Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York (2023) User Reviews

This is not about a serial killer, this is about the failure of the system

[empoweringmanagement · 8/10 · 24 July 2023]

A lot of documentaries about serial killing sensationalize the crimes themselves, heightening the fear and fascination we have with the other, the psychopath. This is not a documentary about a serial killer. This is a documentary about the failure of the system to protect vulnerable people. It's focused on a particular time when homophobia was at a peak because of AIDS misunderstanding and fear (although not that much has changed, frankly). The documentary deliberates spends much of its time talking about the environment of fear and violence, because it puts these killings into perspective: there is hardly any difference between these killings and the daily anti-gay violence going on on the streets at that time. These people died because of purposely stoked fear and the culture of homophobia. These crimes weren't connected or solved for too long because the police didn't care about these people.

TL;dr: If you're looking for a documentary sensationalizing a serial killer, this is not it. If you're looking for a smart (if somewhat over-long) documentary on the failure of a system to protect vulnerable people, then this is for you.

Interesting story, but took too long to tell

[asc85 · 6/10 · 6 August 2023]

The story is a very interesting one. However, like many true-crime documentaries currently out there on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Max, etc., they like to extend their stories out into as many episodes as possible. This was four episodes at approximately one hour each. This could easily have all been told in two episodes...certainly no more than three. I'm all for hearing from the families of the victims, and about the state of homophobia during the 90's, but these aspects went on and on and on.

I also found Bea Hanson and Matt Foreman, the two talking heads who talked the most about the gay community at that time to be hypocrites. They are constantly complaining about how the case wasn't taken seriously by law enforcement because gay men were murdered, and that really "didn't count" to the public at large. But then when we find out the murderer was actually a gay man himself, and his self-loathing at being gay was probably why he did all these murders, Hanson and Foreman immediately are dismissive of this critical fact, and feel it has no relevance. I was also blown away at the hypersensitivity of believing that the term "Last Call Killer" was homophobic. No it wasn't, unless you're going to say that heterosexual men and women don't engage in these kinds of sexual practices, which they do.

Needs too much trimming

[lgraves-81945 · 6/10 · 17 July 2023]

The plot of this story is incredibly interesting but the writers could not stay focused. Setting up the attitude and feel of the time is definitely important but it seems like the murder is really on the back burner and this is just a character piece for 20 different people. Once all the episodes come out I might skip through it but there's too much filler to really be excited enough to come back every week. This show is a chore to watch, and the worst part about it is that it acts like it's about to get back to the murder details but someone new enters the equation and then we have to sit through another 5 minute backstory.

Update: Finally got around to finishing this and I changed my review from 3 to 6 stars. I do not apologize for posting a poor review before finishing, good writing in 2023 realizes that the viewer can get bored and change series at any time and they need to be hooked very quickly to avoid that. If a YouTuber knows this, then a studio with literally millions of dollars can do the same.

As I watched this I was definitely more and more interested but that did not keep me from skipping 2-5 minute sections without remorse. There is absolutely too much fluff. Episodes 2 and 3 really hooked me and they were so interesting. Episode 4 could have been cut down the middle and I recommend just stopping at the halfway mark and call it a win.

Overall, great material with poor assembly.

Different perspective than your typical true crime story

[danielpcullen · 31 July 2023]

First, don't bother to read any review that was posted July 17, 2023. Only have the show had gone out at that point. No one can review adequately a whole story after watching half of it.

This is a very compelling story of how the system failed because the crime was happening in a sub-culture that the officials in the system did not (in many, not all, cases did not want to) understand or respect. It's a story of a very different era of extreme marginalization of LGBTQUI+ people. Much has changed since the time the events in this program transpired. Much still needs to change, but the 1980s and 1990s (certainly earlier too when the events here started) were a time that needs to be understood to get the point of how this violence fit into American culture.

Also, it's a true serial killer story that spends very little (enough, very little) time exploring the killer and a lot (there can't be enough) time exploring the impact on family and friends who lost humans they loved to this terrible man.

If you want to be transported to a time and place that is very specific to understand system failure and if you want to be moved about the impact of loss from violence, centering the lives of those who experienced the loss and their feelings about the one this killer took from them, check this out. It's only four roughly one-hour episodes. Together, they effectively tell the story the film-makers set out to tell (NOT the story of the killer -- that was included, but isn't at all the focus here). It's a powerful story, told lovingly. As a person who spend the 1980s in high school and college, this era is deeply formative for me. From my perspective in 2023, it's hard to remember the culture of those days. This series takes us to that time and helps us see how the deeply held, unquestioned, fundamental attitudes of the day shaped institutional response to crimes that left holes in families that still hurt decades later.

Prejudice and the system hurt as much as murderers

[1q2ww · 10/10 · 4 August 2023]

The aggression does not end when a queer person is murdered, it continues with the system that shows no interest in the murdered and ends in the family that makes the life of dissidents invisible by not wanting to recognize diversity and this show understands it.

This series does not focus on the murderer, but on his victims and on the lives that could no longer be, it does not seek morbidity, it seeks to recover the dignity that has been taken from them time and time again.

Making visible the groups that seek to safeguard queer life through so many years is also a great success, it shows that no matter how much work they do, there will always be work to do, and that even if things are legally more advanced, there will always be groups that seek completely reverse the work done.

The Gay Panic Defense Gave a Serial Killer Lifetime Immunity

[southshores · 9/10 · 18 April 2024]

The people and culture embraced in this well crafted documentary have been misunderstood, forsaken, and unfairly ostracized. I found it a compelling series that not only described mysterious and brutal murders, but ones that literally were dismissed because of the sexuality of the victims. It is worth watching with an open mind to gain understanding of social realities and the inequality and ineffectiveness of our justice system. The progression and success of the serial killer was frightening and gave rise to political protests and increased public visibility of gay and trans rights. Staying with the detailed developments and attempts to obtain justice and accountability was the strength of the work. Character studies and family interactions added depth and foundation for the headlines. As I reflect on the evolution of my own perspective and tolerance I can see how I may have affected others close to me who needed my respect and support. We need more illustrations and story telling of this caliber.

Ultimately Disappointing

[markcmason · 4/10 · 5 February 2024]

The book by Elon Green that this series is developed from is a masterpiece. Beautifully written, shocking, tragic, full of humanity and life as well as being a horror story about a serial killer and those who deserved to be remembered as far more than victims. The series however is ultimately not worth watching. It tries to be a counterpoint to the grislier exploitive true-crime trash on TV and focus on the victims to the extent that it neglects the killer as an afterthought. While this is a valid strategy for doing something different, in viewpoint the show leans dangerously close to saying that society is the real killer, etc. So much time is spent on Anita Bryant's homophobic crusade of the late 1970s that one would be forgiven for thinking the killer would turn out to be a follower of hers rather than (spoilers) another gay man. Bryant was a terrible person in her heyday but her prominence as an anti gay activist was over around 1980, which makes the use of extensive footage of her with ominous music somewhat beside the point in this chronicle of brutal murders from 1991-1994. Similarly, I rolled my eyes when the series trotted out the homophobic 1950s mental hygiene film BOYS BEWARE, as if it was fuel for the murders. The series showcasing things like this (and the disco and leather gay underground of the 1980s and early 90s despite the murders having the background of tony upscale gay-friendly piano bars) makes it seem like the filmmakers are bored of the story they're forced to tell and want to make the material more "relevant" to 2020s audiences. It's a bad way to make a documentary series and the end makes the mistake of dismissing all the dead as part of the struggle for liberation. It's unfortunate and reductive, an insult to the dead, their families and loved ones, and the investigators who worked to stop the killer who caused so much pain.