Tag Archives: Mark Andrew Twitchell

The Devil’s Cinema in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES — It is perhaps fitting that the American leg of The Devil’s Cinema book tour ends near Hollywood, where filmmaker Mark Twitchell had tried for so long to succeed prior to his bizarre descent into becoming the “Dexter killer.”

The US tour has taken me from east to west, from New York City to interviews with media outlets in Cleveland, Colorado Springs, and finally, Los Angeles.

The Devil’s Cinema became the #1 true crime book on Amazon.ca during its first week of release, and the reaction to the story as my tour entered these US cities has been the same as it was in Canada.

Disbelief comes first, then questions.

And more questions.

Some have trouble believing the Dexter connection, and it’s not until I tell them about the “kill room” that they accept just how closely this real-life case is linked to the fictional television show.

(Note: Of course, the creators of Dexter should take no blame whatsoever for this crime, which is a point I’ve made several times during US radio interviews and within the book.)

But I fear all this focus on Dexter may have some readers wrongly assuming the book is only about this one pop culture connection to a real-life homicide.

The Devil’s Cinema is not just about Dexter. This chilling story has so many twists and turns that I know a general audience will also find fascinating, even those who have never heard of the show.

With its connections to Facebook, online dating, police detectives, Star Wars, modern marriage, suburban life, Gen-Xers, even high-stakes financial investment, there’s bound to be something in the book to interest everyone.

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Devil’s heading west, then east

VANCOUVER — While on tour for The Devil’s Cinema I’ve often been asked what it was like to sit across from Mark Twitchell and look the “Dexter killer” straight in the eye.

To be honest, I expected it to be like in the movies, where Twitchell would leer into the room, a deep chill running down my spine. But the reality was quite the opposite, which in its own way was also chilling: our conversations started with a few laughs.

I spoke a bit about this on Global BC’s Noon broadcast on Friday, and CKNW radio today. Twitchell has an odd sense of humour and is quite outgoing and dare I say even likable — qualities that allowed his dark side to go undetected by those closest to him, like a cloak that hid his true self from everyone he knew.

Vancouver has been an interesting place to talk about the book. While Twitchell remains the main interest of most people, I’m glad the media here has been mentioning his murder victim Johnny Altinger.

The former White Rock, BC resident (just south of Vancouver near the American border) had moved to Edmonton in seek of new opportunities and the book tells the story of how he lived, not only his tragic death.

The tour takes me next to New York City, where I’m sure this strange case’s big connections to Showtime’s Dexter will be top of mind.

More soon …

devilscinema.com

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Devil’s tour is on, Twitchell drops appeal

CALGARY — A whirlwind Alberta trip has taken me to Edmonton, Calgary and seen a few dozen media appearances across the province as the tour of The Devil’s Cinema, my true crime account of the Mark Twitchell case, continues.

One of the big reveals during on the tour so far has been discussing my year-long contact with the convicted murderer as I researched this book — and also my reveal at the official book launch that Twitchell has now abandoned his appeal of his first-degree murder conviction.

This means that Twitchell, responsible for one of the most bizarre crimes in recent memory, will have to serve his full term of 25 years to life in prison.

So why did he decide to drop the appeal?

Well, as he explained in one of his prison letters to me during my research, he knew he had no hope of winning:

“Ultimately, any appeal I were to pursue would prove futile,” Twitchell wrote.

“Part of me wants to pursue it to simply get all of this out on the official record, if for no other reason. But without a realistic expectation of a favourable outcome, it’s not worth dragging this all up again.”

I’ll post more about the book tour later.

But there’s been a great response from the public, readers, and keen interest on how I was able to piece together a narrative of detectives, a killer, and his many victims:

The Devil’s Cinema is now available in hardcover and as an eBook at most bookstores and online retailers.

devilscinema.com

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