WONDERLAND explores, in
Rashomon-like fashion, the brutal multiple murders that took
place high atop Wonderland Avenue in L.A.’s Laurel
Canyon during the summer of 1981. At first the case seemed
to involve only the usual strung-out drug dealers and party
hounds, but it quickly became elevated to a classic L.A.
noir when it was discovered to be connected to the infamous
porn king John C. “Johnny Wadd” Holmes.
By the time our story begins, Holmes had fallen from being the biggest and
most famous star in the hardcore industry into a state of financial and pharmaceutical
ruin. Holmes is devoted to his teenage girlfriend Dawn while still married
to his wife Sharon and the three form a most unconventional love triangle.
In the midst of his spiraling demise,
Holmes befriends local drug dealers Ron and Susan Launius
along with their “business partner” David Lind,
who operate out of the Wonderland party house. But Holmes
is out of his element in the life-and-death world of high
stakes drug crime and he soon gets himself neck deep into
trouble. Desperate for cash and drugs, the Wonderland gang
decides to rob another dealer friend of John’s --
the notorious gangster Eddie Nash. Soon after the robbery,
the slaughter at Wonderland occurs. Did Holmes set up his
Wonderland cohorts for murder to save himself from the
wrath of Nash? It all depends on whose story you believe. |
