His expertise has attracted the interest of crime boss Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta), Roy gratefully puts Kuklinski to work reducing the population of Jersey wise guys and increasing the body count. Kuklinski doesn’t feel a similar sentiment for his victims, whom in his first three killings he dispatches with a knife, a gun and an ice pick. That’s all I care about in the whole f-in’ world.” In a killer, a soft heart is a soft spot, a weakness his enemies can exploit. He’s also not lying when he tells Deborah, “You and the girls. He says his job is “currency valuation,” which is true insofar as he values the currency he gets from killings to support his family. Over the nest two decades he will do anything for Deborah and their two daughters, who (the movie says) know nothing of his real business. When they meet, in 1964, tells her she’s “a prettier version of Natalie Wood.” He may believe it. The craziest thing about Kuklinski is his devotion to his wife Deborah (Winona Ryder). The Iceman presents but does not explain Kuklinski, leaving Shannon to dominate the character by his quiet, creepy presence. Vromen and cowriter Morgan Land are content to bring familiar shades to the tale of a strange man in a dirty business.

The Iceman, from the Israeli-born director Ariel Vromen, is a B movie and proud of it. Based on Kuklinski’s more-or-less true story - after his 1986 arrest he claimed to have committed more than 100 murders, maybe as many as 250 - this Mafia tale doesn’t aspire to the heights of a Godfather, the epic sprawl of The Sopranos. (Follow TIME’s complete coverage of the 2012 Venice Film Festival) Question is, given the volatility of his employer, can he afford them?

Even in the ninth circle of the New Jersey underworld, a man can have ethics.

“I don’t kill women and children,” he explains later. Blam!Ĭowering in the closet is the 17-year-old girl Marty was photographing. When he sees Marty clasping his hands, Kuklinski instructs him to pray to God to save him. His visitor, Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon), has come to kill him. Follow knock on the door interrupts Marty (James Franco), a minor entrepreneur of teen porn.

Who was the iceman killer