To call this amateur filmmaking would grossly insult the world's amateur filmmakers. Writer-Director Phillip Gardner's script is convoluted, unattributed and completely incoherent in spots. Misspellings riddle the subtitles. This 70-minute monstrosity is packed with B-roll that has nothing to do with the storyline; public domain silent footage of vaudeville comedy performers, for instance, supposedly posing as the story's principals. Video allegedly representing actual locations is faked - a long cable car sequence in San Francisco which has no relevance to the H. H. Holmes saga whatsoever, just to mention one. This is smoke, mirrors and a bloody melange of tacky reenactment half-dissolves posing as a documentary with poorly-recorded narration. If Holmes was a con artist who exaggerated his murderous exploits, this laughable excuse for insight goes him one better.
86 Reviews
Worst documentary EVER
Sammie7520 April 2019
The stock footage made no sense and at times it did not even fit with the period of the subject matter to begin with. It was all over the place it made no sense it was the most unprofessional poorly researched documentary I have ever seen I couldn't even finish watching it! Whoever put this together ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Weird juxtaposition of narrative and imagery
mistermajik2000-183-26207216 August 2019
With clearly public domain footage of stage shows and street scenes combined with mid-90s computer graphics and college kids acting like they are being murdered and tortured, this is comically awful.
Worth watching to teach incongruity. I can't believe someone got paid for this.
Worth watching to teach incongruity. I can't believe someone got paid for this.
Dreadful to watch
jberrones-3882219 June 2019
I don't know whose bright idea it was to throw random pictures and video with some audio and consider that a film, but seriously you need to stop. It was absolutely awful. Hardly any useful information was given. Just random babbling over and over. No real insight into anything.
I want my time back
czarinaoftokyo25 June 2019
Narration of Wikipedia
Crys27973 March 2019
You can basically follow the entire "documentary" while reading from Wikipedia. Seriously, it almost goes along with it word for word. Total cop out. Obviously no new information. Save some time, just read the website.
Horrible
lexiaf-4624726 December 2018
I am familiar with HH Holmes story and even I had a hard time following the story in this documentary. Horrible narration and completely unrelated stock video made it hard to follow. Amateur doesn't even begin to describe it.
Why did Hulu buy this trash?
jldivelbiss7 September 2019
I've watched many documentaries on true crime but this documentary was an attempt by a high schoolers videography assignment on Macbeth. It will only take you 2 minutes to realize that since they juxtaposed the description of a murder hotel to the tune of whimsical music. Just aweful.
Waste of my time
folkestaderik7 February 2019
It's hard to believe that this documentary is made in 2018. It could easily have fooled me as having been made 30 years ago. I actually would not have been suprised if this was made at home with a personal computer and a budget of 0£. It is hard to concentrate because of the horrible soundtrack, which is a 2 minute cheap sequence of misplaced music played on a loop. It is actually as annoying as the dreadfully unprofessional, dull and irritating narrating that constantly left me wanting to hit the fast forward button. Pictures and scenes are also re-used throughout the 70 minutes long nightmare to such an extent that before i had reached 1/4 into it, i started thinking that this documentary should have lasted for 20 minutes due to lack of material and dragged out scenes. This could have been a really interesting story, that is in the hands of people who actually belong in the business of making documentaries. For the love of god, stear away from this, and spare yourself from thinking about how you can get the last 70 minutes of your life back.
Don't watch this
luckydogjudy24 June 2019
So Bad I Can't Look Away
kjordan-1011 September 2019
This is the most terribly produced documentary I've ever seen. There are random clips from old movies - which rarely have anything to do with the subject and are not even from the same time period. There are reenactments that look like they were filmed two weeks ago in a Holiday Inn. It starts out with a shot of a white-haired, clean-shaven man rubbing his face, leaving blood stains. Is he supposed to be Holmes? Holmes was hanged before he ever got to that man's age and had that glorious mustache to the end. It tells Holmes' story, then at the 40 minute mark goes BACKWARD to explain the "murder castle" instead of talking about it in the middle of the story, which would have made far more sense. It's a mess!
Who made this.... high school kids?
eden-8405025 February 2019
The film portion of this is just a random assemblage of video clips and renderings that appear to have little to nothing at all to do with the narration, with a few photos and news clips about the actual H.H. Holmes thrown in here and there...
It's like they dug around in the scrap bin for imagery that had something vaguely to do with violence and murder... but they didn't care about what actually going on in the photos and clips or even what era they were set in...
It's like they dug around in the scrap bin for imagery that had something vaguely to do with violence and murder... but they didn't care about what actually going on in the photos and clips or even what era they were set in...
