That line is not contained anywhere in the film, I wasn't being coy, I was scolding the director for even having the idea for this "film". Which really, to call anything shot on an XL1 or DVX100A (what is this, 2004?) that has been transferred to this horrible quality is an insult to everything Eadweard Muybridge did in the late 1800's. Someone said this is a festival screener....at this quality I would have preferred a VHS copy, at least then the image wouldn't be in the wrong aspect ratio. Which begs the question, if the director can't figure out an aspect ratio (it's a button, seriously) then how are we supposed to believe he made a film of any substance?
So after you're done taking the ideas of Jeff Lindsay and modifying them to fit current emo tides of popularity, all you need to do is go on LACasting and get a bunch of amateur actors. I won't let my horrified point of view affect my judgment of the actors, because you can tell Liam Smith, the lead actor, was a decent actor, however, he obviously had the disadvantage of working with an incompetent director, since there is no flow any given scene, entire ideas grind to a halt so the characters can messily try to serve the director's ego, discussing films of his that don't exist. It comes off as cheap and sad, like this scene is the only thing that gets the director up in the morning, as if someone else had said the words, not had them written by the director for them.
I don't feel sorry for any of the other actors however, their lack of talent is only overshadowed by their obvious lack of enthusiasm. It's great to call yourself an actor, it's insulting to actual actors when you don't even try. A lot has been said of the gore content in this film. I ask, what gore? There were 10 max kills in the film, each one was sloppily filmed and the f/x looked like they were purchased at the Target clearance bin the day after Halloween. The much hyped "cannibalism" is Christian making a human shake, which doesn't really make sense, as the character has displayed no tendency towards mutilation or post-mortem fixation, the two main components of cannibalistic behavior. I forget, actual psychology has no place here.
It's like Dexter, without the psychological implications, which is what makes Dexter work. Here, the main character wallows in
self pity, but we as an audience can't react, because he's a serial killer, and he doesn't even have a convincing past to get him to the point he's at in the film. Of course, the whole point of the film is Christian's love story, while he recants his killing ways, which is hilarious, because if his synapses ever had the tendency not to kill and to love, it would have happened long before this point, and the events of this film would have never taken place.
I'm a connoisseur of cheap horror films, and I can deal with bad film-making, as long as the film brings one element to the table. I can overlook silly dialogue when there are gorgeous shots to look at, or artfully done f/x. This movie has none of that. There aren't many different scenes, most of the movie consists of him finding a victim (most of the time it's randomly, which again, would defy the modus operandi of just about every real serial killer that ever existed) and the character hanging out with his friends and towards the end, his girlfriend.
So instead of being a realistic dissection of a serial killer's behavior, it becomes the realization of the director's favorite things: coy serial killers, emo love stories, and really terrible special f/x. This is what happens when a half baked film school idea is funded, I guess. Instead of making a film with any substance, the director chose to go the cheap route, in some feigned attempt at a Martino or Lenzi movie. It isn't, because those films have competent musicians, cinematographers, set designers, and stunt men, where this film has a bunch of college kids, a $1,000 DV camera, a script that was seemingly written by a 14 year old BrokenCyde fan, and tons of fake blood from Target's clearance rack.
Anyone brave enough to venture into the special features will only find self-serving (and equally silly) mini-documentaries on the film's production and theatrical premiere. The production scenes are just the director in his clashing orange hat (orange and blue? THAT is a color scheme) talking in front of the location that they were shooting at. A few other scenes show the crew standing around, the actors goofing around, and everyone having fun while they made the movie. I'm glad someone had fun during the run time of this film, because it certainly wasn't me. The premiere feature is silly, the director is so happy his movie is playing at the New Beverly Cinema (which he paid to do...) that he seemingly didn't notice that he couldn't even fill the theater, which honestly, isn't that hard. Despite that, the special features were seemingly not edited, since the camera man repositioning and refocusing were not edited out, rather, just lazily left in by whomever was supposed to be editing it.
