Let's nitpick the reenactments

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by yellowVWchase

I think this is partly because there were three different accounts of her story in the newspapers, all embroidered or mangled by various reporters sharing various bylines. One account had her just coming into the apartment, unleashing the dog when she heard the shots; another had her turning on her air conditioner; and yet a third had her sitting down and opening up the newspaper when the shots were fired...

Yeah. Terry had it as her unleashing the dog--I have no idea if that's what he pulled from a newspaper account or if that came from an actual interview with Davis. That's what kills me about Son of Sam--there's so many news archives and accounts on the shootings, Berkowitz, the Carrs--and so many journalists having an absolute field day with it.

[idol]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

I was very surprised upon reading the Philip Ginsburg book about the case and found there was so much more to it. I apologize for not fully clarifying what happened; here it is, in a nutshell:

Jane pulls into the convenience store parking lot for a Pepsi. After the machine won't yield a can nor her money back, she returns to her car to hunt for change to use at the Coke machine--which she finds and is able to use successfully. She returns and sits in her car momentarily to open and take a sip on her Coke. Her window is partially rolled down. At this time a Jeep Wagoneer pulls into the space to the right of Jane's car. A man gets out and walks around the back of Jane's car and stops at her window.

"That phone working tonight?" he asks.

Before Jane can answer, he opens her car door and attempts to grab her wrist. Jane kicks and screams, and somehow ends up smashing her window with her foot. The man then pulls a knife and forces Jane from the car.

"What do you want?" Jane asks.

"You beat up my girlfriend" he says.

Jane says she did not, and the man appears confused.

"This is a Massachusetts car, isn't it?"

"No, it's a New Hampshire car," Jane says.

The man goes to verify Jane's claim. After he sees her license plate he begins to walk back to his car.

"Hey, what about my window?" she calls out.

The man turns and begins to charge her. The rest of the event unfolds basically as in the UM reenactment.


I'm going to nitpick the Son of Sam segment as well. Witness Caecilia Davis was not sitting at her kitchen table reading the paper when she heard the Moskowitz/Violante shooting--she was barely in her doorway, taking the leash off her dog after walking it (whereupon she saw David Berkowitz walking down the street). I never understood why UM did that. The Maury Terry conspiracy argument is better supported by the actual account, IMO.

Very interesting info, thanks for posting. Sounds like if Jane never questioned the window that night she might have gotton away safely. Thats hindsight though on my part.

[Steve W.]

"There were a few reenactments where the weather didn't match the time of year that the stories actually happened.

I remember the Anna Anton murder happened in December, yet the reenactment was clearly shot in the summer in Nebraska."

Yep, I noticed this with the Sova case as well. His demise occurred in late October 1981 in Newburgh Heights/Cleveland, OH. Yet in the opening scene in the segment where they show some boys stumble upon his body in the ravine, you can see leaves fully bloomed on surrounding bushes and other fertile plant life, indicating that the segment was probably filmed in late spring or summer (probably in 1988, as the segment aired 11/23/88).

[xxxxmattxxxx69]

In the Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman disappearance they filmed that in the summer because one of the cops was in short sleeves and Dec in OK there should be snow on the ground

[justins5256]

I just noticed something peculiar in the John Hawkins/Richard Boggs segment. In the re-enactment of the autopsy, the pathologist is seen narrating her findings into a tape recorder while the body of Ellis Henry Green is on a slab in front of her. If you watch the pathologist closely, you may see that she pauses abruptly during her narration, scrunches her lip as if she is confused, and then continues her narrative.

I would guess that either the actress forgot her line, or this was done intentionally to show confusion as the pathologist noted numerous discrepancies on the body. Those discoveries led to to further investigation of Boggs and ultimately the murder scheme began to unravel.

[xxxxmattxxxx69]

In the animal heroes segment Carol Steiner is seen letting her cat out with one crutch. Then the gas company comes and shes on 2 crutches. I just found it interesting

[yellowVWchase]

There's bad wardrobe continuity in the Jeremy Bright segment - when the girl and her boyfriend confront the neighbor with blood on his shirt, asking "what happend to you?" some camera angles show her wearing her jacket, while others have her jacket off.