Goodness, this was SO BAD.
waitingdorothea28 July 2019
I turned this on for background noise. I used to live in Chicago, and like everyone in the early aughts, I read Devil in the White City. I don't know a great deal more about Holmes, but it only took me a few minutes to catch an error in this film - they state that the "murder hotel" was in downtown Chicago. Except it was on the South Side near the 1893 World's Fair (per google, it was actually on the corner of 63rd and S. Wallace - so 60 blocks, give or take a few, from downtown Chicago). After noticing this, I checked Wikipedia to see if anything else I was listening to was actually correct - and NOTICED THAT QUITE A BIT OF THE NARRATION IS LIFTED VERBATIM FROM WIKIPEDIA. .....wow. I turned it off.
Complete Disappointment
Krdeerman15 September 2019
I had hoped to learn new info about Holmes and be somewhat fascinated. This is NOT the place for that. The B-rate horror footage, drawn out narration and ridiculous music create a film I can't even imagine those involved found appealing.
For me to rate a topic I find enthralling so low speaks volumes. I finally stopped watching with only 10 minutes left knowing there was no way the ending would be satisfying at all. I wish I had read the other reviews before watching and avoided this!
For me to rate a topic I find enthralling so low speaks volumes. I finally stopped watching with only 10 minutes left knowing there was no way the ending would be satisfying at all. I wish I had read the other reviews before watching and avoided this!
Awful
reneereives7 March 2019
Just awful
iantallica2-128 December 2018
You can't pay attention to the information because the images are distracting because they have nothing to do with the story. There's no purpose in the filming. Then the narrator has these long pauses that make you want to hang yourself. It's just...don't watch this one.
NONSENSE
jtbetaudier1 February 2020
This is undoubtedly the worst thing I have ever seen and it's actually upset me because of how horrible it is. I created this account just to vent.
First of all, what the heck is up with the background music? The first thing I noticed was how odd the music was, it's weird how upbeat it is considering the topic... and it just keeps looping and looping. That's the first thing that threw me off but I kept watching.
Well, watching didn't work out due to the fact that there's no point in even looking at the screen because nothing on the screen has anything to do with the topic! It's just old silent clips of unrelated NONSENSE mixed with random footage that's OBVIOUSLY from the 2000's. What is going on here? Was his fourth wife in the circus? Otherwise, why are we watching old clips of random women doing tricks with a chair and playing on a swing? It's ridiculous. I eventually realized how stupid it was to even be watching as if anything shown mattered. It made me feel dumb just looking at the images.
So, then I started just listening without watching and realized what absolute trash the entire thing is... even him just telling the story was slow and uninteresting. He kept pausing as if I needed to finish watching a scene before he continued... but there is nothing to watch! I tried to salvage this by thinking of it as a podcast but even then, this would be the worst podcast I've ever listened to.
This was an absolute disaster and should be removed from every platform and completely destroyed. I can't understand why ANYONE thought this should be made like this or released anywhere.
If I had submitted this as my final project for 10th grade film class, I would have failed the class.
First of all, what the heck is up with the background music? The first thing I noticed was how odd the music was, it's weird how upbeat it is considering the topic... and it just keeps looping and looping. That's the first thing that threw me off but I kept watching.
Well, watching didn't work out due to the fact that there's no point in even looking at the screen because nothing on the screen has anything to do with the topic! It's just old silent clips of unrelated NONSENSE mixed with random footage that's OBVIOUSLY from the 2000's. What is going on here? Was his fourth wife in the circus? Otherwise, why are we watching old clips of random women doing tricks with a chair and playing on a swing? It's ridiculous. I eventually realized how stupid it was to even be watching as if anything shown mattered. It made me feel dumb just looking at the images.
So, then I started just listening without watching and realized what absolute trash the entire thing is... even him just telling the story was slow and uninteresting. He kept pausing as if I needed to finish watching a scene before he continued... but there is nothing to watch! I tried to salvage this by thinking of it as a podcast but even then, this would be the worst podcast I've ever listened to.
This was an absolute disaster and should be removed from every platform and completely destroyed. I can't understand why ANYONE thought this should be made like this or released anywhere.
If I had submitted this as my final project for 10th grade film class, I would have failed the class.
Hulu...really! Most popular "movie?"
tbyrd-500885 February 2020
I do not understand how this "movie" is consider "most popular" on Hulu's list. If you have skipped over this "movie" several times, but your brain keeps telling you that you just have to watch it, do not give in. This is not a movie in any sense of the word. I will, if I have to, loosely classify this as a documentary. And, I love a good documentary, so that doesn't bother me. However, this is a YouTube project done by a retired serial killer enthusiast, not a movie or even a decent documentary.
The "documentary" is basically one man reading facts about H.H. Holmes with footage flashing in the background. The B roll consists of random pictures, random clips from silent black and white movies that has no relevance to the story, with snippets of screaming women and murdered men in gory and horribly done special effects makeup positioned on a modern day set. When I say this is the most boring and horrible bit of footage I've ever watched, I do absolutely mean it. And, I did want to like it because Hulu told me everyone else does.
