[Film Review] Ban This Sick Filth: Moral Outrage Cold Light of Day (1989)

In what feels like Britain’s answer to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Fhiona Louise’s grimy and shocking Cold Light of Day (1989) manages to capture the isolation and loneliness of a man desperate to make personal connections. Inspired by the true story of notorious serial killer Dennis Nilsen, Louise was twenty-one years old when the film was released and shows an undeniable talent in the first-time filmmaker, in addition to the ability to empathize with such a ruthless monster as Nilsen without it feeling like a gratuitous fan-film. 

Cold Light of Day shirks action and overly graphic violence for story building and character development, highlighting the escalation of Jordan March (Bob Flag) from a quiet and well-intentioned man to a serial killer. We are introduced to mild-mannered March as he is apprehended and questioned after the discovery of viscera clogging up the pipes and bodies buried within the floorboards of his apartment building. Told through flashbacks to hysterical and hate-spewing police Inspector Simmons (Geoffrey Greenhill), March comes across as quiet and almost sweet as he recalls his initial meeting and invitation for a down on his luck young man, Joe (Martin Byrne-Quinn), to stay with him in his apartment until he gets on his feet. 

The fact that March is a homosexual is treated nearly as an afterthought, a fact that is surprising given the time the film was released, in the throes of gay panic and the AIDS epidemic when the public was more than happy to pin crime on anyone different. Louise treats March not as an outright ruthless killer, but as someone in pain. It’s an interesting approach, and again feels influenced by Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer which was released in 1986 and similarly delved into the past of a serial killer, exploring the why behind the brutality instead of focusing solely on the how. 

It isn’t common to find a film that feels so gritty and true to life while telling such a gruesome tale. It is customary for a filmmaker to take a distinct side in telling these kinds of stories, with a very clear killing is evil approach, but Louise was more clinical in Cold Light of Day, choosing instead to recount the fictional murders based in truth in a matter-of-fact manner, addressing how March’s inherent feelings of “otherness” opened him to predators of his kindness, feeding off him until he cracked. She does this while carefully skirting the line of victim-blaming, showing the young men March kills as nearly intolerable wretches. 

This isn’t to say that Cold Light of Day presents the killer as the protagonist, instead, there are no good guys or bad guys. It’s akin to Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, but instead of witnessing the decay of a marriage, the viewer is shown a “day in the life” format of one man and how he was moved to kill. There are flashbacks within the flashbacks, giving the audience an idea of his initial wound, the beginnings of his spiral, and through a score of heavy breathing, chiming bells, and heart beats, we feel more than ever that what we are witnessing is March’s truth as he sees it. 

As Inspector Simmons grills March, desperate for an answer as to why he commits such horrific crimes, neither he nor the audience are presented with answers deeper than “I don’t know.” But even as March refuses to address the why, we can see that he isn’t withholding information, but is honestly unsure of the real answer. When he finally admits that he was selfish and deeply sorry for his actions, we can believe him, he doesn’t come across as so many serial killers in films who lack empathy or awareness. It gives March a soul, making it that much harder to hate the character, a fact that the filmmaker seems to reflect as, after the final frame has played, Louise gives the slightest bend with a dedication quote before the final credit that states:

“For those too sensitive for this world.” – Fhiona Louise

It’s a sentimental position to take after tackling such dark subject matter, and while we don’t know her exact intentions with this last statement, but it is apparent that Louise was inspired to make Cold Light of Day by more than just the crimes committed and does so through an objective and compelling film. 

Cold Light of Day is a part of Arrow Video’s Ban This Sick Filth Presents: Moral Outrage

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