After creating one legendary character in the role of the murderer in Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", Robert Blake went on to play another brutal killer, the murder of his mother, wife, stepchildren and biological children. Blake is absolutely gripping from beginning to end as the man consumed by his old time religion, brought up to hate the sin and the sinner thanks to his obsessed mother (a very scary Carrol Baker, as far as she could possibly be from her star making role in "Baby Doll") which leads him to great judgments against wife Beverly D'Angelo who was previously widowed and constantly compares him to her late husband. When a shocking twist about her past impacts d'angelo, Blake continues to go overboard until he makes the drastic decision that results in a family tragedy and sends him into hiding with another wife for 20 years, resulting in him being discovered as the case is never dropped.
In all fairness, the script wisely doesn't take a bashing at organized religion as a whole, but shows the dangers of extremism through certain conversations between Blake and Baker, and indicates that their evangelical preaching turns D'Angelo away from God. It was only during this scene that I began to wonder about the screenwriter's agenda, but for the most part, it's a fair look at how such pentecostal religions can make believers go overboard, although in the case of Blake's John List it is way overboard. The killings are insinuated at the beginning, and dramatically portrayed during the last part of the film. Those scenes are hard to watch, even though the viewer knows what has happened. I shook with grief at those moments, and yet found myself sympathizing with the manipulated character of John List, basically destroyed by his mother during adolescence. Melinda Dillon is great in support as the naive second wife, slowly coming to the realization that something is definitely wrong. One of the best true crime stories ever adapted for film, it is thought provoking and revealing, even though the viewer may be emotionally worn out after it is all over.