Murder Loves Killers Too (Drew Barnhardt - 2009)
It starts of
as a traditional slasher. Five teenage friends have rented a cabin for a
weekend. Then things happen really fast. Four of them are killed off in the
first 25 minutes, but the killer has to make a 30 minutes long effort to catch
the last girl. Eventually she ends tied up in a bed, as the killer has a plan
for her.
The most fascinating
aspect of this film is that the killer looks and behaves just as a regular Joe.
When he addresses his female captive it’s with a deadpan attitude and
expressionless voice. “You see, I have a
sexual problem… Call me dad”. Before he can abuse his daughter by proxy she tries
to escape. She gets knocked in the head and placed in the trunk of his car for
later disposal.
Then the
film completely breaks off in another direction. The killer goes home to his family – an unfaithful
wife, a troubled teenager and two mortgages. There are a couple of scenes that
dramatize his subdued personality and troubled personal life before the ending
with a not too surprising twist. If there is a surprise element it’s the abrupt
termination of the story, and the whole thing clocks in at 75 minutes.
There is a ludicrous
voice over narration at the start that putts me off, but when that’ forgotten this
feature has much going for itself. Its shot on video (what isn’t these days) and
looks like it, but the photography is nice. The soundtrack is all over the
place. The fast pacing, efficient gore moments and thrilling “hide and seek”-segment
live it up. One of the
girls has a tattoo on her back that says “Enter here” and an arrow pointing downwards.
That’s not very subtle, even by my standards.
The ending does not work for
me. It’s a blatant break with Aristotle's demands for unity of place and action.
It cuts of any emotional involvement from my side.
Watched on anamorphic
DVD from Label: 4 Digital Media
No comments:
Post a Comment