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Topic: Wonderland Murders

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	Wonderland
		Wonderland is a re-creation of the 1981 Wonderland murders, in which a famous Hollywood mobster named Eddie Nash was alleged to have ordered the murder of some small-time crime figures and their women as retribution for their having robbed him.
		The grisly case (the victims were bludgeoned to death with large metal objects) attained an extra measure of fame because one of the accomplices to the murder was said to have been John Holmes, the biggest star in the history of porn (in more ways than one).
		The first is told by a member of the Wonderland Gang, the only one who escaped death because he wasn't in the house on the night that Nash's minions arrived.
	www.fakes.net /wonderland2.htm (1071 words)

	Return to Wonderland - Salon (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The authorities dubbed the case the "Four on the Floor Murders," but most folks just called it the "Wonderland Murders." The massacre took place just down the street from what was then the home of Jerry Brown, who was California's governor at the time.
		The theory is that Nash had the Wonderland gang killed because they, with the help of John Holmes, had robbed Nash and his bodyguard, Gregory DeWitt Niles, a 300-pound martial-arts specialist, of a small fortune in heroin, cocaine, jewels and cash.
		Wonderland was payback for the home invasion and robbery, claimed prosecutors.
	dir.salon.com /people/feature/2000/06/09/wonderland/index.html (1107 words)

	Wonderland murders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Wonderland Murders, also known as Four on the Floor or Laurel Canyon Murders, occurred in Los Angeles in 1981, when four people were killed in a drug-related plot that involved porn star John Holmes and was masterminded by nightclub owner and gangster Eddie Nash.
		On July 1, 1981 the house at 8763 Wonderland Ave was entered, and four of the five people present (two men and two women) were bludgeoned to death with a steel pipe; one woman survived critically injured.
		In 2000, already in his seventies and suffering from tuberculosis, Nash was indicted on federal charges under the RICO act for running a drug dealing and money laundering operation, conspiring to carry out the Wonderland Murders, and bribing one of the jurors of his first trial.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Wonderland_Murders (480 words)

	Slant Magazine - Film Review: Wonderland
		The murders were believed to be retribution for a robbery that several of Holmes' associates carried out against Eddie Nash, resident lord of the underworld, and if Holmes' complicity in the theft was always relatively clear, his involvement in the murders, if he had any at all, was not.
		The murders on Wonderland Avenue are the focus point of a series of spiraling perspectives, each embedded within the "seeking" format of the detective film and set in that all too familiar undead Los Angeles.
		Wonderland might as well be another Boogie Nights, a film itself inspired in part by the Wonderland robbery and killings.
	www.slantmagazine.com /film/film_review.asp?ID=838 (552 words)

	Wonderland is a Big Mixxx!
		Like 2002's Auto Focus, Wonderland is the (mostly) true story of the darker part of the life of a pornography-drenched celebrity.
		Lind and Holmes are at opposite ends of the Wonderland gang ostensibly (and somewhat goofily) led by smilin' Ron Launius (Josh Lucas) and including Tim Blake Nelson's Billy Deverell and Christina Applegate's never nude Susan Launius!
		Wonderland (2003) reviewed by J.C. Maçek III who alone is responsible for his views and for the fact that he has NoT "measured"...
	www.worldsgreatestcritic.com /wonderland.html (930 words)

	The DVD Journal \| Reviews: Wonderland (2003) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		Wonderland appears to be a direct commentary on Anderson's film, concerning John Holmes' involvement in the 1981 Wonderland murders (which was used as the basis for a set-piece in Boogie Nights).
		Lanius, Deverall, and Lind are successful at the robbery, but Nash's retribution was the Wonderland murders, in which the inhabitants of Deverall's home were beaten with steel pipes, leaving four dead and one in a coma.
		The Wonderland case and its underpinnings are fascinating, but like a lot of films where the makers are too close to the material, it never opens itself up enough for people who haven't studied it.
	www.dvdjournal.com /reviews/w/wonderland03.shtml (1379 words)

	CharlieManson.Com - The Wonderland Murders - John Holmes
		Twelve years after the nearby Manson murders, 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon was the site of a drug-related multiple-murder (a few websites misstate the address as 8764).
		Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders lived in both the Sharon Tate house and the Wonderland house.
		The Wonderland murders were exactly twelve years later on July 1, 1981.
	www.charliemanson.com /crime/wonderland.htm (851 words)

