Suspect Zero (2004) on Netflix
Demoted FBI agent Thomas Mackelway investigates a salesman's murder in Albuquerque. Taunting faxes and more killings point him and partner Fran Kulok toward a figure called Suspect Zero.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb5.7/1025,210 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes18%
Trailer
Plot summary
Harold Speck, a traveling salesman, is found dead in his car with his eyelids removed and a circular symbol, a zero, in his hand. FBI agent Thomas Mackelway, suspended after beating Raymond Starkey, suspected serial killer, is assigned to the case in Albuquerque alongside his partner, Fran Kulok. Faxes arrive taunting the agents, sent by someone who claims to be the killer, pointing them toward Suspect Zero, a figure linked to hundreds of unsolved deaths and no physical evidence. A body in a car trunk leads them to a halfway house room occupied by Benjamin O'Ryan, its walls covered in sketches of the crossed-circle symbol and a Bible marked with missing persons. O'Ryan says he is a former FBI agent. Mackelway and Kulok cannot tell whether he is the key to catching Suspect Zero or is Suspect Zero himself.
Cast
- William B. Johnsonas Mel
- Jerry Gardneras Sheriff Harry Dylan
- Daniel Patrick Moriartyas Bud Granger
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Suspect Zero (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Zak Penn's first draft of the script allegedly impressed Steven Spielberg so much with its depiction of serial killers' elongated middle fingers that he went home and checked his children's hands.
- Tom Cruise intended to star in Suspect Zero himself, but he instead opted to star in Eyes Wide Shut.
- A planned 1997 version of the film with Sylvester Stallone fell through, and the script was put onto the back burner as a result.
- In 2002, Cruise/Wagner Productions hired Bill Ray to rewrite Zak Penn's original script, moving the action from Texas, making the lead a burned-out, disgraced FBI agent rather than a rookie, and turning a maverick profiler into a psychic with remote viewing.
- Suspect Zero features various elements from declassified DIA Stargate remote viewing protocols, the real intelligence program behind the film's remote-viewing premise.
- As of 2026, Suspect Zero is the most recent theatrical film E. Elias Merhige has directed, making it the last theatrical feature of his career.
