John the Violent

John the Violent (, Ioannis o Viaios) is a 1973 black and white Greek film starring Manolis Logiadis in his role as Ioannis Zachos, a young psychopath who murders a woman in Athens. The award-winning film was directed by Tonia Marketaki. The film impressed the audience at the Thessaloniki film festival upon its release in 1973 where it was awarded three of the top prizes. The film is based on an actual murder which happened in Athens in the 1960s and created a media sensation at the time. Plot Ioannis Zachos is a psychopath who fantasises about killing beautiful women as a means to validate his manhood and to feel a sense of empowerment. He stalks the empty streets of Athens at night looking for victims. In one of those outings he enters a small sidestreet and at around midnight he sees a young woman, Eleni Chalkia, whom he attacks stabbing her to death. After the murder he disappears into the darkness. A murder investigation eventually leads to his arrest. During interrogation he readily confesses his crime to the police to their great relief, since their investigation had come under fire for its perceived faults. In the ensuing trial, the psychopath freely admits his guilt but during his testimony he falls into contradictions. It becomes apparent that the murderer bases his testimony on reports he reads from the newspapers which cover his criminal trial. Zachos may be a deviant psychopath but he possesses eloquence, grace, charisma and above-average intelligence which make him attractive to the trial audience, the judges, the press and the psychiatrists. He soon becomes a "social icon" through the everyday reports of the press.