Review – Mr. Death

Continuing his habit of making documentaries about some of the lesser-known corners of our society, Errol Morris turns his camera’s lens on Fred Leuchter, designer of execution paraphernalia and Holocaust denier. Fred’s an odd little man who claims he drinks 40 cups of coffee a day and smokes six packs of cigarettes. No doubt all the caffeine and nicotine help keep him going while he’s working on the electric chairs, lethal injection machines, and gallows used by several states. Unfortunately for Fred, business bottomed out when he got caught up with the movement of people who insist the Nazis never gassed any Jewish people. He even traveled all the way to Poland to chip concrete from the gas chamber walls in  order to prove his point, engaging in such bad forensic science that the results of his crime were completely inconclusive. As usual, Morris paints a fascinating picture, though I kinda wish he hadn’t decided to include some old Edison footage of an elephant being electrocuted. Mildly amusing