Random Movie: Wonderland (2003)

Many people know who John Holmes was. Even if they have not seen his "work." If you do not, he was arguably the most famous porn star ever, largely (no pun intedned) due to being so well endowed. Not very many people know that along with being a drug addict, he also played some part in the Wonderland murders that took place in 1981; the brutal blugeoning of 5 people, one of which survived. I say "some part" as it has never been determined what part, but his fingerprints were found at the scene on Wonderland Ave, the namesake of the crimes and movie. What I will not do in this review is give my commentary of what I think happened, make any remark to any factual discrepensies (I obviously was not involved, therefore would not have the authority to do so) or offer any moral opinion of any of the people involved in the actual events that took place. I will simply give a review of the film.


Wonderland really serves one major purpose, aside from being entertainment: To give you 2 sides of one story, the Wonderland murders, as told by John Holmes (Val Kilmer) and David Lind (Dylan McDermott). David Lind was a regular at the Wonderland house, but was not present at the time of the murders. He and Susan Launius (who was there) were the only survivors. Each one tells their side, clearly placing the blame on the other, but a brief summary of the events would be as follows: The Wonderland "gang" sans John Holmes (who really only went there for drugs) breaks in to the residence of Eddie Nash, owner of the Starwood, and steals quite a haul, including drugs and cash, and injuring a bodyguard of Nash's. Somehow Nash finds out it was John Holmes who let them in (Lind and Holmes both offer their versions of this) and beats Holmes, force him to take the bodygard and some others over to Wonderland and let them in, and thus the murders take place. The film focuses on this and does not delve in to the porn career of Holmes, which at this point was pretty much over.




The only performance I had issue with in this film was Dylan McDermott's, but really only during one scene where he is talking to the cops. I cannot tell if it is poor acting, or his character being a bad liar, but in any event, it is not consistent with his acting during the rest of the film, which is decent. As is everyone's. Val Kilmer, who I am convinced should play every famous dead person there is, is quite fantastic. The desparation of an addict is something he portrays quite well. Holmes was reportedly quite a liar, and may have even believed his own lies, and this is also something that Kilmer portrays well. Kate Bosworth plays Dawn Schiller, Holmes's teenage girlfriend he took while still being married to his wife (played by Lisa Kudrow). Through Bosworth you see the desparation that also comes with wanting to free yourself from an abuser but also yourself being an addict, and your abuser having the means to supply you with drugs while filling your head with dreams of the better life promises to come. I find that this is a well directed film for the most part. I think the choice of having Lind and Holmes tell their sides was a better one than, say, the director (James Cox) simply telling you what he thinks happened. There are a handful of things that take away from the "film" aspect of it, such as certain buldings and cars that were in the film that were not in existence yet in 1981. One of the biggest blunders is the voice over that states that the Wonderland murders are the worst to happen in L.A. since the 1968 Sharon Tate murders. Those murders took place in 1969. Also, there are a few obvious editing errors, but obviously Wonderland is not the first nor the last film to have any of these things go on. I have yet to see a film that was edited completely without error. I first saw this movie on DVD. I bought it from a store without having seen it, only reading about it. It never played in the town I live in, and I was looking forward to seeing it. So when I saw it on the shelf I picked it up and bought it. It is packaged with a documentary of Holmes, which goes more in to his life and death and has interviews with Saron Holmes (his wife), Dawn Schiller, Misty Dawn (his second wife, who ws married to him until his death in 1988), directors of his films, and many others. This adds an eerie feel to the Wonderland experience. Even though the movie is based on actual events, you are still watching a film with actors. But then you pop the documentary in and hear the real people talk about the events, even saying things that were lines in the movie. Kind of adds a different dimension to it when you re watch the movie. Makes it feel like you are watching everything actually happen. A decent film that is worth a watch, by all means. I find this kind of thing (perhaps morbidly) fascinating, and this story, even beyond the film, is definitely interesting to say the least.




A side note to this, a book will be relaeased, called The Road Through Wonderland, in 2010. It offers yet another perspective on this story, as it is written by Dawn Schiller. I invite you to click her name and read her website. She does quite a bit of work with teens, shelters, etc., which is documented there, as well as discussions of being sober and being a mother to her daughter. If you are on Facebook, you will find her as Author Dawn Schiller and can join the Facebook group The Road Through Wonderland. You will find more information on the other wonderful work she is doing. Dawn was also kind enough to become a fan of Movie Scum on Facebook (which you should also do, if you have not already). However this was not my motivation to review this film in particular; rather share a great film with you.