As soon as the words “based on a true story” pop up on the screen during the trailer for Alexandre Moors’ Blue Caprice, you know it’s about to be a bumpy ride. Based on the horrific Beltway sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington, DC area in 2002, the film follows the strange quasi-father and son relationship between two men who become killers.
It’s the quiet, casual nature of the way in which they do so that makes the trailer so unsettling. As John Allen Muhammad, Isaiah Washington (of former Grey’s Anatomy fame) has the glint of a madman in his eye, and that false brand of kindness that will crumble at the first hint of anything not going his way. Tequan Richmond, as Lee Boyd Malvo, has the shaky assuredness of a teen trying to please his father by just doing the best he can, even if in this case it means being a sniper instead of, say, a star baseball player.
But what happens when the relationship in question isn’t truly father-son, and the power dynamics in play are leading to innumerable murders? Check out the chilling trailer after the break.
Blue Caprice is in theaters September 13th.