Film
The Devil in the White City
- Serial killer
- Crime thriller
- Mystery
- Very dark
Based on Erik Larson's acclaimed book, this historical thriller interweaves the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with a serial killer's pursuit. It's a meticulous period piece that builds dread through atmosphere and documentation, drawing Leonardo DiCaprio as the architect of evil. For those fascinated by true crime that operates at literary depth, where setting becomes character and ambition turns monstrous.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like historical thrillers built on meticulous period detail, where the real pleasure is watching a tense hunt unfold against the ambition of a grand, glittering city.
Skip it if you want a brisk, lighter night out, since this stays grim and methodical about a real predator's crimes, and its release is still only rumored.
What it asks of you: Plan for a slow, deliberate pace and a gloomy mood that settles in and stays, so clear your evening and give it steady attention rather than background noise.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Zodiac2007
Fincher's obsessive procedural about hunting a serial killer across decades. Methodical, gorgeous cinematography, and a meditation on how obsession corrodes the hunter as much as the hunted.
But Deliberately paced and deliberately ambiguous. There's no catharsis, no neat resolution, and that bothers some people.
MINDHUNTER2017
Serialized look at the birth of criminal profiling in the 1970s FBI. Incredible performances, smart writing about psychology and ambition. Treats villains and investigators with equal narrative weight.
But Slow-burn that demands patience across two seasons. Some procedural episodes feel disconnected from the larger arc.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street2007
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaborate on a serial killer in Victorian London. Operatic, visually inventive, and genuinely dark in ways Burton's best work manages. The horror is both gothic and human.
But Tonal shifts between gruesome and theatrical. If you want realism, the artifice will feel mannered.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Devil in the White City
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Nightcrawler2014
Both examine how historical moment and personal pathology align; how systems reward the unscrupulous and disguise their monstrousness as opportunity.
Jake Gyllenhaal as an ambitious parasite consuming a city's worst moments for profit. Sounds different from Devil in the White City but shares DNA: obsessive men warped by their era, ambition as psychopathology, cities that reward monsters.
But Deliberately ugly and neon-lit. More frenetic and contemporary than historical—completely different aesthetic.
More like this (5)
Mudbound2017
Historical drama that captures place and time with absolute fidelity. Set in the Jim Crow South with narrative ambition and emotional weight. Cinematography that feels lived-in.
But Slow and ensemble-based. The narrative threads take time to cohere, and some plotlines are more compelling than others.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford2007
Languid, meditative Western that's really about fame, worship, and betrayal. Roger Deakins' cinematography is devastating. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck are mesmerizing.
But Nearly three hours of quiet psychological tension. Some find it glacially paced; it's hypnotic only if you let it be.
The Knick2014
Set in 1900s New York teaching hospital. Frenetic, visually kinetic, asks questions about ambition, genius, and moral compromise in high-stakes environments. Clive Owen is electric.
But Visceral surgery scenes and heroin addiction can be genuinely difficult. Energetic style comes from chaos, not clarity.
The Apothecary Diaries2023
Same engine: a mind so precise it frightens, solving murders through observation and chemistry, moving through a world of corruption and hidden power. The perspective is inverted—poison as both crime and knowledge.
Anime historical mystery set in imperial China, following a brilliant woman solving poisonings in a royal court. Gorgeous animation, intricate plotting, and a female protagonist who operates with the same methodical precision Holmes would recognize as genius. Utterly absorbing.
But Anime format alienates viewers expecting live-action. Some subtitled dialogue and cultural unfamiliarity require patience.
The Leopard1963
Both are films about historical moments that produced monsters and saints indiscriminately. Both ask: what does a city *do* to people? Both are patient enough to show you that the answer isn't simple.
Visconti's 1860s Sicily as the old order collapses. Sumptuous, resigned, about how beautiful corrupt systems are and why people cling to them. A film about history's indifference and complicity. Three hours of cinema operating at its most serious.
But Glacially slow. Requires genuine patience and rewards it, but does not accommodate distraction. Painterly in ways that feel remote.
People
Cast
Directing
- Martin ScorseseDirector
Writing
- Erik LarsonNovel
Production
- Jennifer DavissonProducer
- Leonardo DiCaprioProducer
- Martin ScorseseProducer
- Rick YornProducer
- Stacey SherProducer
Recommended by
The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer, The Paper, DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, American Justice, Homicide Hunter: American Detective, Snapped, The Case of the Hillside Stranglers, The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story, The Duchess of Malfi