EIFF 2025: Zodiac Killer Project

Charlie Shackleton was all set to make his Zodiac Killer documentary when a copyright issue forced him to scrap it. So he made a film about the film he would have made instead.

It’s a cheeky, meta conceit that sees Shackleton taking us to the locations he had scouted, lining up the shots he would have used and talking us through each hypothetical scene. In doing so, he pulls back the curtain not just on his own process but on the whole cottage industry of true crime documentaries.

From the generic B-roll they all use, to the little narrative tricks that help them fudge the truth, Zodiac Killer Project so skilfully exposes the inner workings of these docs that you’ll never be able to watch them in quite the same way again. Which is not to say that you won’t be able to enjoy them. Shackleton clearly does – he was going to make one, after all – and while he pokes fun at the hackier elements of the genre, he’s also happy to acknowledge how effective they can be.

It's not just crime doc conventions that Zodiac Killer Project dissects, but the economic factors driving the industry and the ethical questions that plague it. It makes for a thorough yet thoroughly accessible video essay, and Shackleton is the perfect host – guiding us through the back corridors of the true crime world with a steady voice and just the right amount of wry humour.

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Zodiac Killer Project had its UK premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival