It is not to celebrate, but, in the wave of true crime as a source of successful films and series around the world, Brazil also has a list of subjects that are terrifying, traumatic, and “potential hits”, which seems to be the fate of The Park Maniac.

The film which premiered at the end of October on Amazon Prime Video precedes a documentary about the case of the serial killer who terrified the country for months in 1998. I have more hope for a factual account than this fictionalized version.

The curious choice of the screenwriter L. G. Bayão was to create a fictional female character to antagonize the killer Francisco de Assis Pereira, something whose result is not exactly effective. Francisco killed 10 women and abused 13 others, gaining notoriety and the nickname Maníaco do Parque (Park Maniac) because his crimes were committed in Parque do Estado, in the south of São Paulo. For those who followed the case in the newspapers for over 25 years, this change in the story was a bit confusing. It is essentially what hinders the outcome of the film.

We follow the story of a novice journalist, Helena (Giovanna Griggio), who becomes obsessed with a wave of attacks and murders of women in São Paulo and is the one who helps identify the most famous Brazilian serial killer: the Maníaco do Parque. The killer was the motorcycle courier and skateboarder Francisco de Assis Pereira (Silvero Pereira, excellent), who chose and approached his victims among shy and vulnerable women, with the excuse that he was going to photograph them for a fashion advertising campaign, to take them to the park where he beat, raped and killed them.

It may seem like a long time ago, but as the film alludes, in 1998, this wave of crimes effectively threw the largest city in Latin America into a panic, because in addition to not having a tradition of serial murders, crimes against women were not taken very seriously. For this reason, the production chose a female protagonist, but it was far from the target. What really stood out in terms of the news coverage of the time – mentioned in The Park Maniac– was the peak of popularity of sensationalist programs on TV, which turned Francisco into a famous man and profited from the mystery.

The difficulty in finding the serial killer, as mentioned, is also due to the even worse misogyny of almost 30 years ago, since the victims “fell for the criminal’s story” and made it difficult to identify a pattern. Eventually, the survivors managed to help create the talking picture of Francisco and he, who escaped, was located by the police in southern Brazil, with the help of a fisherman. Francisco was arrested and sentenced to 268 years in prison, but since the law only allows 30 years behind bars, he could be released in just four years, starting in August 2028.

What holds The Park Maniac together is Silvero Pereira‘s performance as Francisco, but it is equally unbalanced by Giovanna Griggio‘s weak performance, in a role so cliché and poorly executed that it disconnects us from the drama or suspense. Directed by Mauricio Eça, who also directed The Girl Who Killed Her Parents (the film about Suzane von Richtofen), The Park Maniac is an almost superficial look at one of the most striking crimes in recent Brazilian history, a missed opportunity.

Having a female protagonist was initially a positive proposition, after all, female audiences have always led the consumption of true crime (Freud easily explains this portrayal since women are the biggest and most frequent victims) and, as I said, one of the biggest obstacles to getting to Francisco was the fact that he was described as “seductive”. But besides interfering with the facts, it didn’t create a connection with the story, in a forced and weak performance by Giovanna. To make matters worse, it’s as if she didn’t define what she wanted to tell: is it about the crime or about the sexist Brazilian society? Because the version of a sexist society dealing with femicide was also incomplete.

Even the alternative of having a conversation between her and her aunt, a psychologist, to explain the murderer’s motivation and the vulnerability of the victims was out of tune. The authors claim that the option of omitting the most outrageous parts of the crimes, including the stories of abuse the murderer suffered in childhood, was out of respect for the victims, but the challenge of being faithful and delicate is what makes telling true stories so complex.

I feel sorry for being so harsh with The Park Maniac because I had much higher expectations, realizing all the wasted potential on screen. The platform will now release the documentary about the crimes and that one should include the scariest parts of everything.

So, if you were old enough to follow and remember the coverage of the crimes of Francisco de Assis Pereira, The Park Maniac It may not come close to the panic he inflicted in the late 1990s, but, due to Silvero Pereira‘s great performance and given the possible release of the killer in a few years, it is extremely relevant to remember the crimes. To respect his victims.

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