As part of his college thesis, Jason Moss (Jesse Moss) decides to write to serial killers and attempt to gain their trust through impersonating a typical victim or admirer. He reasoned that gaining their trust, possibly learning more about their stated crimes or unsolved murders, was a way to distinguish himself as a job candidate.[1]
He sends a carefully crafted letter to John Wayne Gacy (William Forsythe) in prison, portraying himself as a vulnerable boy. The film unfolds as Gacy, suspicious at first, puts Moss through intense emotional tests via letters and collect calls, and an eventual face-to-face visit in prison.
The story opens with Moss's fascination in Gacy's case as Gacy, having spent thirteen years on death row, awaits the court's decision regarding his appeal. Moss, an apt criminology student, forms a plan to "get inside the head" of Gacy, hoping to uncover new information regarding Gacy's murders and write a standout term paper on Gacy in the process.
He sends Gacy his first letter, and is at first untruthful, telling him he has no girlfriend and a bad relationship with his supposedly controlling and abusive parents. He also states that his little brother, who is being bullied at school, sees him as a hero and would do anything for him. Gacy's first response is to send a questionnaire regarding Moss's personal and sex life. Moss, seeing an interview in which Gacy admits to engaging in sodomy, adopts a different tact. He begins working out, taking pictures of himself posing topless, and portraying himself as increasingly vulnerable and lonely in his letters. He informs Gacy that he has considered hustling or nude dancing in order to earn extra money. Gacy, beginning to open up, acts understanding and supportive in his letters, encouraging Moss to take up hustling and even giving him advice on technique and safety precautions, asking Moss to "tell me all about it...don't hold back."
Moss, not wanting to lose the connection he has made with Gacy, but unwilling to go quite so far as to sell himself on the street, improvises. He pays a male prostitute to be interviewed so as to provide Gacy with the information he wants. The hustler takes him to a bar, buys him a drink and answers several of his questions before telling Moss to follow him. Standing up, Moss realizes he has been drugged. Fleeing the bar, he manages to get to his car before falling unconscious.
The next day, Gacy calls, asking how it went. Moss tells him he was approached by a buyer who drugged him before attempting to rape him. Gacy reacts angrily, offering to have the man taken care of. He tells Moss that he is very protective of the people he is close to.
Over the next few days, Moss and Gacy correspond via phone. Gacy sends him money, shares his beliefs on power and control, and tells Moss that he is his only friend, and that he and Moss "are more alike than you know". Upon Moss's sharing his brother's bullying problem with Gacy, Gacy advises him to physically deal with the bully, and encourages him to commit incest with his brother. Moss, visibly shaken and disgusted by this, hangs up and ignores Gacy's calls for several days. When Moss finally answers Gacy's insistent nightly calls, Gacy is furious with him, advising him to "remember who I am" and even goes so far as to threaten to send people to his house.
The next few days see Moss's performance in class and his relationship with his girlfriend rapidly deteriorating. He becomes paranoid, arming himself with his father's pistol when at home, and loses control when he sees his brother being bullied, badly beating the bully. He refuses to go with his family to visit his grandmother and remains at home alone, on edge and drinking heavily. When the doorbell rings late at night, he answers the door with the gun, only to find it is his girlfriend. They are interrupted by a call from a distraught Gacy, who tearfully informs Moss that his appeal has been turned down and he is to be executed in six days. Moss's girlfriend reacts furiously to Moss's accepting the call, as does Gacy upon hearing her voice in the background. She leaves and Gacy hangs up. Moss, on the point of losing control, goes out and rents a prostitute, taking the woman to a motel. He forces her onto her stomach, attempts to restrain her when she protests, nearly suffocating her, then leaves.
Gacy calls him again, acting sympathetic and apologetic, and invites Moss to come meet him in person before he dies. Moss, while considering this, contacts one of Gacy's victims, who escaped by jumping from a car. His harrowing story is told in a flashback where Gacy taunts him, rapes him and tortures him before he escapes.
Moss ultimately accepts Gacy's invitation, travelling to the prison where they finally meet face to face. The guards, with whom Gacy has formed a friendship, photograph them together at Gacy's request, then leave them alone. They are amicable at first, eating and joking together, Gacy showing him letters and requests he has received, and also shows him his case file. Upon Moss asking him about his first murder, however, Gacy becomes hostile and aggressive, telling him how much power he has over Moss and how easy it would be to kill him. He becomes more and more physical, starting with flirtatious contact and eventually threatening to rape and kill Moss. Moss fights back, abusing Gacy physically and verbally before the guards pull him off. Gacy appears delighted by this, reminding him forcibly once again that they are alike.
Moss, traumatised, goes home and reunites with his concerned parents. When Gacy calls again, he tells Gacy that he was "playing him from the start", and informs him of his college thesis, telling him that he was only ever an experiment. Gacy hangs up silently and prepares to die.
Moss does not watch the news report on Gacy's execution, and becomes withdrawn and reticent. Several days later, he receives a final letter from Gacy, telling him that although he was fooled by Moss's letters, it has proved to him irrevocably that they are very alike, and ends with "it's time to die now. See you on the other side, buddy".
The film ends with a real-life interview with the real Jason Moss, and shows the real photo taken of Moss and Gacy several days before the execution, stating that Moss went on to graduate and write a book on his relationship with Gacy before taking his own life in June 2006.
Download Dear Mr. Gacy (2010):
http://www.fileserve.com/file/85rAsPT/Dear.Mr.Gacy.2010.BRRip.720p-NPW.x264.550MB.mp4
