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55%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #6,091
...out of 20,698 movies
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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.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: April 10, 2005
As the movie starts out, we hear a news announcement being broadcast on the radio detailing the recent escape of a few death-row inmates and how some people have turned up dead as a result. The public is being warned not to approach these men, as they are extremely dangerous. This takes us into a restaurant, where a young lady is closing up for the evening. As she's cleaning, she hears a noise at the other end of the building; upon further inspection, she finds a Halloween mask on the floor. As she bends over to pick up the mask, we see a man with a knife walk up behind her, and then....
Static. The next thing we know, we're (the home audience) watching and listening to a fellow who introduces himself as Max (Kevin Howarth). You see, Max has hired an assistant (Mark Stevenson) to follow him around and record a good chunk of his life, during which time Max discusses his views on life and death. Max goes on to tell us about how he's a serial killer who has racked up over fifty victims, how he got started doing it, and what measures he takes in order to not be caught for his crimes. That last part, however, is the reasoning behind this movie. Max picks his victims at random, uses random methods to kill them, never leaves behind any incriminating evidence, and has a very unique method of disposing of the bodies. Therefore, nobody would ever guess that Max was the man responsible... but Max wants someone he can discuss these things with, someone who wouldn't rat him out to the police. His solution is to pick up a copy of "The Last Horror Movie" and record his own video on top of it so that someone out there will hear his story. Just to show the home audience that this isn't a joke, Max goes on to record a few of the murders for our benefit, and each is shown in grisly detail. As the movie progresses, Max brings up lots of interesting topics, shows us how the most normal, innocent-looking man on the streets could be a serial killer out looking for his next victim. He also offers a glimpse into his normal life, where he works as a wedding photographer and spends time with his sister and her family.
This is definitely not your typical horror movie. With the exception of Max discussing his outlook on life and a running character study on both himself and the viewer of this movie, there's really no running storyline to the film. Scenes where Max spends time with his family seem to be thrown in at random, the murders mostly have no build-up to them, and characters weave in and out of the storyline in a matter of moments. Of course, since this movie aimed to look like an amateur production, everything is filmed as such... either Max or his assistant is carrying around the camera recording in every scene, and this is the actual footage that we watch during the feature film. It's a very interesting idea, and in my opinion, it worked out excellently.
Let me repeat the opening line from that last paragraph - this is definitely not your typical horror movie. If you're looking for more of the same from the genre, then you'll likely walk away disappointed from this movie. The grand majority of the seventy-five minute running time consists of Max either talking to the camera (and in turn, the viewer) or talking to his family on camera. The things he talks about, however, really make you think, and a movie that does that is becoming more and more rare in this day and age. Max's thoughts on murder and the reason that he does it are incredible, and one really gets the idea that they're watching a legit serial killer as the movie progresses. As an example of the points that he brings up, Max poses the following question regarding the value of human life after we watch him brutally murder a helpless female:
(Paraphrased)
"There's millions of starving children in Africa. You could sell your television and allow one of these children to live a bit longer. But you won't do that, will you? However, would you have sold your television if I told you that I wouldn't murder this lady in exchange? If so, why was this woman's life more important to you than the child in Africa? If not, then how are you any different from me?"
Stinging commentary such as the above is abundant in this movie, and it really causes one to think about the issues that Max presents. However, this is how the grand majority of the movie is told. Those looking for a huge body-count, loads of gore, or a suspense-filled evening would do well to look elsewhere for a night of DVD entertainment. However, if you're looking for an effective horror film that will make you think about the things presented for a couple of days, then this comes with my highest recommendation. Personally, I thought that this film was one of the better ones that I've seen so far this year, easily ranking up in the top five.
10/10, a must-see for those horror fans that don't require lots of action or gore to make a movie worthy. However, if you do decide to check this one out, avoid reading other reviews, other plot descriptions, and the back of the DVD case before watching the film. For some ungodly reason, the ending of the film is spoiled in nearly every review or mention of the movie online, and even the DVD case spoils the end twist. While it's not an ending that you won't see coming as the movie progresses, it would have been nice to have figured it out on my own instead of knowing what was to come as soon as I popped this into my DVD player.
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#1:
BuryMeAlive
- added December 13, 2006 at 5:31pm
10 outta 10, that crazy. Sure the movie is
original, but it's also damn boring. And I can't
help to think about Batesman in American Psyho, go
see that movie instead.
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#2:
Crispy
- added January 2, 2012 at 1:00am
A resounding meh. Interesting concept, sure, but
seventy-minutes of listening to a man's
pretentious
I've-got-everything-figured-out/the-masses-are-clu
eless meanderings was the wrong way to go about
it.
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