Confession: I know next to nothing about Sid and Nancy; I’ve never even seen the Gary Oldman-starring movie about them. I know they are two people who were once alive, but now are dead, and that’s it.
OK, maybe I know a bit more about them than that (you can’t live in NYC and not hear stories about the Chelsea Hotel), but the documentary “Who Killed Nancy?” is aiming to know more about this crazy couple than anyone, as it tries to uncover new information about Nancy’s untimely death.
Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen had a unique relationship (to put it delicately), that seemed to be fueled by intense passion, lots of anger, and heavy drug use. On October 12, 1978, Nancy was found stabbed to death in a room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Sid was arrested and charged for her murder, but never stood trial as he died from a heroin overdose just a couple of months later.
The story of Sid and Nancy’s manic relationship, and tragic deaths, has been a mysterious point of fascination for many people in the 30+ years since it happened. Some see it as an open-and-shut case: Sid killed Nancy, then committed suicide before he could be convicted. Some claim that there’s no way Sid was responsible for her death, and his overdose was an accident. Some say Sid and Nancy had a suicide pact and it was all planned out. And some say that there were so many people in the hotel room the night of Nancy’s death that any number of things could have happened. “Who Killed Nancy?” attempts to uncover new information that has been long buried and shed some light on what may, or may not, have happened that night in 1978.
“Who Killed Nancy?” played at a handful of film festivals, and will be available on DVD Aug. 24.
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