The "documentary" is basically one man reading facts about H.H. Holmes with footage flashing in the background. The B roll consists of random pictures, random clips from silent black and white movies that has no relevance to the story, with snippets of screaming women and murdered men in gory and horribly done special effects makeup positioned on a modern day set. When I say this is the most boring and horrible bit of footage I've ever watched, I do absolutely mean it. And, I did want to like it because Hulu told me everyone else does.
If I could give it less than 1, I would
genusam21 July 2019
I have seen a lot of H H Holmes documentaries over the years and have read Devil in the White City. This documentary is absolute trash. There are scenes from the time period that do not match the narration at all. Then, there are other scenes that look like they're a PG rated beginnings of a snuff film!! It's atrocious. Do not watch it. Stopped watching with 15 minutes left in the movie.
What Is Even Going On Here?
vincewyldeshow30 November 2019
This film could have been directed by Ed Wood Jr., that's how random the stock footage was.
Flappers from the 20's doing circus tricks, random clips of train activity including one 5 minute clip of just a trolley ride through DC while the narrator drones on about H H Holmes.
This film made Ed Wood Jr. look like a genius in comparison, I could have shot it better. At least I would have used my own footage.
Flappers from the 20's doing circus tricks, random clips of train activity including one 5 minute clip of just a trolley ride through DC while the narrator drones on about H H Holmes.
This film made Ed Wood Jr. look like a genius in comparison, I could have shot it better. At least I would have used my own footage.
Horrible
allison3240118 August 2019
A serial killer story has never been more boring.
mskwarczynski18 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I'm nearly twenty-minutes in and the very serious narrator is FINALLY getting to the premise of the film. So far it's been twenty minutes of inane early history, the "myths" following Holmes, old film clips that have nothing to do with the narration, over-the-top repetative music, and dramatic reenactments featuring actors in modern dress, hair, makeup, and settings (even though Holmes was from the late 1800s. The most striking example is an obviously modern woman, clad only in black panties, crying on a bathroom floor next to a modern toilet. Why?
Later, when actors ARE in period costume, they are wearing clothes from the 1920s. Holmes died in 1896.
Trilling piano keys accompany the gruesome execution of Holmes. The documentary doesn't end with his death though. Now it goes back to the "murder hotel" built by Holmes. The narrator is careful to point out that the rooms were soundproofed, but the reenactment shows Holmes locking a huge door against screaming victimes--whose screams can still be heard after the door closes. Then it brings on the bad computer game animation that provides absolutely no information about the layout of the hotel. The documentry gives the murder hotel less than five minutes--that's enough for the crux of the doc, right?
And then the big guns--H. H. Holmes was possibly Jack the Ripper. The narrator actually says, "Yes, you heard that right!"
And now poor recreations of Victorian era White Chapel in London. that somehow features a modern woman in a black oversized tee crawling through the woods, crying. It is obvious that the filmmakers tried to shoot on location, but neglected to close off the street. Along with a man in actual period dress sitting on a coach and a butcher with a long apron peeking out of his old-timey shop, there are tourists walking around in shorts and sneakers. One guy just crossed frame in a baseball cap. And then a modern woman in a tank dress walking through the woods. WHAT IS GOING ON? Why are we watching a tatooed woman in a black bra and panty set vomiting blood into a modern sink? WHO WROTE THIS?
And now more poorly constructed computer-game animation to recreate the victims of the Ripper. Oh, look! An actual crime-sceen photo! And back to woodcuts and comics. Now there are cowboy vigilantes that are supposedly roaming the streets of London. The camera man loves his zoom lense. "Look at everything get closer and farther away when I turn this thingy!"
Other highlights? An actress who shrinks back from the camera (as if looking at the killer), then sees a door open and shrinks back from whoever enters (so are there TWO killers now?). A woman trussed up in modern bondage gear cowering away from a man in a white button down shirt, slacks, and a make-shift hood. A woman thrown into a room where other women are huddled in fear and THE OTHER WOMEN SMELL HER HAIR (?).
Now the newest "big reveal" that Holmes may have done the Ripper murders to TAKE THE HEAT OFF HIS REAL MURDERS. But, no, after dedicating a good portion of the film to the possibility of Holmes being the Ripper, the filmmakers decide he couldn't have been the Ripper at all. There is absolutely no proof.
"We began this investigation in an attempt to be forensic, to analyze the mind of the man through his actions and deeds. We have discovered his life was one very big lie from beginning to end, and the lies continue even after his death."
In this "investigation" there are no interviews with experts, no documents presented, and few crime-sceen details provided. The conclusion is a mix of poorly written suppositions and assertions that can apply to "psychotics," and a warning to the viewer not to believe everything we hear, see, or read about H.H. Holmes. Noted.
Produced by "Reality Films."
The irony is overwhelming.
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