With new docu-series and true crime dramas dropping almost daily, it is hard to imagine how many more serial killers are still unknown. After watching hours of footage filmed with some of the biggest bads like Bundy, Dahmer, or Gacy, many of us may feel like we have already come face to face with some of the most heinous crimes imaginable–but Michael Caissie’s No Tears in Hell is no Netflix special. Inspired by the crimes of Russian serial killer Alexander Spesivtsev, also known as The Siberian Ripper, the film follows Alex (Luke Baines) as he prowls the streets to satiate his violent urges.
No Tears in Hell opens over frigid snowy landscapes, the Alaskan winter standing in for the Southwestern Siberian city that was home to Spesivtsev and his mother. This coldness is matched in Baines’s voice as Alex rambles on about how poverty and democracy feed into one another–a sentiment born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union and twisted to justify his depravity. Alex preys on the homeless encampments, taking advantage of the vulnerability and invisibility of the “less dead,” a criminology term used to describe the people on the margins of society whose deaths are often underinvestigated. He continues to lure people to his apartment, often with the help of his mother, until the body count becomes too high for authorities to ignore.
One of the most interesting aspects of this story is Alex’s relationship with his mother (Gwen Van Dam), who reassures her son that “mothers take care of their children, always.” In this dynamic, this means not only luring unsuspecting victims but helping dispose of the bodies that are left in the wake of her son’s appetite. This unusual relationship adds to the unique nature of Alex’s crimes, a trauma bond that illuminates the psychology of many killers. From start to finish, No Tears in Hell is a bleak, dark experience. Writer-director Michael Caissie never holds back, allowing the full extent of The Siberian Ripper’s story to be told, and his brutality to wash over the audience. While you could do a quick internet search to find the gruesome details, I would recommend going into this film as blind as possible–if you can stomach it.
Despite a lifelong curiosity in true-crime, each scene left me in awe that I had never heard the name Alexander Spesivtsev before now. Between the cutting of flesh, the sawing of bone, and all the blood in between, this film is a sensory nightmare–a compliment in the case of serial killer horror films.
Luke Baines carries the film with his portrayal of Alex. The way his eyes scan each room, and the way the shadows settle into the hollows of his cheeks is so very unsettling. It is chilling to know that a man like him is walking the Earth. As we head into the colder months of the year, whether you are a gorehound or a true-crime aficionado, it is the perfect time to test your limits with No Tears in Hell.
Siren Death Cult 