‘My Brother’s Killer’ movie review: A true-crime doc revisits the 1990 murder of a gay porn star in Los Angeles

There’s a lot of true crime content out there, which sometimes makes it difficult to tell one dirty show from another. Most of them tend to apply the same formula and aesthetic: plot twists and reversals galore; Reams of archival photographs; Interviews with experts or so-called experts; vulgar re-enactments and accompanying shots; And lots of exciting music to increase the suspense.

Rachel Mason My brother’s killer It checks most of the above boxes, and at first glance it looks like another bloody cold case doc meant to shock us in front of our screens. But as the story unfolds, and some truly surprising characters and facts emerge, the film turns into an investigative tale of a gay community ravaged by bigotry, AIDS, and a horrific murder that has haunted people for decades.

Let’s start with the facts: In October 1990, the severed head and severed limbs of 25-year-old adult film actor William Arnold Newton, also known as Billy London, were found in a dumpster in West Hollywood. The murder traumatized Los Angeles’ underground queer scene, which had suffered decades of homophobic attacks and the ripple effects of the HIV crisis. After years of trying to solve the crime, the LAPD eventually dropped the London case.

Enter director Maysoon, who directed an enlightening 2019 documentary Circus of booksshe chronicled the Los Angeles porn shop her parents ran when she was a child. The place served as a safe haven for the city’s persecuted gay residents, including young expats like London who came to Los Angeles to escape oppressive small-town America. Many of them turned to prostitution or adult films – produced in secret to avoid legal repercussions – in order to pay the rent. Their lives were often harsh and sordid, but it gave them a kind of freedom they could never find in their homeland, even if that freedom came at a price.

Fascinated by London’s story and the fact that his murder was never solved, Mason decided to team up with homicide detective John Lamberty and sociologist-turned-online detective Clark Williams, who grew up in the same small Wisconsin town as London. The trio would go on to spend years chasing leads, red herrings, and crazy coincidences, allowing Mason to explore the ins and outs of the gay community her parents served for a generation in their Los Angeles shop.

Among the many suspects in the team’s investigation, one of the most important is London’s former porn business partner, Mark Rabins, who has spoken openly in interviews about the hard times they lived in that day, when sex and drugs were rife, as well as the potential for violence at the hands of mobs attacking gays. The other suspect is the notorious Jeffrey Dahmer, whose methods of dismembering his victims (many of whom were gay) mirrored those used in London, prompting the team to search for Dahmer’s whereabouts at the time of the murders.

It is impossible to explain what happens in the end My brother’s killer Without spoiling the movie’s big twist, which this reviewer certainly wasn’t expecting. Suffice it to say that the conclusion only serves to deepen the idea that a horrific death like the one that occurred in London may have been less the result of a freak accident and more a product of its time — a time in which gay men were victimized because of their identity.

What makes Mason’s doc stand out from other cold case films is how it goes beyond the thrills to explore something more sinister within the neon-lit world of 1980s Los Angeles, which was filled with pretty boys like London looking to escape their past and find a better life. None of them suffered the same fate as him, but a detailed spreadsheet prepared by investigators reveals how many people ended up dying prematurely, whether from drug overdoses or the effects of AIDS.

Painful reality My brother’s killer is that the real crime at the heart of London’s tragic story was not just the horrific murder of a promising young man, but the many wrongs committed against a community that had faced so much darkness under the California sunshine.