Manhunter (1986)

Those of you waiting for Season 3 of Mindhunter to come out in 2078 may like to fill some of the time with this adaptation of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon, the first of the author's serial killer thrillers featuring Hannibal Lecktor/Lecter, the incarcerated psychotic psychiatrist who helps the FBI with serial killer investigations, because it is superior to the Red Dragon of 2002 and like Mindhunter features a retro time-specific look and feel and soundtrack, and the investigator, Will Graham played by William Petersen is essentially a prototype of Mindhunter's Agent Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff).

★★★☆☆

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Striking Distance (1993)

With 25 minutes to go, Bruce Willis' Detective Tom Hardy casually drops that he was closely connected with each of the three female victims of the serial killer he is hunting, a detail you'd think even the most dejected, alcoholic cop traumatised by his partner's and his father's deaths might have mentioned sooner (and even if he suspects the killer of all these people is someone on the force), but this wooden police procedural, almost so bad it's good, is more about cramming in the clichés, not about clever plotting, so Tommy's new partner, a woman he remains unkind to until she offers sex, is the next to be kidnapped, and a distinctly uninteresting denouement ensues that suggests ultimately that the connection Hardy had with the victims was a passing coincidence afterall.

★★☆☆☆

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