Product Description

Former FBI agent John Douglas, the inventor of criminal profiling, leads a journey into the minds of the 20th Century's most notorious killers, including Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20295 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2000-12-19
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 200 minutes

Customer Reviews

fascinating
My 2 favorites are the documentaries on profiling in general and on Charles Manson in particular. Very interesting. And as another reviewer here already stated, you do find yourself feeling sorry for the women of the "Manson family" serving life sentences. Given what the women did, however, my empathy was short-lived and forgotten about ten minutes after the DVD was over.

The other 2 documentaries, Dahmer & Gacy, were very well done and had more than a few little known facts included in them. To be honest, I found both of these documentaries so disturbing that I have a hard time saying I "liked" them, but they are most definitely well researched and eye-opening. They are [scary], will probably give you nightmares, but they are interesting.

All in all, this is a good collection. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 only because I doubt this is something anyone will watch twice (which is kind of the point in regards to owning a DVD!) I have never seen this collection for rent at a video store so that probably leaves you with the choice of buying it or never seeing it unless they air reruns on A&E. I don't know what to recommend, but personally I don't regret spending the cash.

chilling!
This is a 2-disc set from A&E featuring hour-long documentaries about Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Charles Manson, as well as a show about "profilers," the people who can find clues from serial killers' crime scenes and almost uncannily can tell you anything you want to know about the killer without knowing anything about them.

The Jeffrey Dahmer episode was the most disturbing as everyone has heard of his massacre in Milwaukee, but there were a lot of details in this episode that I had never heard before. Very scary stuff. Another thing I found interesting was the very mysterious similarities between Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy after watching those episodes back to back. Their methods and motives were strikingly similar which makes it terrifying to think that there are more people like that out there in the world.

The Charles Manson episode was kind of unique as it features interviews with Manson and his former "family members" from prison. The women that used to practically be his slave are now serving life sentences and it's sad to think that Manson's brainwashing turned these normal (at least they seemed very normal and apologetic in their interviews) women into brutal killers who ruined the rest of their young lives for pretty much no reason.

All in all, a very good purchase. There are no special features on the disc, but you are getting almost 4 hours of entertainment, so I think it's well worth it.

My thoughts...
This is a great documentary on the selected serial killers(Jeffery Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson) which also includes the origin of serial killer profiling. A must have for any true crime follower and a steal of a price as well. I've viewed the Dahmer and Gacy profiles numerous times and have been captivated and intrigued after each viewing, so this certainly isn't a "one and done" DVD. I have yet to replay the Manson profile because the man just creeps me out! His interviews are pretty amazing and i'm sure would be a treat to anyone interested in knowing about Manson. Only reason i give this DVD a 4 star rating was for the exclusion of Ted Bundy. He gets a very small cameo but it would have been cream of the crop w/ Bundy included.