Greek Australian James Spyridon Vlassakis

*James Spyridon Vlassakis (born 24 December 1979[1]) is an Australian serial killer currently serving four consecutive terms of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 26 years for his role in the Snowtown murders. Vlassakis confessed to four murders, including the murder of his stepbrother, David Johnson and half-brother Troy Youde[2] as well as the murders of Gary O'Dwyer and Frederick Brooks. Vlassakis met John Bunting when aged fourteen and looked up to Bunting as a father figure. It was alleged Bunting groomed Vlassakis into committing serial murders. Vlassakis was tried separately from the other accused and was the first to be sentenced for his role in the murders. He pleaded guilty to the four murders he was charged with.* Wikipedia A new Australian film based on the gruesome confessions of a Greek-Australian serial killer and cannibal has been selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22). “Snowtown,” which made the cut to be among the seven films that will be up for a jury prize, earned critical acclaim following its first screening at the BigPond Adelaide Film Festival, which ended on March 8. The thriller documents the brutal murder of 12 people -- committed in South Australia between 1992 and 1999 and which the media also dubbed the “Bodies in Barrels Murders” because of where the victims’ remains were found -- through the prism of Greek Australian James Spyridon Vlassakis (known as Jamie), one of the four key suspects and the Crown’s star witness, who is currently serving a life sentence. The case sent shock waves across Australia and has gone down in history as the most horribly repugnant in the country’s history. It was largely solved thanks to the testimony of Vlassakis, who was drawn into the gang of murderers by the man believed to be at the heart of the crime spree, John Justin Bunting. “Snowtown” received special praise for the performances of the two lead actors playing Vlassakis and Bunting, Lucas Pittaway and Daniel Henshall respectively. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite4_21426_26/04/2011_388766  *if you are expecting blood and gore, then look elsewhere, because the movie does not descend into your typical slasher flick (á la the Saw franchise), although there are a few disconcerting scenes. The filmmakers, sensitive to the feelings of the victims’ families and the local community, made a conscious decision to avoid any gruesome or gratuitous depiction of the murders. Save for one victim, the audience will not witness the intricacies of any of the murders, and that one exception is shown to be pivotal for Jamie’s development. Throughout the film, audiences also get a sense of the undercurrent of deeper issues at work in the story. Though these issues are never fully surfaced in the film, they betray a sense of bleakness, darkness and hopelessness. And through director Justin Kurzel’s simple storytelling, audiences intuitively know to look past appearances to see a deeper reality confronting people living in small-town communities.* http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2011/05/snowtown-review/