Aileen Wournos is, of course, famous for being the first female serial killer. But if Aileen was still alive, she'd be more bothered about being depicted by Charlize Theron in the movie Monster than the deaths of her 7 male victims.

Directed, written and narrated by Nick Bloomfield, mostly concentrates on two people who played a major role in Wournos' life after her incarcaration: Arlene Pralle, a self-proclaimed born-again Christian with a horse farm.

"Jesus told me to write to you" - Arlene Pralle had sent a letter to Aileen Wournos starting with that sentence; eventually she became Aileen's most ardent pen pal and, eventually, one of those exploiting the woman on death row.

The other one this documentary concentrates on is Steven Glazer, who offered his legal services on television with cheap, home-made video ads, calling himself Dr. Legal. Glazer offered himself as Aileen Wournos' attorney and she accepted his legal services.

Glazer, however, was not only completely out of his league when it came to the trials of Aileen Wournos, he also seemed to lack the realization that there was something at stake at all.

Driving to jail is a 6 or 7 joint ride to Glazer, who looks more like someone who should be sitting with his friends playing Dungeons and Dragons and listening to the Grateful Dead, rather than try to be a lawyer. Glazer tries to showcase his home-made music to the film crew, arrange for financial payments for the interviews for him and Arlene Pralle or produce himself in any other way possible. Aileen Wournos' trials seemed to be some fun hobby to Glazer.

Glazer and Pralle spend a good deal of this documentary haggling over 25 grand they want for their interviews. They promise to arrange interviews with Aileen Wournos, but each time that is about to happen, something changes the deal and Aileen doesn't show.

When the documentary crew finally does meet Aileen, surprisingly, she demands to know first and foremost if anybody had tried to demand money from the filmmakers. It becomes more and more clear throughout the documentary that Aileen Wournos once again trusted some people who merely used her and sold her out for their financial gain.

It's interesting to see how reasonable, honest and friendly Aileen Wournos is when she speaks to the film crew. Until suddenly she breaks into some angry rant about the conspiracies of the media and the cops. Her response to questions usually ends with "Sir" and she smiles as wide as she can whenever she says hello to anybody, like a well-brought up child.

Then she breaks into hate-filled screaming of "I hope your wife and kids get raped in the @ss" to the prosecuting attorney after a sentence is being read to her. She flips off the judge and screams a few more obscenities after complaining over the cruelty of sentencing a raped woman to death.

Not long after, her "lawyer" Steven Glazer insists that she plead "no contest" to the other charges, which is completely against anything that makes sense, and Arlene Pralle insists to the media that Aileen does want to die so she can be with Jesus.

It's one crazy freak show - of the people who befriended Aileen Wournos to make money off of her and the cops who did, in fact, start getting into movie and book deals before Wournos' trial was concluded and therefore jeopardized the integrity of the trials.

There's some information given on Aileen Wournos herself, her upbringing and the bad family situation she grew up in. One can't help but wonder if, sans the media frenzy and the re-elections going on around that time, and competent legal representation, Aileen Wournos would not still be alive in jail, on some consecutive life sentences.

Wournos herself insists that her murders were all self defense and that it shouldn't matter that she killed 7 times - the prosecution concentrates on a number when they should only consider the self-defense.

Obviously, there's much wrong with that way of thinking, but fact remains that a number of male serial killers over the years were sentenced to life in prison rather than death.

One thing that didn't seem covered in the Hollywood production Monster was that Aileen did frequently date men. One of these men is being interviewed about an article that appeared in a tabloid paper at the time about the "crazy romps with the crazy killer" and finds himself stunned by the statements printed versus what he had told the reporters.

Another thing not so clear in Monster is the fact that Aileen Wournos voluntarily confessed to all the killings in order to protect her girlfriend Ty from any trouble. Despite the fact that the police initially searched for two women in the murders, Ty was never charged with anything, was heavily involved in dealmaking herself and testified against Aileen Wournos.

This documentary is a worthwhile addition to the film Monster, giving an impression of the real Aileen Wournos, which wasn't so far off from the way she was played by Charlize Theron.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD