Movie

Hangman (2001)

The underlying theme – a sadistic killer using the children’s game to taunt the police – has been used many times. The guess the word puzzle is almost as common as chess, and nearly every movie that features it is called Hangman. To remove ambiguity, this film stars Lou Diamond Phillips as Lieutenant Nick Roos.

He caught the “Hangman Killer” several years back, leading to a rookie cop’s death and an internal investigation. Still traumatised by those events, the lieutenant has another psycho to deal with after a man’s body is found with HYPOCRITE written across his shoe soles. That’s the word Nick failed to guess when someone challenged him to an online game. Like all serial murder cases, this is just the beginning.

Grace Mitchell lived with the victim, is on antidepressant medication, and claims she heard nothing. With no other leads, the police question her about the dead man and place her under police protection in a hotel. A mystery man stalks Grace, hacks into computers, and uses a climbing rope to access his room. To avoid the officer on guard duty, he calls a masseuse up and gags her with duct tape. Think this guy might be the killer?

The following morning, the familiar Hangman game appears on a police computer with a video showing the masseuse’s neck in the noose. The psycho insists Grace play, but after inputting the vowels, she’s all a wreck and doesn’t come close to solving the puzzle. Nick does his best to console her, but the police receive a recorded message that leads them to the hotel. A second victim, and the word HIPPOCRATES is written on the topless woman’s back.

Nick’s troubled history gets dropped fairly quickly, and the choice of MO appears to be coincidental. The clues refer to the Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors, and it’s revealed Grace knew both victims. She used to be a psychiatrist but was forced to resign because of ethics charges, and the murdered woman was Lynn Farmer, wife of a former patient. These incidents led to tension between Grace and her father, Henry. Since our mystery guy – Paul Jarvis – works at the hospital, it appears he is specifically targeting Grace and humiliating the cops.

After she identifies him as a potential suspect, the police find evidence in his office. Confident he’s got the killer, Nick grills Jarvis, shows him crime scene photos, and theorises he’s obsessed with Grace. Then, a smarmy lawyer presents a witness who places Jarvis at the hospital when the first victim was killed. While the movie seemed to have revealed the culprit in the first twenty minutes, it’s clear someone else is involved.

Villainess

Grace Mitchell (Mädchen Amick)

Roos is determined to solve the case, and even makes a crossword with the answers. A woman named Natalie Walsh, who works with Henry, provides an audio recording and reveals she is Grace’s stepmother. Another angle, but Nick spends time with the beautiful suspect and explores her luxury property.

Although tailing Jarvis produces no results, Nick and his partner arrest him again for assault. Knowing he’s not acting alone, his aggressive attitude and eagerness to be detained suggest another round of Hangman is coming Nick’s way. This time the victim is Natalie – who Jarvis kidnapped before his arrest – and once more the killer demands Grace play. She correctly guesses the Latin phrase PRIMUM NON NOCERE (Do no harm), but exceeds the time limit.

The murderer gloats, and the cops face further embarrassment when they trace the call to their own precinct. Despite a frantic search, they’re too late to save Walsh from the hangman’s noose. With Nick’s captain demanding results and another visit from Jarvis’ sleazy attorney, a detective provides a welcome lead. Both Henry and Walsh are listed owners of Grace’s land, so the inheritance provides a motive and implicates the father.

Even with Grave under police protection, Jarvis breaks into her home and attacks her. It’s then revealed she is his partner and lover, and they planned the entire thing to frame Henry. The accomplice improvised some details – which Grace isn’t pleased about – but that doesn’t stop her from having sex with him. The villainess says Henry’s fingerprints are on a laptop used in the last murder, but this is contradicted when Nick reports the computer was wiped clean. Looks like Grace is setting you up too, lover boy.

The police suspect her because of the slip-ups she’s made and do trial runs to time the distance from the station’s entrance to the basement crime scene. Meanwhile, Grace stages her latest crime kill: Henry in her barn. She uses dry ice to support a stepladder, which explains how Jarvis could (in theory) commit the murders alone. A convincing cover story, and the killer enjoys watching her hanging father squirm at gunpoint. Grace wants revenge against those involved in her lover’s death and is the mastermind behind a double frame-up.

The killer stages an attack, makes a fake video recording, and sets off an alarm clock to wake the police officers outside. Grace screams and hangs herself to set up a last-minute rescue by Nick. The exonerated woman murders Jarvis at a motel and fakes a suicide, giving the police a neat closed case. Everyone is satisfied except for Nick, who tries to get a confession from Grace. However, his bluff about her eyelash being found on the laptop is unsuccessful. Clever enough to plan a twisted scheme and escape justice, this relatively unknown villainess earns a place in the legendary tier.

Honourable Mention: Mädchen Amick

I’m Dangerous Tonight (1990) – Gloria (Daisy Hall), Wanda (Dee Wallace Stone)

Mädchen Amick is the heroine of this made for cable horror, though she gets to be the bad girl in a few scenes. That’s because the real antagonist is an ancient Aztec cloak that brings out the wearer’s evil side. Hence, normal people act out their vicious fantasies and become cold-blooded killers.

After college student Amy O’Neill (Amick) acquires an old chest, she fashions the cloak stored inside into a bright red evening dress. A pity she doesn’t know the cloak’s history, or that the historian who found it went completely nuts and killed his team. Anthony Perkins – better known for Psycho (1960) – shows up as a professor who’s too interested in the cloak’s legend, but he’s really there to provide exposition.

Amy is mean to her cousin Gloria and seduces her football player boyfriend at a social event. This causes a rift between the two women, though the bully reverts to her normal shy persona on removing the cloak. After the ancient curse causes Amy’s grandmother to fall to her death in a struggle, the student hangs the dress in a closet. However, Gloria finds the outfit and wears it on a date with her boyfriend.

Gloria – lacking Amy’s moral compass – is fully under the spell, so when her hunk shows more interest in the NFL, it’s time for revenge. In the standout moment, Gloria tears strangles her victim in the shower with a curtain rope, laughing like a maniac as she chokes him to death. Not finished yet, the bewitched Gloria attempts to ram Amy’s car off the road, only to crash and perish in the explosion.

That’s not the end, for the next dress wearer is a morgue attendant named Wanda. She goes on a killing spree, executing several low lives and drug dealers. This includes slitting a dealer’s throat to satisfy her cocaine habit. The police believe Amy is behind the killings, so she must face the red-dressed psycho alone. This leads to a showdown and a hectic knife attack climax that somehow ends with the heroine back in the dress.

Because of her good nature, Amy resists the curse and her boyfriend’s wishes, and she disposes of the dress by tossing it into a shredder. Amy dumps the torn fabric in Gloria’s grave and watches the scraps get buried with the coffin. The final – typical horror movie – scene has Perkins’ insane professor recover what’s left of the cloak, though it’s in no condition to be worn.