Official Trailer for ‘Zodiac Killer Project’ Fascinating Doc on True Crime
by Alex Billington
October 17, 2025
Source: YouTube
“It feels like a puzzle right on the verge of being solved…” Music Box Films has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled Zodiac Killer Project, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. This experimental indie creation is the latest project from filmmaker Charlie Shackleton. He explains he was working on a Zodiac Killer true crime doc, but when it fell apart he made this instead. Against the backdrop of deserted spaces, a filmmaker explores his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary, delving into the true crime genre’s inner workings at a saturation point. “A witty and beautifully assembled deep dive into our obsession with serial killers and the stories we tell about them, Shackleton’s resuscitation of his abandoned film follows in the free-range footsteps of documentary philosophers Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, and Joshua Oppenheimer.” It’s less about the killer, more about how people adore crime stores. As one critic eloquently explains: it’s “a work of criticism as well as a work of art, it’s a sharp takedown of our culture’s obsession with true crime, identifying and skewering the genre’s most familiar tropes.” It is a must watch for all true crime fans, and for documentary fans, something unique and contemplative. Check it out.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Charlie Shackleton’s doc Zodiac Killer Project, from YouTube:
Charlie Shackleton was hot on the trail of the next great American true crime documentary—a riveting account of a highway patrolman’s quixotic effort to identify and capture the infamous “Zodiac Killer”. So he devised a plan, began collecting interviews, and shot “evocative B-roll” footage of ghostly California freeways and parking lots where the killer may have once lurked. And then the project fell apart, leaving Shackleton with fragments of the unfinished film and time to ruminate on shortcuts and signifiers of the ubiquitous genre. Zodiac Killer Project emerges from the ash heap to probe and deconstruct the form with the incisive eye of a true crime connoisseur. Zodiac Killer Project is directed by acclaimed indie filmmaker Charlie Shackleton, his second doc feature after The Afterlight (2021) previously, and many other short films under the name Charlie Lyne. Produced by Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing, and Shackleton. This initially premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Music Box Films will debut the Zodiac Killer Project doc in select US theaters starting November 21st, 2025 this fall. For details visit their official site.
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