H.H. Holmes

Waterfront Productions

R1 DVD

Web: http://www.hhholmesthefilm.com/

H.H. Holmes is an outstanding documentary by John Borowski exploring the life and crimes of America’s first serial killer. He brings together stock footage, rare and unusual ephemera, old photographs and some chilling re-enactments to help us understand the crimes of Holmes, which if written as fiction, would seem hard to believe. Borowski uses some superb digital manipulation of images and photographs to bring them alive and combined with the re-enactments offers us far more than a traditional “talking heads” documentary.

The black and white filming, which has a deliberately grainy and aged look, adds to the ambiance and when coupled with the soundtrack by Douglas Romayne Stevens creates a strong sense of the period.

H.H Holmes has strong narration by Tony Jay and also includes authoritative interviews with Harold Schecter who wrote the key biography of Holmes and forensic scientist Marian Caporusso. Borowksi works to balance the context of Holmes life and crimes with trying to understand his actions via excerpts from his autobiography written when he was in prison.

Holmes was born in New Hampshire as Herman Webster Mudgett and grew up in a suffocating religious environment; his father was strict and domineering and he was bullied at school. He was very clever but isolated and he went through college and University to eventually become a doctor, it was here during his medical studies that he started to explore his violent and destructive fantasies, these lead to his re-creation of himself as H.H. Holmes and the development of the Castle of Horrors in Suburban Chicago.

Holmes turned 63rd Wallace Street into a literal killing home complete with greased chutes for dumping bodies, torture rooms, a crematorium, acid baths and lime pits and even rooms designed as death chambers.

No one is really sure how many he killed since the Chicago world fair brought so many people into the area and these sorry souls checked in but never checked out, some researchers suggest there was as many as 230. Holmes seemed like a nice man offering cheap accommodation to those in need and so many were more than pleased to take up his offer. He not only tortured and killed them but spent hours cutting up their bodies, disposing of the organs in acid and lime and preparing the skeletons so they could be sold to medical colleges. He also regularly performed abortions (making extra money from these illegal surgeries) and then using the bodies of those who died.

His motives are unclear and seem to include both a fascination with pain, suffering and death and an obsession with money and wealth. There are also strange obsessions with medical experimentation. He even had stretching machines in his castle which he alleged were for creating giants ! He certainly seemed to gain gratification from the slow torture of his captives, many were locked in soundproof bedrooms fitted with gas lines that permitted him to asphyxiate them, while others locked in a huge bank vault near his office; he sat and listened with excitement as they screamed, begged and eventually suffocated

The story of his capture is also quite fascinating; it seems that Marion Hedgepeth, a one-time cellmate of a man who was using the name H.M. Howard, informed police about a recent insurance scam. It involved insuring Benjamin Pitezel for $10,000 and then faking his death in a laboratory explosion by substituting a cadaver. They would split the insurance payment, but Howard had reneged and run off with the money. After some investigation the company, which had already suspicions about the death scene, discovered that H.M. Howard as actually H.H. Holmes and that Pitezel was his assistat. Amazingly, if he hadn’t been so consumed with greed he may not have been caught for a long time after. However, this miscalculation led to his downfall.

Indeed, he was first convicted of insurance fraud and as they investigated the death of Benjamin Pitezel and his children, this led to the discovery of his castle of death and the trial of the century and media frenzy over his case. Holmes, it seems, was a con man, manipulator, torturer and murderer. In the end he confessed to 27 murders and six attempted murders and was hung.

In many ways the story of Holmes is also that of the detectives investigating his case and the slow unravelling of his life of deceit and manipulation. These were the days before inter departmental police communication and it took a lot of footwork to connect cases from different localities.

I especially like the way in which this documentary also offers a context to the subject and explores the Chicago World Fair and other factors such as the development of Industry in the US post civil war.

Considering the ferocity of the crimes and the number of victims it is surprising there has been no documentary on Holmes before and Borowski has done a great job offering an insightful if not chilling journey into Holmes crimes.

Extras include a making of documentary, outtakes and trailer, the Story Continues and a fascinating director’s commentary.

Each DVD also comes with a floor plan showing the design of the second and third floors of the Castle on 11” x 17” paper.