The Eerie Movie That Turned One of America’s Worst Murder Sprees Into a Neo-Western Classic and Launched a Director’s Career

Terrence Malick is one of the most enigmatic filmmakers of his generation, as he has become renowned for taking massive gaps in between his projects. Although Malick was assumed to have been retired after making just two films in the 1970s, he delivered a modern World War II classic with The Thin Red Line in 1999, and later crafted a lyrical version of America’s early history with the romantic drama The New World. Malick’s films are known for their striking visual, surrealist sensibilities, and formless narratives. However, Malick’s debut film was the true crime thriller Badlands, which had a production process nearly as unpredictable as the real events that it was based on.