Review – Becoming Evil: Serial Killers of the Old West

This title caught my attention based on the implication that the documentary would focus on the lesser-known cases of 19th century American serial killers rather than the usual crew of famous outlaws. Imagine my disappointment when I found that the producers defined “serial killer” so loosely that it included the hackneyed cast of robbers and thugs who didn’t scruple at killing their victims. Even the subjects who killed people on impulse rather than for financial gain seemed to have anger management issues rather than a pathological compulsion to commit murder. So what we end up with is yet another tedious rehash of the careers of Billy the Kid, Jesse James and other all-too-familiar Western legends. To make matters worse, several of the experts interviewed for the documentary are spectacularly terrible storytellers. Throughout most of this movie I found myself pitying the hapless tourists who wander into the wrong roadside attraction and lose precious hours of their vacation time listening to these people rattle on. See if desperate