The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice (2021 TV Movie) User Reviews (7)

VIEWS ON FILM review of The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice

[burlesonjesse5 · 6/10 · 10 April 2021]

"I'm beginning to think there's a cover-up". Oh Lifetime Movie Network, you slay me! You really do.

Anyway, in The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice, the killer in question is never really established. I mean I had an idea (or ideas) but the film sort of left me dangling like a loose end.

"Long Island" stars veteran actress and Philly native, Kim Delaney. She looks a little different than what I remember as she sans her brunette locks for long, sort of unwashed blond ones. Delaney plays an alcoholic, chain smoker of a mother named Mari Gilbert. Her performance is disciplined and raw and she's probably the best thing going for a Lifetime lifetime-r like "Long Island".

Based on true events, directed by Stanley M. Brooks, and feeling like an episode of Law & Order minus the title cards (the bad guy even looked kinda like Vincent D'Onofrio), The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice chronicles middle-aged Mari Gilbert (Delaney). After her sex worker daughter goes missing and winds up dead, Mari vows to find out who murdered said daughter. The suspect could possibly be a serial killer from the Long Island area (or some crooked rozzer on a power trip, who knows).

"Long Island" with its estimable intentions, is not as shocking, compelling, or frenzied as most Lifetime endeavors. It's a movie of rare restraint, populated by blurred characters who fade in and out and are not always fully defined. The flick is edited in a cross-cutting manner like most crime dramas and I sort of liked that. However, "Long Island" feels a little unfinished as its outcome is only explained in detail following a series of paragraphed, closing credits. It's malfeasance spectacle that although flowing and steadfast, doesn't quite do the viewer "justice".

It's been a long time...

[solitaryman-91051 · 1/10 · 23 February 2021]

...since I saw a worse piece of crap than this. Some serious overacting by Kim Delaney and terrible, terrible script writing dialogue. Like they say, "don't waste your time!!!"

Typical Lifetime

[joebogey · 1/10 · 11 March 2021]

As someone who's read & listened to a large amount of journalism regarding this case the inaccuracies should have forced the network to change the name of this movie.

Good Grief

[rkandelmo-770-834016 · 2/10 · 9 October 2021]

First and foremost that's not how any of that happened I'm from Long Island and I know the story get your facts straight lifetime horrible.

Excellent for Lifetime

[createdatandby · 8/10 · 18 March 2021]

This movie drew me in like most cannot. The actors made it very realistic for a Lifetime movie and riveting at times. A well done depiction of a tragedy and troubled family.

Good Movie Traumatic to Watch

[imjustaguy-67109 · 10/10 · 8 October 2021]

The fact that im writing about this movie as someone that does think alot of Lifetime movies are stupid predictable and have bad acting is telling.

Whoever says this is a bad movie is ridiculous, this movie hurt my heart. You have to feel empathy for these women, this happens on a daily basis in real life.

My heart was beating almost every moment not because of any violence in the movie, just imagining the women that a brutalized and disposed of. Anyone calling this movie bad is probably a serial killer...

Grisly Gilgo Graveyard

[lavatch · 8/10 · 8 August 2023]

This well-produced true crime drama features the incomparable Kim Delaney in the role of Mari Gilbert, who tenaciously pursued the case of her missing daughter Shannon. The grisly outcome was the work of a serial killer on Gilgo Beach, Long Island.

Mari Gilbert's heroic commitment to the truth led as well to exposing corruption within the Suffolk County police department that included Chief James "Jimmy" Burke, DA Tom Spota, and eleven others. The serial killings had been ignored for years because the women were escorts.

Executive producer Deborah Norville offered a detailed post script to the film. While Mari Gilbert's work in conjunction with private detective Herc Zinneman led to the arrest of John Bittrolff for two of the killings, many others were left unsolved in an enormous cold case. There was no shortage of suspects, including a real weirdo and dirty old man, Dr. Peter Hackett.

As explained by Norville, it was the new police chief, Rodney Harrison, who moved into action to locate and arrest the "animal" named Rex Heuermann, due to a unique truck parked in his driveway, plus DNA evidence from a pizza crust.

The character of Mari Gilbert was all the more poignant because she was not a very good mother. Both her daughters had special needs, including Shannon (bipolar) and Sarra (schizophrenia). One of Mari's ex-boyfriends even abused young Sarra. In the film's tragic post script, we learn that Sarra eventually murdered her mother.

One of the best scenes of the film was the interview of investigative reporter Leanne Kavanaugh of Amy, who was abused by the police chief during a trick. Amy summarized succinctly her lot and that of other women depicted in the film: "We're throwaways."