Every serial killer has a motive to kill, right? In the movie Gacy: Serial Killer Next Door, we follow the infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, played by Mike Korich. Gacy has a disturbing pattern: he dresses up in a clown costume and then strangles his victims to death. While his exact motive isn’t clear, we can see that Gacy has massive anger issues and a strong need to control others. His crimes came to light when he murdered a 19-year-old boy and many more in his hometown, leading to his arrest. However, Gacy was released from prison and, three years later, moved to a new place with his mother to start a new life. But we see how he can’t let go of old habits that easily. Even though he pretends to be the do-gooder in the neighborhood, a boy named Bobby (Mason McNulty), who lives across from his home, knows what a vicious man he is. Will he still continue his killing spree? Will he get arrested again this time? We will find out from the recap and ending of Gacy: Serial Killer Next Door.
Spoilers Ahead
Why did Bobby not trust Gacy?
We see the film starting on a very horrifying note, with John Wayne Gacy, dressed in a clown costume and makeup, trying to murder a 19-year-old boy. We don’t know the reason behind this killing. It seems like he misses having company because he is very lonely in life. I think he was often treated like a clown because of how he looked and behaved. Dressing in the clown costume and laughing at people who were in fear and despair of him made him feel a bit more powerful because he could laugh at others, and scaring others gave him a sense of power. Eventually, he was arrested and went to prison. Three years later, Gacy got out of prison and moved to a new neighborhood with his sister and mother. He pretended that he’d once had a wife and was now lonely. I think Gacy was wronged by men all his life, including his father. In one scene, he told his mother that he wasn’t a bad man and wished he could have proven that to his father. This might be why his victims were always male, regardless of their age, because he was tired of suppressing his anger against them and wanted to prove to them that he was man enough. When Gacy moved to the new neighborhood, the first person he met was a boy named Bobby.
Bobby was eager to help Gacy and earn some money. Gacy generously offered to pay him double if he worked twice as hard. Bobby was excited and boasted about Gacy to his parents, who also thought he was a good man. However, they didn’t know the truth about him. One night, as Bobby was about to go to sleep, he heard Gacy dragging a man into his house and then heard screaming and crying. Bobby started to suspect that Gacy wasn’t the good man he pretended to be. His parents, however, thought the opposite. When they went fishing, Gacy helped Bobby’s father with the necessary equipment, trying to show that he was a nice guy. Bobby told his parents not to disclose their fishing location because he didn’t trust Gacy, but his parents thought Bobby was being dramatic and disrespectful. Bobby needed help with a school construction project, so his mom asked Gacy for help since he was a construction worker. It shows how Gacy had built quite a reputation among the adults in the neighborhood, but Bobby still had his doubts. Gacy was even running for mayor, showing how well he had fooled everyone. That same night, Gacy murdered another man. This man was a gay prostitute who offered to give him pleasure for five dollars. Gacy took him home and offered him a drink, seemingly wanting company. However, when the man demanded 25 dollars instead, Gacy got angry, injected him, and choked him to death. Bobby witnessed this incident from his window. Terrified, he didn’t say anything and kept quiet. He was understandably unsure of what to do or who to turn to because he knew no one would believe him. It was a tough spot for him to be in.
Why did Gacy want to kill Bobby?
Bobby could not hold this information any longer; he had to share it with someone. At a community gathering for a birthday party, where Gacy came dressed as a clown to entertain the children, Bobby humiliated Gacy in front of all his friends. He said that he knew about Gacy’s shady business, how men went into his house and never came out, and how he was quite sure that Gacy had murdered them all. His friends were shocked, and so was Gacy. Until then, Gacy thought he had done a great job of hiding his actions from the neighborhood. The fact that Bobby knew and might spread the word was something Gacy couldn’t afford. As Bobby and his friends gathered to go to the police and report Gacy, he tried to run them over with his car. Bobby became even more sure that he had to go to the police. However, his parents didn’t believe him. They thought these were just speculations against the “poor” Gacy. Bobby didn’t have solid proof to take to the police. So, Bobby decided he would go to Gacy’s house to get the evidence himself. His father, however, later wanted to protect his son and decided to go to the police himself, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry. They planned to follow Gacy on a Friday night, the day he always went out to party and often came home late. But in the crowded streets, Bobby’s father lost sight of Gacy.
Meanwhile, Bobby sneaked into Gacy’s basement and found something shocking: it was littered with dead bodies. He took photographs of the victims as proof. As he was about to leave, he heard Gacy coming home with another man and heard the same panting and screaming. Bobby managed to escape the house in time. Gacy knew Bobby was after him, so he sneaked into Bobby’s house and kidnapped him, taking him back to his place. But at night, when Bobby’s father came home and went to sleep, having found no evidence against Gacy, he got a call from police that their neighbor was none other than John Wayne Gacy, a famous serial killer who had been to jail for killing 19-year-olds and many others. Understandably, Bobby’s father panicked and feared for his child’s safety. He rushed to Gacy’s house and found Gacy and Bobby both in clown costumes. Gacy was about to kill Bobby, laughing hysterically. Gacy said he had treated Bobby with kindness and never wanted to harm him, but because Bobby was after him, he had to kill him. So, we not only see that Gacy was justifying his actions but also sharing his sorrow for all the abandonment and betrayal he had endured from people all his life. He suggested that he had always been wronged and that the circumstances and mistreatment had made him this cruel. But, thank God, Bobby’s father came in time and saved his son.
In Gacy: Serial Killer Next Door‘s ending, we see the police arriving on time and arresting John Wayne Gacy. From his house, the police found around thirty victims who were murdered and buried on his property, and even some dumped in the river. Gacy was sentenced to death and later executed for his crimes. But what about Bobby? Will he go back to living a normal life? Maybe this incident taught him not to always believe people’s words or kind behavior, because you never really know how they might turn out. He has to be more cautious. I believe this experience will surely leave an impact on him for the rest of his life.
