouchable (2012)

Charming police Sergeant Drew Peterson (played by Rob Lowe) pursues teenager Stacy Ann (Kaley Cuoco), while still married to his 3rd wife Kathleen (Cara Buono). Despite there being a 30 year age gap between them, Stacy is swept off her feet. As soon as Drew has divorced Kathleen (with whom he has two sons), he and Stacy get married.

Several months after the wedding, Kathleen is found dead in the bath in her house (which she formerly shared with Drew). At the time her death is ruled as an accidental drowning.  The boys move in with Drew and Stacy, and she adopts them. 

The couple also have two children together, Anthony and Lacey, and outwardly they look like a happy family. However, after Kathleen's death, Stacy starts to see a new obsessive and controlling side to Drew. Then one day she disappears and is reported missing by her sister. Her disappearance prompts police to take another look at Kathleen's death and it is ruled a homicide, leading them to suspect Drew.

Drew insists that Stacy has left him and he is not guilty of Kathleen's murder. He believes that his status as a police officer renders him "untouchable" but will the truth come out?    

 

 You can also see a preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpTO7EHFzM

 

I saw this quite a few years ago when we had Lifetime TV in the UK. I've since read more about the real case and I have seen a documentary about it too. It could have been Married to a Murderer: The Drew Peterson Story. I remember that Rob was really quite menacing as Drew in the film!

Since I started writing this post, I also saw an episode about Drew Peterson on the British TV series Cops Gone Bad with Will Mellor. 

Drew Peterson's first two wives were Carol Brown, with whom he shares sons Steven and Eric, and Vicki Connelly. He married Kathleen Savio only a few months after divorcing Vicki and had sons Thomas and Christopher with her. He and Stacy had a son and daughter together.

Kathleen's body was found in a dry bathtub, which makes the original "accidental drowning" ruling seem a bit strange. It was later determined that she was killed and her death was staged to look like an accident.

Drew was convicted of murdering Kathleen in May 2016 and sentenced to 38 years in prison. In addition, he was found guilty of attempting to have prosecutor James Glasgow killed.

For the last several years, Drew (who is now 70) has been trying to get his conviction overturned, saying that he was unhappy with his then-lawyer James Brodsky. He hopes to get a new trial.

There had been no resolution in the whereabouts of Stacy, but her sister Cassandra Cales recently said she thinks that her remains have been found.

For more on the real life case, visit these links: 

Drew's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Peterson

Jacksonville article: https://eu.jacksonville.com/story/news/2013/02/22/drew-peterson-screams-gets-prison-wifes-death/15837288007/

Recent interview with Drew (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MNTFHVsd-4

Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story (2013)

College student Christopher (Chris) Porco (Matt Barr) is a good looking young man from a wealthy New York state family. He is popular with his peers, especially girls. So it comes as a massive shock when he is accused of viciously murdering his father Peter (Lochlyn Munro) with an axe and leaving his mother Joan (Lolita Davidovich) alive but disfigured after attempting to kill her too. 

Chris' friends and admirers rally round him, claiming he could never have done something like that. But Detective Sullivan (played by Eric McCormack, best known for the American sitcom Will and Grace) is convinced that he is guilty and determined to prove it.

There isn't a trailer on YouTube for this but you can see one here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/romeo-killer-chris-porco-story-430331/

 

This film was shown on Lifetime UK around the time they featured Jodi Arias and She Made Them Do It (see above).  The real life murder and attack happened in November 2004. Joan and Peter Porco (from Delmar, New York) also had a son called Jonathan but he was quickly ruled out of the investigation. Christopher appeared to have a strained relationship with his parents, due to stealing money from them and using credit without their permission. He became the main suspect.

In August 2006, Christopher was convicted of second degree murder for killing his dad and second degree attempted murder for attacking his mum. He was sentenced to 50 years to life.

One of the most horrible aspects of this (horrific in general) case is that Peter Porco survived for several hours after the attack and attempted to do his usual routine, before finally collapsing. Joan was initially thought to have identified Christopher as her attacker. But she was then put in a medically induced coma and when she woke-up, she said that she couldn't remember what happened. She stated that she did not think that Chris was guilty of the crimes.

The film is said to not be completely accurate and Chris actually tried to sue Lifetime back in 2013, for fictionalising his story too much (claiming it violated his human rights). The movie was banned from airing, but the ban was lifted after an emergency appeal. 8 years later, the suit was dismissed.

