Joe Coleman

I wish that Joe Coleman had not been included in this documentary. It was good, but would have been great if they had left that nut out of it. Why anyone would take anything this man says as more than idol-worshipping drivel is beyond me.

I have done my research. I visited his website after I watched the film. His 'Odditorium' is a complete joke. He's a fringe-person who has never grown up. His language and demeanor in the documentary shows that abundantly. He's like an over-the-top carnival ring-master, trying to 'out-weird' the rest of the population.

The only serious artifact in his mediocre collection is Fish's letter. It certainly doesn't go along with the rest of his props and paintings. I can understand why people want to know more about the darker side of society. Why else would I have watched the film? But Coleman's fixation on Fish goes beyond anything rational (i.e. claiming Fish 'wanted' him to have the letter because he obtained it through the mistake of a secretary, saying that Fish needed to exist, admiring Fish's acts on his victims). He makes himself come off like a deluded fangurl.

I have known my share of people like Coleman, this type that obsesses over murder and pain, painting it over to seem like a carnival instead of what it really is. He treats Fish like a rockstar.

He's an example of why people who are interested in true crime get a bad rep.

Had they left him out, the documentary would have seemed a lot more serious, not just dragged down into sensationalist torture porn.