A serial killer uses a horror video rental to lure his next victim. What begins as a teen slasher transforms into a disturbing journey through the mind of Max Parry, a mild mannered wedding photographer with a taste for human flesh. Read more
| Starring | Kevin Howarth, Mark Stevenson, Antonia Beamish, Christabel Muir |
|---|---|
| Director | Julian Richards |
| Genres | Horror |
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A serial killer uses a horror video rental to lure his next victim. What begins as a teen slasher transforms into a disturbing journey through the mind of Max Parry, a mild mannered wedding photographer with a taste for human flesh.
| Starring | Kevin Howarth, Mark Stevenson, Antonia Beamish, Christabel Muir, Jonathan Coote |
|---|---|
| Director | Julian Richards |
| Studio | PALISADES TARTAN |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 16 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Horror |
| Language | English |
| Dubbed | None |
| Hearing-impaired | None |
| Subtitles | None |
| Released | DVD: 08 Aug 2005 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
Drawing on low-budget shockers such as The Blair Witch Project, Man Bites Dog and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer for inspiration, this thriller is no doubt meant to be provocative and controversial, but it just tries too hard. The film follows the exploits of serial killer Max (Kevin Howarth), who interrupts verité video footage of his appallingly brutal crimes with speeches delivered to camera, attempting to explain his nihilist motives while challenging the audience for continuing to watch. While it initially grabs the attention, its pseudo-intellectual overtones (it was written by a philosophy graduate) sit uneasily with its more avowed exploitation elements and the extreme violence will certainly be too much for some audiences. The central conceit, which won't be revealed here, will play much better when the movie comes out on video/DVD, which is where the curious would be advised to see it.
Horror movies have been teasing away at an explicit link between the killers gaze and the cameras at least... read more on Time Out
It's such a shame, because the idea and concept of this movie is a good one - and one that I have never seen in a movie before. But... I'm not sure whether it was the acting, or the way it was done - or a combination of the two - or something other deciding factor that made this movie ridiculously painful to watch. Sure it's only 80 minutes long, but it felt like the longest 80 minutes of my life.
I'm sure plenty of people will enjoy it, but personally, I thought it was terrible.