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Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Lions Gate Films Inc.

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. reviews


9.3

based on 25 reviews
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based on 3 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic elements

Starring Fred A. Leuchter Jr., Ernst Zündel, David Irving, Shelly Shapiro, and James Roth

A tale of ignorance, self-deception, and vanity. Documentarian Errol Morris sews together a patchwork of diverse viewpoints that seek to uncover the central mystery behind Fred Leuchter's motivations. (Lions Gate Films)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Errol Morris
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 6, 2000 Video: June 6, 2000 Theatrical: December 29, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	91 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Fred Leuchter is just one deluded figure, but by the end of this great and chilling sick-joke documentary he stands as a living icon of the banality of evil.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

More reverie and meditation than reportage.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Morris's unique blend of realism and surrealism gives the film great resonance as a portrait of one eccentric individual and, more important, a study of the morbid proclivities that run beneath the surface of our supposedly civilized society.

TNT RoughCut Don Kaye

What's fascinating about Morris's riveting portrait is the notion that monsters can be born not just out of overwhelming evil, but pure egotism and stupidity -- much more mundane, yet still dangerous.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Using archly staged interviews and reconstructions that draw attention to the components of the documentary form, Morris does justice to the complexity of hot-button issues by suggesting several layers of subtext at once, portraying the articulate Leuchter as both rational and prone to rationalize.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Seems more like a subtle, elegiac tone poem than an indictment of human banality and the evil that men do.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Brings the viewer up close and personal with the face of evil.

USA Today Mike Clark

With his coolly objective moon's-eye view serving a story that's bizarre by even his long-established career standards, the great documentarian Errol Morris examines the perils of vanity - though others will understandably make more sinister interpretations.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Morris' most gripping film since "The Thin Blue Line," is the year's scariest movie.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Segues from the merely quirky into the bizarrely unthinkable.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Lacks scope and doesn't resonate grandly as a portrait of an American underbelly like Morris' earlier works do. But it still packs a wallop.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Errol Morris' characteristically distanced documentary is empathetic without being especially sympathetic.

Time Richard Corliss

The fascinating film equivalent of a humane execution.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Extraordinary documentary.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Morris, instead of evoking the solemnity that surrounds most films that touch on the Holocaust, has directed Mr. Death as the blackest of comedies.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Morris seduces us into stepping into Leuchter's world of delusion and ego.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

(Morris's) strangest and most disturbing portrait yet.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A strange piece of work, perhaps closer to an imaginative portrait or an experimental fiction that borrows elements from real life than a traditional documentary.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Mr. Death, which is shot through with one dark absurdity after another, emerges as a cautionary tale if ever there was one.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Leuchter is such a riveting, disturbing and finally pathetic character that his story hardly needs embellishing with Morris' fancy visuals and ominous mood music.

Newsweek Andrea C. Basora

At the heart of all Morris's films -- from "The Thin Blue Line" to "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" -- is a fundamental belief in the unreliability of truth.

Film.com John Hartl

(Morris) sees Leuchter's story as more personal, more about one individual's self-absorption and folly, than an indictment of a particular system.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Morris, who more or less invented the ironic documentary, seems to struggle here for an appropriate tone even as he allows Leuchter more than enough rope to hang himself.

Slate David Edelstein

The director's beautiful detachment suggests a kind of cowardice.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

An affecting film, but it just may not be everyone's cup of cyanide.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lionel gave it a10:
brilliant film. if one doesn't know the underlying theme of the story beforehand, viewing is that much more profound and moving. although i read a few reviews which critique morris's humourous, detached point of view - i feel it makes this film that much more profound, moving, and in a way, congruous with his subject's mentality.

C. Crowell gave it a10:
One of the most astonishing and enriching film experiences I have ever had.

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Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Lions Gate Films Inc.

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Lions Gate Films Inc.