Great Film overall

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Based on an infamous real-life case, "Karla" tells the story of a woman named Karla Homolka (Laura Prepon) who gets involved with an upwardly mobile and superficially charming Paul Bernardo (Misha Collins), a man who evaded arrest as the real-life "Scarborough Rapist". In the film, the two hunt down several young girls who are eventually murdered, either by Karla or by Paul. The attacks took place, and the movie is set, in Ontario, Canada, near Toronto. The time period is the early 1990s.What I find annoying here is the script's POV and plot structure. The entire film is told from Homolka's point of view which, not surprisingly, minimizes her involvement in the various crimes, and to some extent paints her as something of an abused victim of Bernardo. Further, the awful crimes are told in flashback, as she relates them to a prison psychiatrist. These in-house prison scenes are dull and slow. Though Homolka no doubt bears a lot of responsibility for what happened, the real devil here is Paul Bernardo. And the script should have been a straightforward rendering of the murders wherein both Karla and Paul were present.Casting and acting are fine. Photography contains a lot of side lighting, which casts a gloomy mood over many scenes. Some of the music is eerie and ominous, which foreshadows oncoming dreadful actions.There was at least one attempt to ban this film, which would have amounted to censorship. Many viewers hate this movie because they feel like it's an attempt to capitalize on human suffering. But many crime films are based on true-life murders and other non-fiction tragedies.The appropriate audience for this film would be viewers who are interested in true crime, and who can look dispassionately on the people involved, including villains. I'm glad I saw "Karla" because it is based on a real-life case, but I don't think I want to watch it again.

I watched this film as I am a huge fan of Misha Collins. I didn't know anything about the film prior to watching (and i just found out its a true story- very, very tragic) but before I knew anything about it and I watched it I thought it was a great movie. Yes, it was very horrible- especially since it actually happened. But the acting was great and the way it was presented was very good. Misha Collins is such a sweet, adorable guy in real I was utterly shocked by his creepy, psychotic character in this movie. He played it really, really, really well- he is an excellent actor. I was really captured by the film and felt very sorry for Karla. I think this is an excellent movie- definitely not for everyone, since it is very explicit and creepy, but a good film for the right people.

I first became fascinated by the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case when I had to study it in my high school class on Canadian Law in 2005. The Ken and Barbie killers. It was the only part of the whole course that wasn't completely boring. It was also the same year Karla was freed from prison. I watched the French CBC interview she gave the night she was freed (what a stupid move for such a hated woman I would've thought dead by now). I also read almost all the books and watched several documentaries about the case too. I was much more interested in Karla than in Paul. Simply because sadistic serial rapists/killers like Paul, as sad as it is to say, are a dime a dozen. But Karla was unique. She was a young pretty little enigma from our own Canada, who also happened to be a sadistic serial rapist/killer. Some psychiatrists that have evaluated her say she's pure evil, others say she's an innocent victim, and some came out saying she's a complete mystery. I personally think she is a person who happened to have been born without a conscience, like some people are born without limbs or vision or hearing. I think had she never met Paul, she wouldn't have done anything like this in her entire life. But she did. And she has no remorse for what she did, at all. Neither does her family. In Stephen Williams' first book about the case, Invisible Darkness, it's documented that, although her family appear to be nice normal people, they didn't really seem to care about what she had done. They defended her, stuck by her, and her mother, Dorothy, was heard to have said "Well the girls are already dead, so might as well party" at Karla's going away party before she went to prison. My theory is that the whole Homolka family is psychotic.First time I watched the movie, I didn't like it. I was disappointed that the facts had been twisted the way they were. But the second time I watched it, I understood the whole point of having it be her side of the story. Because there are certain parts we don't know for sure exactly how they happened (the deaths of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French not being videotaped), there are now three sides to this story: Karla's, Paul's, and the truth. Being told from her lying mouth was the only way they were able to make this movie. That, and also because Karla's compliant victim defense adds another layer of complexity to the story which might make it more interesting for some. She's still crazy, but it's a different kind of crazy you see. Since then, this has become one of my favorite movies. It really is well made and well acted. If it had been received better and not totally slandered by Canada (as a Canadian myself, I say you can't have a problem with this being based on a true story without having a problem with Bonnie and Clyde or Schindler's List), I think there could've been a possibility for Laura Prepon to have maybe even gotten an Oscar Nomination for this role. She probably thought it was going to be her big breakout role in Hollywood. And it could have been, especially after Charlize Theron received critical acclaim and an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. But now she'll be remembered as Donna Pinciotti from That '70s Show, which is what I'm sure she was trying to avoid by taking on such a challenging and dark role. But she played the murderous bitch perfectly, especially during the evaluation scenes between her and her psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold, who served as a proper mediator for her unreliable narration. In a way, she was playing two different characters. Both the Karla who's been reported as having an "indifferent, haughty and irritable" personality, and the compliant victim Karla from her version of the story. The real Karla was obviously not that good an actress.I've watched this movie with friends who knew nothing at all about the real case and they all liked it even though they thought it was sick and disturbing. But as sick and disturbing as this movie is, it's actually toned down through the movie's editing, as compared to what happened in real life. Almost every time I will watch the scenes of the psychotic rapes, torture, and murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French (renamed in the film out of respect), I will cry. Although, one particular part always makes me laugh for some reason; when Karla mentions Demerol to Dr. Arnold, he asks her if she wants some. She then looks him dead in the eyes with a hateful expression on her face and just calmly says, "No". I don't know why, but that part always cracks me up! This movie has some flaws, as most movies do. For example, there are some minor omissions and a couple of names have been changed due to legal reasons. It's not perfect or a masterpiece by any means. And it doesn't have a moral at the end of the story, other than love makes you crazy. But it is a very good movie that seemed to get a lot of negativity that wasn't necessarily deserved. It is much better than it gets credit for.

Hoping for parole, chain-smoking icy blonde Laura Prepon (as Karla Homolka) tells prison psychiatric Patrick Bauchau (as Dr. Arnold) how she met handsome serial killer husband Misha Collins (as Paul Bernardo), and became his murderous co-dependent, in flashbacks… After a whirlwind courtship, the newlyweds begin by accidentally offing Ms. Prepon's pretty sister, Cherilyn Hayres (as Tammy); her overdose ruins Mr. Collins' plan for an unconscious deflowering.Soon, it's obvious Collins gets off on violent sex with young women. Prepon paints Collins as a spell-binding rapist. Losing her will, Prepon tells Collins, "It's my mission in life to make you feel good." When he begins to bring rape victims home for threeways, Prepon is led to help… Unconvincing in explaining her behavior, the film seems to be asking if the convicted "Karla" should go free; while the lead performances are okay, the insignificant story is dead on arrival.**** Karla (1/20/06) Joel Bender ~ Laura Prepon, Misha Collins, Patrick Bauchau, Sarah Foret