Visit these links for more on the case: 

Wikipedia page about Peter Porco's murder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Peter_Porco

Article (contains potentially distressing images): https://forensictales.com/christopher-porco/

this is MONSTERS episode (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAxZ-44ly9o

The Lost Wife of Robert Durst (2017)

When Kathie (played by Katherine McPhee who is also a singer and started her career on American Idol) meets older man Robert Durst (Daniel Gillies (best known for The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off The Originals)  in the early 1970s, she quickly falls in love with him. Kathie is a teenager working as a dental hygienist and Robert (also known as Bobby) is 30 and comes from a wealthy family of estate agents. 

Despite the age gap and their different backgrounds, they seem to be a good match. Things move quickly and the pair marry. But as time goes on, Kathie discovers there is a darker side to her husband.

In 1982 Kathie disappears and when her family and friends try to find out what happened to her, they are frustrated that the police refuse to take the case seriously. Bobby claims that the last time he saw Kathie was at their lake house. He says they had an argument but denies he had anything to do with her disappearance. But his story doesn't entirely add up.

 

I saw this a few years ago. There is also a 2010 film called All Good Things which was inspired by Robert Durst's life and stars Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst as couple David and Katie Marks. I haven't seen that but I'd like to watch it. The movie was directed by Andrew Jarecki and led to the making of the documentary The Jinx (see below).

The real story of Robert Durst involved quite a few twists and turns! He was close friends with journalist and author Susan Berman, and she provided an alibi for him when Kathie (full name Kathleen McCormack Durst disappeared at the end of January 1982. In December 2000, Susan was murdered (her body found on Christmas Eve). 

It was an execution style killing and since her father David Berman was a member of the Jewish Mafia, there were rumours that she had been killed by gangsters. But then Robert became a suspect, after it was discovered that he had been sending her money. It was claimed that Susan knew that Robert had killed Kathie and the alibi she gave police was fake.

Robert had gone into hiding earlier that year, after hearing that police had reopened the investigation into Kathie's disappearance. He went to Texas and disguised himself as a woman.

He was eventually tracked down and in 2003, was tried for the murder of his Texas neighbour Morris Black, which happened in 2001. Robert claimed that he killed Morris in self-defence and was acquitted of murder. But since he admitted to dismembering Morris' body and disposing of him, he was jailed in September 2004 for tampering with evidence (and also jumping bail). 

Robert was sentenced to 5 years in prison. After serving just over a year, he was paroled but jailed again after violating the parole conditions. He was released in March 2006.

In 2015, the documentary miniseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst brought widespread attention to him, the murder cases and the disappearance of Kathie. The series came about after Robert contacted Andrew Jarecki, director of All Good Things, saying he was a fan of the film. He agreed to be interviewed for The Jinx. During filming, his microphone recorded him supposedly saying to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all of course."

Then in March that year, Robert was charged with  the murder of Susan Berman. After delays due to various issues , including the pandemic, he was found guilty of murdering her in September 2021. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In October 2021, New York police finally charged Robert with murdering Kathie, over 39 years after she disappeared. However, Robert died the following January before a trial could go ahead. He was 78 and suffered a cardiac arrest. His story hasn't quite ended though, as a second part of the TV series called The Jinx- Part Two is set to come out on 21st April. I've seen the first part of The Jinx, so I'm interested in seeing the follow-up.

It's still not known what happened to Kathie, which must be especially horrible for those who knew and loved her. They have no closure, as with Stacy Peterson. (Although her sister thinks her remains may have been found; see above.) I hope that eventually the truth will be known in both cases.

 

I've written quite a lot here but for much more on what happened, visit these links:

Robert's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst

Timeline about his life and crimes (free to non-subscribers for a limited time): https://www.vulture.com/2015/03/robert-durst-timeline-life-and-crimes.html

ABC News feature: https://abcnews.go.com/US/lead-prosecutor-shares-courtroom-strategy-robert-durst/story?id=83436470

The Jinx trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZabDYB7ijM

The Jinx- Part Two trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShYl5K8Nlq8

 

Both the cases of Drew Peterson and Robert Durst share similarities, such as marrying much younger women and their wives going missing. And the long fight for justice by the missing women's relatives and friends.

I've only featured 3 films here but the post ended  up being quite long!  So maybe I'll do another one with more newer films in the future. :)

 

Hope you liked the post. :) Do you have any favourite newer true movies?