Please take note of how the story is framed. It is NEVER presented as what happened. No one knows what happened other than Bernardo and Homolka, and since you can't believe a word that comes out of their mouths, no one ever will. The story is framed as what KARLA TELLS A PSYCHIATRIST, and of course she tried to portray herself as a victim. Had she told "the truth," the film would not have presented anything close to the actual case because she never has. The ending is very important. She was not recommended for parole because although she was clearly trying to excuse what she did, she never once demonstrated in any real remorse or acceptance of responsibility. Pepron portrays her as a woman of emotional vacuity, which is how Homolka has been described even since her 2005 release. The psychiatrist -- nor the people of Canada -- are fooled by her "I was just a victim" BS. She has never shown remorse, she has never apologized to victims' families, and she continues to deny her willing participation in those rapes. The character is flat for a reason; the true Homolka is emotionally flat when it comes to remorse. Believe me, I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt for years. She was clearly abused, and I stand by abuse victims. But there is too much evidence to support her guilt in at least three rapes and complicity in three deaths. Also, IF Bernardo's lawyer hadn't withheld those tapes, they wouldn't have had to make a Deal With the Devil. He was the one who necessitated the deal by withholding evidence. That's illegal in the US, but I'm not sure if it's viewed the same in Canada.

First off, this movie portrays Karla as a victim, an abused wife just trying desperately to keep her husband happy. That's pretty inconsistent with the facts, and the tapes that were found showing her to be a willing and active participant to the kidnapping, sexual abuse, and torture. She was a sociopath that worked the system for lenience, and that's pretty much universally agreed upon.

Storywise, there's no chemistry between Paul and Karla, and instead of the happy, beautiful couple that the real life Ken and Barbie Killers put up, we get a mopey wife, and an irrationally abusive husband. There's no introspection here, no psychology, no attention to motivation.

The result is a poorly developed serial rapist and killer paired with an unquestioning victim, and the audience is left wondering why. In one scene, a victim asks Karla why she stays, and she says, "You don't understand.". Well, nobody understands, and the movie misses an opportunity to explain why.

I agree that the movie makes the female lead seem like a victim. If a woman is jealous she is capable of many things. I think her man was a pervert but not a murderer initially. I think she got insanely jealous especially in the case of her sister, and felt that if she got rid of what she felt was a threat It would make her feel better. They probably as a couple had incredible sex attraction for each other initially but then he got bored after a couple of years and she was desperate and tried to keep him interested in staying together and ultimately I feel she threatened him into staying with her...maybe threatened to go to the police. There are several accounts on this case with different view points. I think he was guilty as a rapist and she was guilty as a murderer. I feel they both are guilty.

...and have a thing for watching women get abused, by all means: This one is for you.

I think this movie is written to portray the BS that got Karla off the hook. I think it takes her (BS) testimony and her side of the story and brings it to fruition. Because nowhere did it say that this was based on "what actually happened." I think this is "the story that got her off." Nothing more.

Should have a subtitle, "From the psychiatrist's notes, this is the fantasy tale Karla wants you to believe." Then maybe people won't nearly have a stroke when they see this movie.

I had never heard of this case before, but am always interested in "based on true stories". After watching, I kinda' feel sick to my stomach and sad and yuck. I can't even think about the acting and script. I'm thick skinned, but this is one very sad and disturbing movie and one I wish I hadn't seen. This is one true story you don't want to know about. I'm very sad for the young girls and families this happened to. I think I'm gonna go someplace quiet for a while and say a few prayers for them now.

ugh this movie portrays karla as this "omg this is so terrible stop it" type person. When in reality the real karla said "omg this is so exciting this is fun lets do more." It was her idea for gifting her sisters virginity to paul. It was her idea to kill and re-enact tammys rape and death on videotape. Paul had trouble staying aroused during the actual tapes, which made their own defense lawyers sick and they said they couldn't get it out of their mind for days as it was that disturbing. Paul would get more sadistic if he had a compliant victim...he liked it when they were defiant. And their death was clearly jealousy from karla because they got to spend intimate moments with her "king" but as queen she wasn't going to have them around...paul wanted them to live there as a sex slave but it was karla's idea to kill them. I adore misha collins and he did a very fine acting job same for laura prepon however the script was bad and story inacurrate. The story was way more ugly than this.

Karla was released unconditionally from prison. True justice would've been the death penalty.
To this very day she has never repented nor made any attempts at making reparations amends nor even an apology to the victims' parents. And for that she will never find forgiveness--true freedom--until she does.

Sociopaths don't understand because they don't care that they not only kill their victim but kill the victims' family. Especially their parents and absolutely tear their hearts out and the families must live with that til the end of their lives. Karla doesn't even understand even when she killed her own sister, thus her own family--her parents--are victims of her perversion. KARLA = SOCIOPATH, spiritual root = SELFISHNESS.

Karla should be KOS.

We'll know when she truly repents: it will be when she admits she still belongs in prison and when she makes amends reparations apologies to the victims' families. To this day they still suffer and she doesn't understand she stabbed them all in the HEART because she is a reprobate. Throw her into the fire she is trash. So is her husband.

Paul is a creep, bully and a coward. Carla is just as bad. I read 2 books on them, and other research, this movie doesn't even come close to what happened. This is a crappy movie, the truth is much more chilling. Carla wasn't close to being the victim she claimed. She played the Canadian system like a piano, getting a sweet deal and throwing Paul under the bus. He deserved it for sure, but she was as culpable as he.
She is out of prison now, she has two kids and got a man to marry her skanky ass too. She lives in seclusion now and nobody knows what she does. I guess she just found another "Dick with a ring" and lives off of him. (Until he gets smart and dumps her murdering ass)
The movie, though had to watch, is a poor portrayal of what really happened.