---
title: "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer"
year: 1992
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer"
fi1m_id: "aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer"
imdb_id: "tt0103634"
tmdb_id: 97044
wikidata_id: "Q4697045"
fi1m_score: 65
critics_score: 57
critics_reviews: 4
published: "2026-09-26T02:16:38.230062+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-26T02:16:38.868429+00:00"
region: "MX"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)

Directed by Nick Broomfield · 1h 27m · Documentary, Crime

## Identity

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer
- **IMDb ID:** tt0103634
- **TMDB ID:** 97044
- **Wikidata ID:** Q4697045
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103634/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/97044, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4697045

**Fi1m score: 65** · Critics 57 (early) from 4 reviews

*In a sentence:* Aileen Wuornos has a lawyer and a biographer, and we have a few unanswered questions

> Nick Broomfield’s documentary makes a compelling enquiry into the dealings around Aileen Wuornos, but gives her claims too little scrutiny. It is worth following for the search, with substantial reservations about what it establishes.

## Synopsis

Nick Broomfield follows the publicity and dealmaking around Aileen Wuornos, turning his camera towards the people connected to her case. Steve Glazer is her lawyer, Mike Reynolds her biographer and Tyria Moore her girlfriend. Each relationship offers a different route towards the woman at the centre of the attention. As he pursues her story, the filmmaker tries to find out what is being sold along with it. His search runs up against the interests surrounding the case, with the prospect of an account of the killings competing with the business of telling it.

## Review

*Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer* is an unsettling documentary whose director is too ready to accept its subject’s account. Nick Broomfield follows the publicity and dealmaking around Aileen Wuornos, finding enough competing interests to make his own enquiries part of the story. That pursuit gives the film momentum even when it brings him no closer to a satisfactory account of the killings. We would recommend it to those interested in the handling of criminal cases, rather than anyone seeking a full explanation of this one.

Steve Glazer is the lawyer, Mike Reynolds the biographer, and Tyria Moore is Aileen Wuornos’s girlfriend. Those descriptions establish different relationships to the same woman; they do not establish who deserves our confidence. The film is good at making us notice how readily proximity to a subject can pass for authority. Its attention to the business around the case also gives it a sour humour, though the possibility that somebody might profit from a story is never, by itself, a reason to disbelieve them.

We were upset by the court videos, which bring Aileen Wuornos herself into focus amid the publicity surrounding her. For a while, the deals cease to be the most pressing thing to think about. The footage makes the film’s sympathy understandable, and it would be a poorer documentary without that sympathy. It also makes the need to examine her account more urgent, because feeling for someone can make us less willing to question them.

Barry Ackroyd’s cinematography gives the investigation a useful directness, though the presence of a camera is no guarantee that anybody is being candid. Editors Richard M. Lewis and Rick Vick keep the search moving across the 87 minutes, and that is a substantial part of the film’s appeal. There is a reason to follow the next enquiry even when we doubt it will resolve much. David Bergeaud’s music has less effect on us than the court footage. The film is most unsettling when the people connected to the case have our full attention.

The weakness is the treatment of Aileen Wuornos’s claims of self-defence. Nick Broomfield does not press them hard enough or give the evidence against them sufficient attention. This leaves us poorly equipped to judge what the film’s sympathy rests on. Showing that people have an interest in selling her story cannot establish whether her version of it is true. The film needs more patient examination here, even at the cost of some of the momentum generated by the search.

An investigative documentary does not have to solve its case to justify itself, and the frustration of a search can be worth recording. What matters is whether we come away knowing more about why the answers have proved difficult to obtain. Nick Broomfield gives us some sense of that difficulty, and enough human complication to hold our attention, without making the crucial claims easier to assess. That leaves a useful, troubling film for viewers willing to do some further questioning. We would not use it as the last word on Aileen Wuornos’s account of the killings.

*Fi1m score 65, published 26 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer worth watching?**

*Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer* is worth watching for its enquiry into the business surrounding a criminal case, with substantial reservations; we score it 65. We recommend it to viewers interested in publicity and dealmaking, but Broomfield gives Wuornos’s claims of self-defence too little scrutiny for this to serve as a full explanation of the killings.

