The so-called Texas Killing Fields are a stretch of land situated off of Interstate-45 and about 26 miles southeast of Houston. Despite being surrounded by oil refineries and being near one of Texas’s busier interstates, it’s a location where one can easily disappear. Since 1971, over 30 bodies have been found in the Texas Killing Fields, the majority of them being girls and young women. Many of them came from the surrounding area but others were last seen far away from Houston. Kelli Cox, for instance, disappeared from Denton. Jessica Cain was last seen in a suburb of Fort Worth. Michelle Garvey disappeared from Connecticut, just for her body to later be discovered in the Texas Killing Fields.
Because of the number of bodies and the length of time, it’s believed that multiple serial killers use the killing fields as a dumping ground for their victims. Over the years, there’s been many suspects and a few convictions. Most recently, a trucker named William Reece was convicted of three of the Killing Fields murders. Another person convicted of committing two of the murders, Michael Self, is now believed to have been innocent and to have only confessed after being tortured by the police. Unfortunately, Self died in prison while waiting for his appeal to be heard.
The 2011 film, Texas Killing Fields, is very loosely based on the murders and the area’s reputation for being a serial killer dumping ground. Sam Worthington plays Detective Mike Souder and Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays his partner, Detective Brian Heigh. (The characters are based on real-life detectives Brian Goetschius and Mike Land.) Brian is originally from New York and is a devout Catholic who views his work as almost being a holy crusade. Mike is from Texas and is a bit more cynical. He’s not happy that Brian insists on helping out Mike’s ex-wife, Detective Pam Stall (Jessica Chastain), whenever a body is found in Pam’s jurisdiction.
The discovery of a dead sex worker leads to Mike and Brian pursuing two pimps (played by Jason Clarke and Jon Eyez). However, it soon becomes apparent that the pimps aren’t the only murderers stalking the area and using the fields as a dumping ground. A young mother is attacked in her house and, when interrogated by Mike and Brian, demands to know why they aren’t out on the streets, looking for the men who attacked her. Later, a mysterious phone call leads Mike, Brian, and Pam out to the killing fields, where they discover another body.
While this is going on, Brian also tries to look after Anne Sliger (Chloe Grace Moretz), a 12 year-old girl who spends her time wandering around town because it’s preferable to spending any time at her home with her mother (Sheryl Lee) or her mother’s creepy boyfriend (Stephen Graham). When Anne is kidnapped, Brian and Mike head into the Killing Fields to find her.
Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, The Texas Killing Fields is an atmospheric film in which every frame is full of a sense of dread. Much as David Fincher did with Zodiac, Mann creates a feeling of a world that has been taken over by evil. Unfortunately, the film itself gets bogged down with a few subplots that don’t really go anywhere. (Jessica Chastain’s character and her relationship with Mike felt somewhat superfluous.) As well, the film’s examination of both Mike’s atheism and Brian’s Catholicism felt a bit shallow at best, as if it was added at the last minute to try to give this thriller some theological heft. The identity of all the killers is pretty obvious from the start. That said, Ami Canaan Mann gets good performances out of her cast and the action scenes are well-executed.
As a final note, the film was not actually shot in the actual Texas Killing Fields. Instead, much like the same year’s Killer Joe and 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, it was filmed in Louisiana and, to be honest, it looks like it was filmed there as well. There’s little about the film that feels authentically Texan, though it does do a good job of capturing the atmosphere of the bayous.
Through the Shattered Lens 