Synopsis

During the summer of 1977, the Son of Sam murders spread fear across New York City. In an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, a troubled marriage, a friend's punk lifestyle, and simmering tensions become increasingly dangerous as suspicion turns inward. While the police pursue the killer, neighbors and friends form their own theories, creating a volatile atmosphere of paranoia, prejudice, and violence.

Factoids & Trivia

• The screenplay shifted its emphasis toward the neighborhood and its residents after families of the Son of Sam victims expressed concern that a film might glorify the murderer.

• The Son of Sam letters read in the film recreate the real letters David Berkowitz sent to newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin.

• The production used the real CBGB club in Manhattan. The punk band L.E.S. Stitches, seen performing there, was an actual New York group founded in 1994.

• Filming took place from June 3 through August 27, 1998, with locations in the Bronx, including Morris Park, Country Club, and Throggs Neck, as well as parts of Manhattan and Queens.

• Adrien Brody broke his nose while filming the climactic fight scene.

• The original cut included more explicit material in the Plato's Retreat sequence. Several minutes were removed after the MPAA threatened an NC-17 rating, allowing the film to receive an R rating.

• The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 1999, before its United States theatrical release on July 2, 1999.

• Reggie Jackson's appearance in the film was shot in 1999 rather than taken from older footage, despite the scene's 1977 setting.