This Is Not Mello Yellow

Donovan “The Hurdy-Gurdy Man”

by Mark Cappelletty


dvd screengrab courtesy of dvdbeaver.com

Zodiac, as long as it is (and the director’s cut due on DVD/HD-DVD in January, is rumored to be a full half-hour longer!), is one of the most unnerving movies in years. It’s not quite as bone-rattling as director David Fincher’s Se7en, but it comes pretty close. Fincher, using a lot of invisible digital trickery, transports us back to the San Francisco of the ‘70’s, both in the look and tone of the film. We get a real sense of a city under siege and the seemingly random nature of the killings makes you feel that anyone could be the Zodiac Killer’s next victim.



The use of Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is really effective— it’s the sixties flower-power equivalent of the “Ka-Ka-Ka” Friday The 13th musical cue. Once Donovan comes up on the soundtrack, you know the Summer Of Love is over— but good.