Most of this generation knows the late Richard Attenborough from his role as John Hammond in the Jurassic Park series, but the iconic actor has taken on numerous roles throughout his career. In 1971 he took on the role of serial killer John Christie for the film 10 Rillington Place co-starring John Hurt and Judy Geeson from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Soylent Green, The Jazz Singer, Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja director Richard Fleischer.

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10 Rillington Place follows the story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans in 1949 London.

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I love diving into these old films, especially ones like this that I have never seen. This is one of those slow burn flicks that relies on the performances to put the story across, and it succeeds. This is one of those crazy true stories that is chilling knowing it all happened and all the crazier that the film was mostly shot in the real place it all took place. (The building not the room.) It’s never too over the top which keeps human nature to it infused with the pure evil of Christie himself.

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The entire cast are outstanding with John Hurt weaving through a wide range of emotions most notably in the final act of the film. The film really hinged on Attenborough, and he is insanely good here. He brings a stoic unhinged persona to an everyman that you can easily see people liking and trusting him, but the evil behind his eyes and true nature is chilling. Everything here is about pacing and execution with very little in the way of excitement, but it keeps you invested until the very end.

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