Killer Movie

Slasher Trash with Panache?

Review: JA Kerswell

A super fun slasher comedy romp that often hits the right notes on both ends of the spectrum. A reality TV crew descends on a North Dakota town to make a show about a failing high school hockey team, but change tack when they discover the town’s macabre past and present. The townspeople are not too happy about the new direction the show is taking; even worse, a masked killer starts to pick off the crew one by one. If you ever wanted to see a slasher movie in the spirit of BEST IN SHOW (2000), then this could be the film for you.
 
Jake (Paul Wesley) recently lost his director gig on a cancelled reality TV show but is offered a job helming another one. His boss (Néstor Carbonell) tells him that a crew is shooting a wholesome new show in the small town of Plain Pines about a high school hockey team that hasn’t won a game in a hundred years. However, when he finally reaches the town, he realises he is a last-minute replacement for a director who quit because of the over-demanding producer Lee (Cyia Batten). 
 
Plain Pines has also just been rocked by the decapitation of a teenage girl that had been brushed off as an accident but was actually deliberately orchestrated by a masked killer who filmed the act. The death also brings up past collective trauma, especially as a previous high school coach had just been released from prison after murdering his wife some years earlier. The producer makes the unilateral decision to change the subject of the show to shine a light on the town’s current and past troubles, much to the hostility of many of the locals.
 
Jake also has another headache when disgraced bratty film star Blanca (Kaley Cuoco) is forced onto the production to rehabilitate her image. However, an even bigger headache comes when his crew and other townsfolk are dispatched in quick succession by the mystery killer … 

Writer/director Jeff Fisher makes the most of the format. Largely eschewing the self-reflexive humour of the SCREAM series, he finds laughs in the clashes between the characters. Obviously, helped by talented comedians such as Cuoco, who embraces Blanca’s worst traits and runs with them. She tells one starstruck student that the reason she had a bust-up with her celebrity bestie was simply because "She was a cunt!”. She also tells a skinny cheerleader that she’s a “chunk” for no reason other than being terrible—although her character eventually gets a redemptive arc. Arguably, the film’s tone is a little uneven given that Cuoco’s performance is largely comedic, while Wesley plays things straight—but, as a whole, it works.
 
The film also cleverly uses the confessional technique employed in most reality shows—where people are candidly bitchy about each other—to flesh out the film’s characters and give it some of its best laughs. Although not a mockumentary as such, this aspect gives KILLER MOVIE a feeling similar to DROP DEAD GORGEOUS (1999) and other comedies that blur that line. Most of the players in the movie are likeable, even the ones with the worst character traits, which helps make the film so damn entertaining.
 
However, what the film does share with SCREAM is that Fisher plays the slasher/thriller elements admirably straight. There are a number of effective chase scenes through the darkened halls and gym of the town’s High School. KILLER MOVIE also features a large body count and, whilst not overly gory, does deliver a good splattering of grue. The identity of the killer came as a surprise to me at least, although the set-up to unravel the mystery is arguably a little too convoluted—especially when it doesn’t appear to actually have much bearing on their actual motivation. 
 
Writer/director Jeff Fisher was in a somewhat unique position, as he had previously worked in Reality TV directing episodes of such shows as THE SIMPLE LIFE. His insight gives rise to such great lines as: “What greater truth is there than reality? Even when it’s scripted.”
 
KILLER MOVIE was filmed over 21 days in Minnesota. One of its alternate titles was DEAD OF WINTER—and the use of ski slopes as one of its locations suggests that a lack of snow may have prompted the title change. Fisher’s choices for his cast were on the money, as many of them were on the cusp of hitting the big time. Cuoco, who had appeared in earlier slasher THE HOLLOW (2004), has just secured a role in the phenomenally successful sitcom THE BIG BANG THEORY. Welsey went on to be in THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, and Torrey DeVitto, who had appeared in I’LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2006), scored a major role in the TV series PRETTY LITTLE LIARS. On a budget of $2 million, it certainly had the gloss of a cinema release, but it doesn’t appear it was ever released that way—perhaps explaining its relative obscurity today. Fisher went onto direct a lower-budget made-for-TV semi-sequel in 2013 called KILLER REALITY. In 2021, He recut his 2008 movie for a 'director's cut' which, for some reason, shortened the original version rather than expanding it.
 
While not perfect, KILLER MOVIE is a breezy, entertaining 93 minutes. 

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