20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Zodiac (2007)

The shockingly underrated film holds some interesting secrets.

By Simon Winter /

Serial killers always attract plenty of attention, but the Zodiac Killer captured the imagination of 70s America with his unique calling cards and cryptic puzzles. It was almost inevitable that Hollywood would try and get a piece of the action. Yet out of the many Zodiac films out there, very few have actually managed to capture the sheer excitement and mystery of the case. That is, until David Fincher came along in 2007.

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Fincher and producer James Vanderbilt spent months researching and interviewing, ensuring that the movie would be as factual as possible. The aim was to dispel the multitude of myths and misinformation that had surround the case over the many years and it paid off in waves.

Zodiac boasts an incredible cast and follows the story of true crime author, Robert Graysmith. Graysmith became enamoured with the story while working for a San Francisco newspaper during the attacks and dedicated over a decade of his life to trying to solve the case.

Naturally, with a case this complex, the film is full of interesting tidbits and secrets. Some of which will likely never be noticed, but we're going to try our best and bring you some mind-blowing facts about this classic film.

20. The Film Caused The Investigation To Reopen

Despite being one of the most infamous cases in history, San Fransisco Police Department actually closed the case back in 2004, due to a lack of new leads or evidence. While it remained open in Riverside, Napa Valley and Vallejo, there were no advances due to the lack of resources that the smaller departments had. However, the SFPD saw fit to reopen the investigation after the release of David Fincher's film.

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An increased public interest accounted for part of that decision, with multiple reports coming in with fresh accusations and suspects. However, investigators were also interested in the amount of research and interviewing that went into the production. Fincher and his researchers had done such a thorough job, they managed to uncover evidence that the police had missed previously.

Unfortunately, the new leads failed to produce enough evidence to bring the killer to justice, and as things currently stand, the Zodiac case is still open across the four departments. Vallejo police have been looking into DNA on stamps that the killer used to send his letters, the idea being that they could collar them in a similar way they caught the Golden Gate Killer.

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