[CanadianGuitaris]

Ken Stanton parked his car on the right side of the road, nearest the driveway of the girl who fought him off. When he ran away from the house, his car was on the opposite side of the street (and indeed, facing the opposite direction). I hate to come off as insensitive or to trivialize something of such a sensitive nature, but I'm apt to notice these types of things.

EDIT: Nope, maybe not. The camera as his 626 took off merely showed more lawn than it did previous.

[Necco]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

I was very surprised upon reading the Philip Ginsburg book about the case and found there was so much more to it. I apologize for not fully clarifying what happened; here it is, in a nutshell:

Jane pulls into the convenience store parking lot for a Pepsi. After the machine won't yield a can nor her money back, she returns to her car to hunt for change to use at the Coke machine--which she finds and is able to use successfully. She returns and sits in her car momentarily to open and take a sip on her Coke. Her window is partially rolled down. At this time a Jeep Wagoneer pulls into the space to the right of Jane's car. A man gets out and walks around the back of Jane's car and stops at her window.

"That phone working tonight?" he asks.

Before Jane can answer, he opens her car door and attempts to grab her wrist. Jane kicks and screams, and somehow ends up smashing her window with her foot. The man then pulls a knife and forces Jane from the car.

"What do you want?" Jane asks.

"You beat up my girlfriend" he says.

Jane says she did not, and the man appears confused.

"This is a Massachusetts car, isn't it?"

"No, it's a New Hampshire car," Jane says.

The man goes to verify Jane's claim. After he sees her license plate he begins to walk back to his car.

"Hey, what about my window?" she calls out.

The man turns and begins to charge her. The rest of the event unfolds basically as in the UM reenactment.

Wow. This (and the fact that she survived) makes me think Jane was a victim of someone other than the Connecticut Valley River Killer.

[dks64]

All of these wrong season/month discrepancies, I never would have picked up. I'm from Southern California, we don't have much in terms of weather change

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by dks64

All of these wrong season/month discrepancies, I never would have picked up. I'm from Southern California, we don't have much in terms of weather change

Bahaha, I know, right? I just watched the segments and didn't think anything of it.

[dks64]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

Bahaha, I know, right? I just watched the segments and didn't think anything of it.

Sometimes I forget that other places get 4 seasons. I get briefly sad, then I'm glad I don't have to drive in the snow or shovel the driveway. I would love to have a more prominent fall here. Our leaves change only a bit, but it's not uncommon to stay 90 degrees in November.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by dks64

Sometimes I forget that other places get 4 seasons. I get briefly sad, then I'm glad I don't have to drive in the snow or shovel the driveway. I would love to have a more prominent fall here. Our leaves change only a bit, but it's not uncommon to stay 90 degrees in November.

I actually moved to Japan to teach in July so now I'm learning about cold weather. Houses here do not have good insulation so it's NOT warmer inside than outside when you return home from work in the evening But it is pretty with all the leaves actually changing colors and I am excited for snow. Maybe it will toughen me up Plus, I'll be able to note how silly T-shirts in December are when UM talks about basically any place but SoCal!

[dks64]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

I actually moved to Japan to teach in July so now I'm learning about cold weather. Houses here do not have good insulation so it's NOT warmer inside than outside when you return home from work in the evening But it is pretty with all the leaves actually changing colors and I am excited for snow. Maybe it will toughen me up Plus, I'll be able to note how silly T-shirts in December are when UM talks about basically any place but SoCal!

Good luck with that When I went to Michigan one September (note, not even snowing yet), I almost died. I think I'll stay here. The cost of living might be high, but I wouldn't last a winter elsewhere.

There are other sunny places out there. Isn't part of Florida mostly sunny year round too? There are quite a few places that don't experience the harsh winters.



On topic: I know that UM used to shoot many of the reenactments where they took place, but was it a majority or just some?

[Drakken]

The "blood curling screams" in the Crystal Spencer segment are in face stock screaming soundbytes that are routinely used throughout movies and series, akind to the infamous "Wilhelm scream".