Don't be fooled. Even for a $1, you are wasting your money if you buy this, I personally encourage anyone who enjoys staring at bloody train wrecks to at least download it illegally so they can witness it for themselves. I mean, if you saw a dead body you'd stop to look at it, but you wouldn't pay a $1 to do so, would you? I didn't think so. You're smarter than that. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the director is not as smart as the rest of us.
So after you're done taking the ideas of Jeff Lindsay and modifying them to fit current emo tides of popularity, all you need to do is go on LACasting and get a bunch of amateur actors. I won't let my horrified point of view affect my judgment of the actors, because you can tell Liam Smith, the lead actor, was a decent actor, however, he obviously had the disadvantage of working with an incompetent director, since there is no flow any given scene, entire ideas grind to a halt so the characters can messily try to serve the director's ego, discussing films of his that don't exist. It comes off as cheap and sad, like this scene is the only thing that gets the director up in the morning, as if someone else had said the words, not had them written by the director for them.
I don't feel sorry for any of the other actors however, their lack of talent is only overshadowed by their obvious lack of enthusiasm. It's great to call yourself an actor, it's insulting to actual actors when you don't even try. A lot has been said of the gore content in this film. I ask, what gore? There were 10 max kills in the film, each one was sloppily filmed and the f/x looked like they were purchased at the Target clearance bin the day after Halloween. The much hyped "cannibalism" is Christian making a human shake, which doesn't really make sense, as the character has displayed no tendency towards mutilation or post-mortem fixation, the two main components of cannibalistic behavior. I forget, actual psychology has no place here.
It's like Dexter, without the psychological implications, which is what makes Dexter work. Here, the main character wallows in
self pity, but we as an audience can't react, because he's a serial killer, and he doesn't even have a convincing past to get him to the point he's at in the film. Of course, the whole point of the film is Christian's love story, while he recants his killing ways, which is hilarious, because if his synapses ever had the tendency not to kill and to love, it would have happened long before this point, and the events of this film would have never taken place.
I'm a connoisseur of cheap horror films, and I can deal with bad film-making, as long as the film brings one element to the table. I can overlook silly dialogue when there are gorgeous shots to look at, or artfully done f/x. This movie has none of that. There aren't many different scenes, most of the movie consists of him finding a victim (most of the time it's randomly, which again, would defy the modus operandi of just about every real serial killer that ever existed) and the character hanging out with his friends and towards the end, his girlfriend.
So instead of being a realistic dissection of a serial killer's behavior, it becomes the realization of the director's favorite things: coy serial killers, emo love stories, and really terrible special f/x. This is what happens when a half baked film school idea is funded, I guess. Instead of making a film with any substance, the director chose to go the cheap route, in some feigned attempt at a Martino or Lenzi movie. It isn't, because those films have competent musicians, cinematographers, set designers, and stunt men, where this film has a bunch of college kids, a $1,000 DV camera, a script that was seemingly written by a 14 year old BrokenCyde fan, and tons of fake blood from Target's clearance rack.
Anyone brave enough to venture into the special features will only find self-serving (and equally silly) mini-documentaries on the film's production and theatrical premiere. The production scenes are just the director in his clashing orange hat (orange and blue? THAT is a color scheme) talking in front of the location that they were shooting at. A few other scenes show the crew standing around, the actors goofing around, and everyone having fun while they made the movie. I'm glad someone had fun during the run time of this film, because it certainly wasn't me. The premiere feature is silly, the director is so happy his movie is playing at the New Beverly Cinema (which he paid to do...) that he seemingly didn't notice that he couldn't even fill the theater, which honestly, isn't that hard. Despite that, the special features were seemingly not edited, since the camera man repositioning and refocusing were not edited out, rather, just lazily left in by whomever was supposed to be editing it.
Don't be fooled. Even for a $1, you are wasting your money if you buy this, I personally encourage anyone who enjoys staring at bloody train wrecks to at least download it illegally so they can witness it for themselves. I mean, if you saw a dead body you'd stop to look at it, but you wouldn't pay a $1 to do so, would you? I didn't think so. You're smarter than that. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the director is not as smart as the rest of us.
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