“How does someone get away with something like that?”
Based on the book Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green, the new HBO documentary Last Call profiles an era of queer people finding solace in bars before having that safety ripped away by a killer and a system that didn’t care they were being killed. The trailer promises a stunning, detail-oriented project that expands beyond the killings to examine systemic marginalization at a time when a significant portion of the country didn’t care much about AIDS because of who it was killing.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“In the early 1990s, with homophobia and hate crimes on the rise as the AIDS crisis worsens, a serial killer preys upon gay men in New York City, infiltrating queer nightlife to find his victims. A gripping, investigative crime story, Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York also dives deeply into the prejudices and attitudes of the times, when deep-rooted biases in the criminal justice system and the media’s distorted public perception of the victims undermined the investigation and enabled a brutal killer to prey on a marginalized populace. The complexities of the closet combined with a long-standing mistrust of law enforcement further complicated the case. It also highlights the heroic efforts of activists, including the NYC Anti-Violence Project, to force law enforcement to recognize and protect the queer community.”
Directed by Anthony Caronna (Pride) and executive produced by Howard Gertler (How To Survive A Plague), the docuseries debuts July 9th on HBO and Max.