Capturing The Killer Nurse Movie Review – A shocking and chilling true crime doc

A chilling and shocking true crime documentary

The Capturing of what’s known as the Killer Nurse is the quintessential documentary piece that is a companion piece to the Netflix drama The Good Nurse. The 90-minute film provides the story and the horrific events of Cullen’s murders with eyewitness accounts along with police interviews and photographs from archives from the period. There are also some disturbing audio recordings of Cullen as well.

For those who aren’t aware of what transpired, Charles Cullen was a New Jersey-born serial killer who was a victim of a horrific childhood and a frightful fascination with drugs. As a nurse, Cullen gave overdoses to a variety of patients, saying the purpose was to keep them from going into respiratory or cardiac arrest. However, this theory is disproved when it is revealed that some of the patients were actually not terminally ill. Cullen was meticulous and clever, injecting insulin into IV bags, or taking digoxin as a drug to keep away suspicion.

While Cullen confesses to the murders of 30-40 victims following his arrest, a few experts believe that the number could be closer than 400. If this were the case that could make him one of the most prolific serial killers ever.

Instead of focusing on Cullen’s mental state and his methods particularly, this documentary shifts the focus to the detectives as well as those who are working together with the law enforcement officials, which includes Amy Loughren who helped to capture Charlie Cullen before he killed many more. The narrative itself is moving and has a fast-moving timeline, as well as explicit text that explains the date of the probe we’re on.

Regarding visuals, this film makes use of an abundance of interviews with talking heads as well as archival footage and blends them into real audio, which is mostly used over snarky reenactments that seem more artistic and suggestive rather than showing anything grisly or shocking.

Though well-produced but there are instances when the film is a little too stylized. Listening to ‘You Are My Sunlight playing before and after hearing a heartbreaking tale of a patient singing the song is somewhat over the top and can have negative effects on the mood which is unfortunate.

But it is true that The capture of this Killer Nurse is exactly what it claims on the box. It’s a 90-minute documentary on the capture of Charles Cullen, the killer nurse who went on a fatal rampage and killed a number of people when on duty. There’s nothing special about this but if you’ve already seen The Good Nurse and The Good Nurse, this film will provide a few interesting moments. However, it’s an acceptable companion piece to the film and a true crime film which is worth a look.