Icarus Films acquires hitman documentary El Sicario: Room 164

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Icarus Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to EL SICARIO: ROOM 164, a documentary that provides a firsthand account of the life of a professional hitman. The 2010 film is based on the writings and investigations of journalist Charles Bowden.

The effort, written and directed by Gianfranco Rosi, will be released on DVD in September before playing theatrically at the Film Forum in New York City on December 28. It’s a U.S./France production, but the sicario speaks Spanish, so the movie is subtitled.

It may not exactly be a horror flick, but it certainly looks rather haunting. Need convincing? Just watch the clip below. Here is the synopsis:

EL SICAORIO ROOM 164 is the shocking first person story of a commander of the state police in Chihuahua who is also a soldier and hitman in one of the infamous Mexican drug cartels, in Ciudad Juarez.

The “sicario” or professional killer, his face obscured by a black mesh hood, tells his story to the camera inside the very hotel room he once used to hold and torture kidnapped victims. Aided only by a magic marker and notepad, which he uses to illustrate and diagram his words, the sicario describes, in astounding detail, his life of crime, murder, abduction and torture.