Unsolved mysteries have become somewhat of a fascination and a success in Hollywood. First, there was the Black Dahlia and now there is Zodiac.

Based on the true story of a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and 1970s, the Paramount Pictures film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. as two reporters who become obsessed with solving the case.

The obsession begins for these two reporters when the killer, dubbed the Zodiac, pens chilling letters to the editors of San Francisco area newspapers. In them, he confesses to the brutal murders of a Solano County couple in July 1969 and provides clues that if solved, would reveal his identity. They concluded with one demand: publish the letters or more people would die.

At first glance, these letters appeared to be the work of someone who didn’t know anything about the case and probably wanted some attention. But the fact that he could describe details only the police would know sent chills down the editors’ back.
With reluctance, the editors published the letters.

A month later, the Zodiac struck again, this time killing a young couple picnicking in Napa County.  The following month, he killed a taxi driver. Days later, he sent a letter, this one being the most taunting and terrifying: Police could have caught him that night. Even worse was that school children were in such close range that he could take them away as they stepped off the school bus.

San Francisco was in an utter state of panic and San Francisco Chronicle’s star crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey, Jr.) and editorial cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhall) felt like it was up to them to put a stop to the Zodiac’s endless mind games. But because the meticulous Zodiac appeared to be one step ahead, always covering his tracks, the question remained: could Avery and Graysmith solve one of San Francisco’s most notorious crime cases?