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Who Killed Nancy?

2009

Alan G. Parker

Documentary

6.0

85

Documentary On October 12th 1978 New York Police discovered the lifeless body of a 20 year-old woman, slumped under the bathroom sink in a hotel room. She was dressed in her underwear and had bled to death from a stab wound. The woman was Nancy Spungen, an ex-prostitute, sometimes stripper, heroin addict, and girlfriend of Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious. In a trial by tabloid newspapers Vicious was pronounced guilty before noon the following day. ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Jeannette Catsoulis The New York Times	"An unruly mash-up of terrific anecdotes and terrible teeth, grainy film and garish memories, 'Who Killed Nancy?' cares less about investigating a death than about vindicating an accused killer."	NEU
United States	Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter	"There's not enough material to sustain a feature-length film, and the sloppy editing, cheesy re-enactments and cheap graphics don't exactly make for compelling viewing"	NEG
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"It's all fascinating in a horrible way. Yet only the first and last 10 minutes are devoted to pure original investigation (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Benjamin H. Smith Decider	"While often amateurishly put together, and with an annoyingly loud soundtrack which makes it seem like a music video at times, 'Who Killed Nancy' is still a decent viewing experience for anyone interested in the subject matter"	NEU
United States	Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"[It] takes a scary, fascinating deep dive into the punk-rock abyss of former Sex Pistol Sid Vicious"	POS
United States	Ronnie Scheib Variety	"The docu soon bogs down in tiresome minutiae."	NEG
United States	Andrew Schenker Slant	"As valuable as Parker’s film may be as a record of a specific time and place, it’s missing (...) the very music that makes us care about the scene in the first place (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Philip Wilding Empire	"For an exposé very little is actually revealed, but as a neon-lit trawl through '70s New York, it's worth a look (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEU

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