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SERIAL KILLER
Produced, Written, Photographed, Edited, and Directed by Ryan CavallineMichael - Adam Berasi
Serial Killer - Vic Badger
Julie - Pamela SutchI get a smile every time a new movie by Ryan Cavalline shows up in the mailbox. I've never even met the guy, but I view him as a sort of a filmmaking little brother. Whenever I offer up advice in my reviews, the next project shows him putting those words to use. That in itself validates all the work I put into these things. Then again, his growth as a storyteller could just be his natural progression as a moviemaker, and I just want to be conceited and steal some of the credit for myself.
Either way, the guy possesses the same "just do it" attitude to making that I held many a moon ago. Just click here to see what I mean.
Ryan channels that enthusiasm straight into the horror genre. Sometimes his movies hit their mark, sometimes they miss. There are some critics out there who have trashed Ryan's last few movies due to his lack of professional moviemaking knowledge. I see most of those movies as well-intended deconstructions of the genre. Personally, I would rather watch a noble failure trying to say or do something different than a tired retread of familiar material no matter how nice the package might be. Unlike skill, which can be learned and perfected, vision is something you either have or you don't.
SERIAL KILLER is the first movie I've seen from Ryan in some time that feels like a step backword. His motives come across as more financial than creative, and the movie suffers.
The set up is one that only a horror fan would dream up. A horror writer, Michael, specializing in serial killer novels, recently discovered that his wife and daughter were kidnaped by a murderous madman bearing a grudge. What makes this killer different is that he send videos to the Michael capturing the torture and murder of his victims, including Michael's wife. Michael must use his resources, and extensive connections to other famous serial killers, to track down the psychopath before the bastard kills the his daughter.
Farfetched? Yes. Silence of the Lambs-ish? Yes. But then slasher pictures aren't exactly known for their inventiveness. I could have lived with a Lambs retread if Cavalline had taken the premise and just ran with it; instead he stales. Just like Full Moon, Cavalline pads this movie as much as he can.
Like he did with DAY OF THE AX 3, Ryan interrupts the action with interviews of various serial killers held in captivity. The result is a who's who of the micro-budget scene. Joel Wynkoop. Ron Ford, Phil Herman, and even Sub Rosa distributor Ron Bonk all filmed monologs from the padded cell. Surprisingly, the most frightening is Bonk who has only acted a time or two before, most notably in GUT PILE. These scenes work well in placing a sense of background on the writer's life. The interviews could have occurred anytime, and could have even been the ground work for many of the writer's books.
The scenes that don't work depict Michael wandering around his home and sulking. He does it a lot...and I mean a lot. The worst action is inaction. His wife has been murdered and his daughter is missing, we know his state of mind. He should be out there, hunting, or something, or anything. Once Cavalline has a good flow to the story, Michael is sulking. The actor can't even carry the emotional weight of the sulk, so everything just feels fake.
Adding to Cavalline's commercial mindframe is some explicit sexuality. While Pam Sutch is known throughout the WAVE Productions scene, she's isn't known for revealing her breast. Fans of Pam's wet t-shirt video will want to take note and add SERIAL KILLER to their collection as Pam goes sans bra. The videos that Michael is sent by the killer is a non-stop parade of flesh thanks to Cavalline's neighborhood stripeclub. There's also some wild bondage video that feels out of place, but knowing that sex sells, Cavalline threw it in.
Paralleling the story of Michael's torment are sequences detailing the kidnapper's daily routine, which provides some interesting comparison's between the two men and illustrates some commonality. It also leads to a twist ended that I didn't see coming, but probably should have. As far as creativity is concerned, this element alone sets SERIAL apart from the traditional slasher movie, but it doesn't make up for the many other shortcomings.
SERIAL KILLER could be tightened up by a good 15 minutes and end up a pretty decent picture. I hope Ryan takes the time to go back to the editing room do some trimming, or perhaps create new scenes to replace the old. Sulk after sulk does nothing for me and someday soon I really want to give Ryan a fully positive, advice-free review.