Zodiac on Netflix: This is the true story of the serial killer the movie is based on

The film has gone straight into Netflix’s top 10 list

4 years ago

Netflix has just added the 2007 film Zodiac, which is a thriller movie based on the dark true story of the Zodiac Killer.

The film stars Marc Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. It’s a dramatised version of the real events, told from the prospective of a political cartoonist at the time. Here is the true story of the Zodiac Killer, behind the film which has just been added to Netflix.

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via Netflix

Zodiac on Netflix is based on the true story of the Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer was prominent in Northern California throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The killer is known to have killed five and injured two others, but they claim themselves to have killed 37 people. They sent creepy and cryptic notes and messages to taunt the local press about the extent of their crimes. The letters were often coded in letters and symbols and contained the infamous Zodiac symbol. They gave themselves the name “Zodiac Killer” and made the symbol their own personal sign – the same symbol used on Zodiac watches.

The crimes are thought to have started in 1966 with the murder of 18-year-old Cheri Josephine Bates. In April 1967, a newspaper, the police and Joseph Bates [the first victim’s father] received virtually identical handwritten letters which read: “Bates had to die. There will be more.” Bates is only considered a Zodiac victim by some investigators, it is a theory that hasn’t been confirmed.

via Netflix

The killer targeted young couples, two of which where the man survived the attack. They are also known to have killed one taxi driver. The five alleged Zodiac victims are Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday, Darlene Ferrin, Cecelia Ann Shepard and Paul Lee Stine. Four victims were shot and one was stabbed. Michael Renault Mageau was with Darlene Ferrin but survived his shooting and Bryan Calvin Hartnell had been with Cecelia Ann Shepard but he survived his stab wounds. These are the two attempted murder victims of the Zodiac Killer.

The police have looked into a total of 2,500 suspects, but due to the lack of forensic technology at the time none of these were found as being the killer. The identity of the Zodiac Killer is still a mystery to this day. There have been books, shows, documentaries and films all made about the unsolved case.

The 2007 film focuses around the work of Robert Graysmith, who is played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Graysmith was a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle who became obsessed with the crime case and tried himself to solve it. These days he is a full-time crime writer.

The Netflix synopsis for the film reads: “A political cartoonist, a crime reporter and a pair of cops investigate San Fransisco’s infamous Zodiac Killer in this thriller based on a true story.”