Patrick Ogle
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"Some Guy Who Kills People" Horror-Thriller Deserves A Wide Release

10/24/2011

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Picture
Yeah, Terrible Poster...
Some Guy Who Kills People is a horror thriller comedy that is making the film fest rounds. It better get a wide release. In part because it is so clever on multiple levels but also because it could make money--which would help other less-than-giant budget films getting out to the people. Insidious should have taught the lesson but perhaps it didn't.

I saw this film at a festival that had a really solid selection of shorts (for the most part). While this was especially true of the shorts even the features were bearable.

This film stood out from this pack even--way out. Produced by John Landis and directed by Jack Perez (Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus) the film manages to be suspenseful, funny, kind of touching and has plenty of splatter--but all of that is pretty tongue in cheek.  Shaun of the Dead (which is a great movie) may spring to mind while watching this but the similarities tend to be more in tone than anything else--the mix of horror and humor. It has nothing to do with Lucy Davis being in the film!


Speaking of cast, the film stars the likes of Kevin Corrigan (The Departed, Pineapple Express etc), Barry Bostwick (in a really funny, movie stealing, somehow channeling Peter Falk-performance), Karen Black as a chain-smoking smart-assed mom, Leo Fitzpatrick (The Wire, Kids, My Name is Earl). It also features a really endearing performance by child actor, Ariel Gade, who appeared on the TV show, Invasion.

All the actors put in memorable performances which are, in part, due to the snappy writing and pace of the film. If you have good writing and a film that moves . It might not be quite on the Shaun of the Dead level but it is, let's say, every bit as good, if not better than Hot Fuzz. You will find yourself laughing more in this film that you will in most films billed as straight up comedies.

The basic plot revolves around a man released from an asylum. He gets a job at an ice cream parlor and lives with his mom. Suddenly a series of rather gruesome murders begin. More alarming for Corrigan's character, he meets his 11 year old daughter from a week-long relationship.

He is an artist, with rather gruesome proclivities, he doesn't talk much but his life changes, for the better, when his daughter enters it. The smart and sometimes surprisingly subtle, writing makes it all work--and the direction and pacing rarely let it lag.

It may be that the film doesn't look like a Hollywood film. But I will point out--neither did Insidious. If anyone got behind this film; if it had distribution and some ads, it might surprise people. It is a humor-horror hybrid that, if it isn't a home run, is at least a solid triple. Come on, this is being written during the World Series, there has to be a baseball analogy.
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    I don't think of these as "reviews." they may seem like it sometime but they are more just...impressions.

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