Ed Kemper – Movie Review (3/5)

ED KEMPER is a true crime horror-thriller about the infamous and sadistic serial killer. A movie that is focused on facts and with a very good lead. Surprisingly good even. Read our full Ed Kemper movie review here!

ED KEMPER is a new horror-thriller about the serial killer who was also featured in Mindhunter. He was one of the serial killers used to learn and create the profiling skills that have been used ever since.

In this movie, it’s obviously very important that the actor portraying the title character works. Fortunately, Brandon Kirk works perfectly. The casting for this particular way of telling the story is spot-on. Both for Ed and his mother. The runtime is just around an hour and a half

Continue reading our Ed Kemper movie review below. Find it on VOD from April 8, 2025.

True Story of an American Psycho

The tagline of Ed Kemper is “The True Story of an American Psycho,” which immediately made me think that it could be a rather vast number of people. Still, Kemper is certainly one of them, so it works even if it is quite generic. Sad but true.

Ed Kemper follows the true story of the infamous serial killer of the same name. Not only is he a person of impressive IQ, but he is also a cunning and sadistic serial killer. One shaped by a sad childhood riddled with abuse.

Also, he helped create the classic profile of a serial killer as shown in Mindhunter. Not least, the part about having mommy issues. In fact, his mom was very abusive and ended up as one of his final victims.

Best if you know his story beforehand

Before watching this movie, you should know that it’s best if you already know the story of Ed Kemper. It stays very close to the facts already known – and mostly told by the man himself, which means a lot isn’t covered in this movie.

WHY DOES HIS MOM CALL ED KEMPER “GUY”?

One of the details skipped in the Ed Kemper movie is why his mom calls him “Guy”. It was apparently because he was referred to as “Little Guy” when born the first boy after two girls, and the “Guy” part just stuck. But “Little”? Not so much at 6 ft 9 in.

Instead, this biographical movie focuses briefly on key elements from his childhood and teen years in flashbacks. The actual plot is all about the killings that made him a serial killer.

What we don’t see is all the “training” he did, which – to me, anyway – is also a key element of his method. Such as what makes the women hitchhiking either comfortable or uncomfortable? One such trick is looking at his watch like he’s really busy, but truly also wants to help.

We see the results of this training, but the focus is on the murders. Not that we see too much of it, so it’s not just for gore. In terms of the psychology of this serial killer, I would’ve preferred a focus on the build-up, training, and the active part of his “career” as a serial killer.

Brandon Kirk works surprisingly well as Ed Kemper

While I recognize it might sound like a backhanded compliment when I say Brandon Kirk works surprisingly well as Ed Kemper, I assure you this is not my intention. Instead, I’m admitting that I didn’t expect him to be as believable as he absolutely is.

Mostly due to his height, as he is shorter than Ed Kemper.

Then again, who is actually near his height?! At 6 feet and 9 inches, the man is a giant. And yes, I do refer to him in the present tense as he is still alive as of writing this. Though his health isn’t great.

YES, LEW TEMPLE IS ALSO IN IT THIS, BUT…

Don’t be fooled by how The Walking Dead‘s Lew Temple is billed as “starring” in this. He’s only in short flashbacks as Ed Kemper’s rather useless father.

In any case, I wondered for a long time if maybe Brandon Kirk portrayed the serial killer as too charming. Only to be reminded that it was exactly his charm that worked for him. This made young women trust him enough to get into his car.

And yes, Brandon Kirk also manages to portray the sinister and downright diabolical side of Kemper. Plus, Susan Priver is also scary good as his mother, Clarnell Strandberg. Because Ed’s relationship with his mom is a catalyst (as stated by himself), these two must work.

As portrayed by Brandon Kirk and Susan Priver, they are fire and gasoline. In other words, it’s perfect.

Watch Ed Kemper on VOD

Ed Kemper was directed by Chad Ferrin (Night Caller, H.P. Lovecraft’s the Old Ones). Chad Ferrin was also a co-writer of the screenplay alongside Stephen Johnston (Ted Bundy, The Hillside Strangler). I applaud their focus on the victims as well as the actual serial killer.

This movie is the first installment in a series of biographical true crime stories. Dread and Epic Pictures are bringing these to the world. So far, this is one of my favorite Dread movies, so I’m looking forward to the rest.

Ed Kemper will be followed by true crime movies about serial killers Dorothea and Richard Ramirez. All are directed by Chad Ferrin and will be released in 2025. Also, expect to see several of the actors from this first installment in the next.

Described as “A bold and unnerving dive into the mind of one of history’s most infamous killers,” may not be entirely accurate. I mean, it does attempt this, but I mentioned earlier that it skips a little too much in the story of Kemper to truly achieve this.

Only if you already know most things about Ed Kemper does this movie result in a complete portrait. And I do, so it worked really well for me.

Ed Kemper was released in select theaters on April 4, 2025, and is available as VOD from April 8, 2025.

Details

Director: Chad Ferrin
Writers: Stephen Johnston, Chad Ferrin
Cast: Brandon Kirk, Susan Priver, Brinke Stevens, Lew Temple, Cassandra Gava, Robert Miano