**How long is Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, and what is it rated?**

*Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer* runs 1h 27m. It is a documentary and crime film.

**Where can I watch Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer in Mexico?**

*Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer* is not on any streaming or rental service in Mexico at the moment. It is available in 3 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, and is it suitable for children?**

*Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer* carries a UK 18 certificate and is not suitable for children. We find it unsettling, particularly the court videos that bring Wuornos into focus amid the publicity; those upset by real criminal cases have reason for caution, though our review does not establish how much graphic violence the film contains.

**How does Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer compare to The Thin Blue Line?**

*Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer* is the less rigorous investigation beside [*The Thin Blue Line*](https://film.one/film/the-thin-blue-line), which we recommend more strongly for its scrutiny of how an account becomes accepted. Broomfield holds our attention through publicity and competing interests, but Morris’s patient examination and questioning re-enactments better suit viewers looking for close attention to the case itself.

**What should I watch after Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer?**

After *Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer*, try [*The Thin Blue Line*](https://film.one/film/the-thin-blue-line) (1988, Fi1m 90): Another criminal case, with much sharper attention to how an account becomes accepted. Then [*Capturing the Friedmans*](https://film.one/film/capturing-the-friedmans) (2003, Fi1m 82): Family testimony and criminal allegations make certainty difficult, without making scrutiny optional; and [*The Act of Killing*](https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing) (2012, Fi1m 88): People implicated in violence help construct their own screen images, with disturbing results.

### Reviews we read (4)

- **Variety**, Derek Elley (70/100, inferred): Elley finds the documentary a compelling, blackly comic investigation of the hype and dealmaking around Wuornos, though it never reaches the full truth. He praises the emotionally charged court videos and the way Broomfield’s dogged search gives the film its momentum. [Read](https://variety.com/1992/film/reviews/aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer-1200431099/)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It also provides no details about what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/04/movies/review-film-lawyers-guns-and-murder.html)
- **Time Out** (64/100, inferred): The available page describes Broomfield’s profile of Wuornos and the circumstances behind her killings, but gives no readable critical verdict. It also mentions a screening of David Cronenberg’s short film “Camera.” [Read](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer)
- **Los Angeles Times**, PETER RAINER (30/100, inferred): Rainer finds the documentary too sympathetic to Wuornos and insufficiently skeptical of her claims. He faults Broomfield for not probing her account more deeply or examining evidence against self-defense. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-31-ca-40347-story.html)

## Details

- **Director:** Nick Broomfield
- **Director:** Nick Broomfield
- **Writer:** Nick Broomfield
- **Cinematography:** Barry Ackroyd
- **Editor:** Richard M. Lewis, Rick Vick
- **Music:** David Bergeaud
- **Producer:** Nick Broomfield
- **Cast:** Aileen Wuornos as Self; Nick Broomfield as Self; Arlene Pralle as Self; Tyria Moore as Self - Aileen's Girlfriend; Mike Reynolds as Self - Biographer; Steve Glazer as Self - Lawyer; Merle Cannonball as Self - Bartender, Last Resort; Jesse 'The Human Bomb' Aviles as Self
- **Runtime:** 1h 27m
- **First release (the UK):** 1 November 1992
- **Genres:** Documentary, Crime

## Where to watch in Mexico

Not streaming, renting or buying in Mexico at the last check.

Also available in: GB, IE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Thin Blue Line* (1988), Fi1m 90: Another criminal case, with much sharper attention to how an account becomes accepted. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-thin-blue-line.md)
- *Capturing the Friedmans* (2003), Fi1m 82: Family testimony and criminal allegations make certainty difficult, without making scrutiny optional. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/capturing-the-friedmans.md)
- *The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On* (1987): A relentless search for answers that makes the questioner’s methods impossible to ignore.
- *The Arbor* (2010): Recorded testimony and staged performance keep the handling of another person’s life visible.
- *The Act of Killing* (2012), Fi1m 88: People implicated in violence help construct their own screen images, with disturbing results. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/aileen-wuornos-the-selling-of-a-serial-killer