Canada- A CONTROVERSIAL movie in which "That '70s Show" star Laura Prepon [pictured] plays a particularly notorious murderer is finally headed for theaters.
"Karla" was to have made its debut last August at the Montreal World Film Festival, but was yanked at the last minute after Air Canada and other fest sponsors complained - a decision that set off a censorship controversy in the land to the north.
Now, Christal Films has announced it will release "Karla" on 100 screens across Canada on Jan. 20, The Post's V.A. Musetto reports. A U.S. release is up in the air.
The subject matter is truly horrific. Prepon stars as Karla Homolka with Misha Collins, of TV's "24," as her husband, Paul Bernardo. Both Homolka and Bernardo were convicted of torturing and murdering two Canadian schoolgirls in the early 1990s.
Homolka also drugged her own 15-year-old sister, Tammy, and allowed equally depraved Bernardo to rape the girl, who choked on her own vomit and died.
Homolka, 35, served a 12-year prison sentence for manslaughter and was freed last summer. While behind bars, she carried on a lesbian relationship with a convicted bank robber.
Homolka remained out of sight until last week, when a Montreal newspaper reported that she was seen applying for a passport.
Bernardo is serving a life sentence.
A lawyer representing the victims' families says they will not oppose release of the movie, directed by American Joel Bender.
"They recognize we live in a free and democratic society where freedom of speech matters," the lawyer, Tim Danson, told the Globe and Mail of Toronto.
"They'd be happier for no one to see the movie ... but they're not going to play censor board. Unless I'm instructed otherwise, I don't think the families will have anything more to say."
No matter how free and democratic Canadians think their nation is, they had to follow the gruesome serial-murder case in the American media. That was because Canadian law restricts coverage of criminal cases pending conviction.
Luckily for Canadians, most live near the U.S. border, so they weren't too deprived of information.
