THE FOOL KILLER

USA | 1965 | 16mm | 100 min.
Director: Servando Gonzalez
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Edward Albert, Salome Jens
12-year-old George Mellish (Albert) flees his abusive foster parents after the Civil War and journeys through the rural South, encountering eccentric strangers and frightening tales of a mythical axe-wielding murderer. His path leads him to Milo (Perkins), a traumatized drifter whose mysterious past makes George fear he may actually be “The Fool Killer.” Shot in moody black-and-white and unfolding like a dark folkloric fable, the film echoes The Night of the Hunter in its child’s-eye view of a threatening, dreamlike America and its blend of innocence and menace. The rare 16mm print screens courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.