	A review of "Wonderland" by JA
		“Wonderland” manages to move beyond its bloody rage by spinning a complex narrative that’s one of the year’s most compelling stories.
		Told from several perspectives, the story is alternatively horrifying and utterly mesmerizing; a tabloid sensation of sex, guns, gore and illegal substances.
		“Wonderland” is reminiscent of a John Sayles project – sharp, taut, and saturated in the erratic vagaries of humanity.
	www.aufmuth.com /jeanne/reviews/Wonderland.html (352 words)

	Wonderland - Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, James Cox - CIA
		On 1 July 1981, four people were brutally tortured and murdered in a drug-related gang style execution at 8763 Wonderland Avenue.
		The "Wonderland Murders" remains one of the most high profile cases in Los Angeles; gruesome and unsolved.
		With the seedy underbelly of Hollywood as its backdrop, the explosive and fateful events surrounding these murders are brought to life as we unravel the compelling story of the man who got away.
	thecia.com.au /reviews/w/wonderland-2003.shtml (217 words)

	Amazon.ca: Wonderland: DVD: James Cox,Christina Applegate,M.C. Gainey,Val Kilmer,Lisa Kudrow,Ted Levine,Faizon ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		If you're making a film about multiple murders, powerful and heavily armed drug dealers, folks on the run from both sides of the law, and the world's most celebrated porn star, you'd have to work pretty hard for the results to be uninteresting, but for better or worse Wonderland manages that remarkable achievement.
		The film is based on the incident known as either the Laurel Canyon Murders or the Wonderland Murder Case that actually happened in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles in July, 1981.
		During a television news clip about the murders, the reporter says the Wonderland Murders is the most heinous since the Tate-Labianca murders in 1968.
	www.amazon.ca /Wonderland-James-Cox/dp/B00014K58W (2144 words)

	WONDERLAND
		Wonderland, which is not to be confused with Michael Winterbottom's South London tale of the same name, is supposed to be Val Kilmer's big return to the spotlight after, oh, about 10 years of making some really disappointing films.
		Instead, director and co-writer James Cox tells the story of Holmes's involvement in the infamous Wonderland murders, which took place in Laurel Canyon in 1981, well after Holmes abandoned shagging for money in favor of snorting copious amounts of coke.
		Because the Wonderland murders are still unsolved, they're right up there with the Black Dahlia and the Zodiac Killer (but, sadly, not the Simpson-Goldman slayings) in terms of grisly yet titillating crimes.
	www.sick-boy.com /wonderland2003.htm (511 words)

	The Wonderland Of John Holmes
		The two detectives that worked on the murders at Wonderland Avenue would go on to write a book called "Four on the Floor" about their experience with this case.
		As the investigation into the "Wonderland Murders" proceeded, the detectives were shocked to learn that the pivotal character in these murders was the 1970s adult film star, John C. Holmes, aka Johnny Wad.
		According to the movie, the brutal murders of four people and the near death of a fifth person at 8763 Wonderland Avenue were in retaliation for the victims' robbery of notorious Los Angeles night club owner Eddie Nash, who was under investigation by the LAPD on racketeering charges.
	www.useless-knowledge.com /1234/apr/article413.html (722 words)

	3BlackChicks Review™... WONDERLAND (Cass)
		Wonderland is based on the true story of the quadruple murders that took place in 1981 at 8736 Wonderland Avenue, in Los Angeles, California.
		Wonderland picks up after Holmes is out of the adult industry and down on his luck trying to support his drug habit.
		Nash did serve eight months in a federal prison for racketeering and conspiracy surrounding the Wonderland murders, but at 72, he was released from jail in 2001 for medical reasons.
	www.3blackchicks.com /2003reviews/casswonderland.html (880 words)

	stereogum: The Wonderland Murders
		Christina Applegate, who I believe played the role of the one female suvivor in Wonderland, actually saw the police scene in the aftermath of the Wonderland murders as child while her family were driving/returning home.
		Wonderland is a three-sided depiction of the extrememly horrific events that transpired on the morning of July 1.
		I was wondering what the "wonderland women" Joy Miller and Barbara Richardson were like, I could be totally wrong but on the bonus wonderland DVD when they show Joy's picture she looks older and kind of shy to me and barbara looks kind of shy too I know she was David Lind's girlfriend though.
	www.stereogum.com /archives/000471.html (5657 words)

	Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Wonderland at Epinions.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		Unfortunately, co-writer and director James Cox (Supposedly the pun is intended) seems to have been inspired by little if anything at all, as WONDERLAND is a deliberately flat and colorless rendering of the 1981 Wonderland murders and sultan of cock Holmes' alleged involvement.
		If there is one narrative strength to WONDERLAND, it is that besides the prologue almost no mention is made of John Holmes the porn king (There is a nice moment where Ted Levine as the lead investigator in the case admits not knowing who Holmes is).
		As Holmes was acquitted of any wrongdoing, the mysteries of WONDERLAND died at the scene of the crime, an event given short and uninvolving cinematic shrift in the hands of James Cox, a director clearly out of his depth.
	www.epinions.com /content_116879167108 (520 words)

	Wonderland (2003) Starring: Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Bosworth - Three Movie Buffs Review
		This is not the case with Wonderland, the new movie from Lions Gate Films, which deals with the aftermath of the legendarily endowed porn star's career, specifically his involvement with the infamous Wonderland murders that took place in L.A. during the summer of 1981.
		When the Wonderland crew gets desperate for drugs and cash they decide to rob notorious gangster Eddie Nash, whom John Holmes happens to be 'friends' with.
		The actual murders are graphically reenacted and we're talking baseball bats and lead pipes to the head.
	www.threemoviebuffs.com /review.php?movieID=wonderland (509 words)

	Wonderland (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		Watching Wonderland is like being trapped in a reeking shed under a naked light bulb, morosely reading old tabloids that have lost their shock value.
		If for some reason you are fascinated by the Wonderland murders, look up the Rolling Stone article of 1989 that brought national attention to the gruesome case.
		Wonderland skips lightly along the sewers of human depravity as if the trip alone was worth the telling.
	www.rottentomatoes.com /m/wonderland (960 words)

	Eddie Nash and the Wonderland Murders
		Though Eddie Nash went to jail for unrelated narcotics possession following the murders (his attorney argued that the $1 million worth of cocaine was for his personal use), he has evaded conviction twice for participating in the crime; once in 1990 because of a hung jury and again 1991 by acquittal.
		The charges have ranged from narcotics possession to arson to murder, but the end result has almost always been the same--Eddie Nash, whose very name evokes images of film noir, is acquitted and authorities are left with egg on their faces.
		The case, known as the "Wonderland murders," came to symbolize the seamy side of the California lifestyle and even resulted in pornographic film star John Holmes facing murder charges before eventually being acquitted.
	www.flipsidefanzine.com /Nash.html (2715 words)

	AboutFilm.com - Wonderland (2003)
		The 1981 "Four on the Floor" murders on Laurel Canyon's Wonderland Avenue left Ron Launius, Joy Miller, Barbara Richardson, and Billy Deverell (all members of a drug gang) bludgeoned to death.
		Shortly afterward, he is brought into police custody under suspicion of the Wonderland murders.
		Director James Cox's pieces of the elusive Wonderland truth however are not simply "presented" to the audience ambiguously (which is really the point of this device).
	www.aboutfilm.com /movies/w/wonderland-2003.htm (976 words)

	Amazon.com: Wonderland: DVD: Val Kilmer,Kate Bosworth,Lisa Kudrow,Josh Lucas,Tim Blake Nelson,Dylan McDermott,Christina ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The movie attempts to explain how the legendarily endowed porn actor John C. Holmes was involved in the killings, while deliberately suggesting the difficulty of knowing the truth of a murky case.
		"Wonderland" isn't a pretty story, and there is no happy ending with good winning over evil, etc. This is a true story--based on the piecing together of certain details, and it's irredeemably ugly.
		'Wonderland' is the true account story of the murder of four people on Wonderland Drive in Laurel Canyon, and the involvement of 70's adult-film icon Johnny "Wadd" Holmes (played expertly by Val Kilmar).
	www.amazon.com /Wonderland-James-Cox/dp/B00014K58W (1980 words)

	SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Features -- Crime scene fascination
		OLLYWOOD – Like a macabre tour guide, 28-year-old "Wonderland" director James Cox ambles through what he calls The Murder House, where the notorious L.A. multiple-slaying occurred that is the subject of his new true-crime film.
		In the film that opens Friday, their home (the real exterior is shown, although the split-level interior, including the living room where 22-year-old Barbara Richardson died, was re-created on a Hollywood soundstage) is on the big screen, its corners crammed with drug partiers, its walls covered with blood.
		"Wonderland" explores the homicides from several perspectives, including that of Holmes, the "Boogie Nights"; inspiration who died in 1988 at age 43 of AIDS-related complications.
	www.signonsandiego.com /news/features/20031014-9999_1c14wonder.html (1328 words)

	Long Time Money and Lots of Cocaine by Rodger Jacobs (Book) in Mystery & Crime
		Anyone with an interest in the Wonderland murders and what went on in the Hills that night should read this.
		Anyone interested in the Wonderland murder case should purchase this book if for no other reason than to obtain the virtually-verbatim transcript of John Holmes' preliminary hearing in criminal court.
		While not an end all in the story of the infamous "Wonderland" killings that happened in July,1981,this book does give additional information about this event through the testimony givin by some of the surviving main players at the preliminary hearing for John Holmes who was charged in this crime.
	www.lulu.com /content/130126 (576 words)

	Wonderland DVD Review (Val Kilmer) By Erin Cullin Empire Movies
		Wonderland gives us a snapshot of the life of John Holmes, at a time when he had started to descend from an icon (albeit a seedy one) into the pathetic figure that he was at the time of his death.
		It chronicles, from a few different perspectives, Holmes' suspected involvement in the deaths of four people in what was known as the, "Wonderland Murders" or the "Laurel Canyon Murders".
		There is also the Court TV blurb on the actual Wonderland murders.
	www.empiremovies.com /dvd/reviews/erin/wonderland.shtml (786 words)

	Punknews.org \| The Wonderland Murders Form From Ex-Buglite / The Complex
		The group consists of Dave and Kyle (guitar/vocals and bass in Buglite), Vince (drummer of The Complex and Buglite) and longtime band friend Roger on guitar.
		Wonderland Murders recently recorded a 5 song EP titled "Excess in Moderation" with Brandon Abate of Sidecar fame.
		Re: The Wonderland Murders From From Ex-Buglite / The Comple
	www.punknews.org /article.php?sid=6287 (414 words)

	Kent Braithwaite - The Wonderland Murders (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		A gorgeous Asian woman is murdered on the Fourth of July.
		She is hanging from the rafters in Mount Wonder, the signature roller coaster of Wonderland, an amusement park near the fabled California coastline.
		Set in Southern California and Northern Nevada, The Wonderland Murders takes place where our nation's traditional ethnic groups mix uneasily with immigrants from every corner of the world and human beings become increasingly expendable.
	www.murderexpress.net /kentbraithwaite/wonder.htm (151 words)

	THE WONDERLAND MURDERS by Kent Braithwaite (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The novel begins with the gruesome murder of a beautiful Asian woman on the 4th of July.
		She is only the first to meet her maker amidst the hot dogs and balloons of Wonderland.
		Jesse Ascencio, Latino PI with a poet's heart, joins his long-time friend African-American police detective, Ralph Malcolm, in investigating the murders.
	www.murderexpress.net /reviews/wonderlandmurders.htm (184 words)

	Movienet (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		Once the biggest star in the hardcore industry—literally and figuratively—John C. Holmes (Val Kilmer) is now in a state of ruin, living with his teenage girlfriend (Kate Bosworth) while still married to his wife (Lisa Kudrow).
		It had taken a lot of emails and eventually many late night phone conversations before Dawn was willing to even give me her address, much less grant me the invitation to come visit.
		We wrote the early drafts of Wonderland based on transcriptions and interviews with second and third party participants, and we knew quite well the law-enforcement side of the story.
	www.movienet.com /wonderland.html (622 words)

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