Bloody Nightmares #5: Serial Killer (2002)

A few years before Demon Slaughter, Director Ryan Cavalline put together a much more serious take on the horror genre in Serial Killer. More of a meditation on the mind of a murderer than a straight stalk and slash type of movie, Cavelline nonetheless packs the film with naked ladies and a few familiar faces to Z-grade horror fans.

The film spends much of its running time cutting between Michael (Adam Berasi, also the lead in Demon Slaughter), a professional writer who has begun to receive violent videotapes after publishing a book on serial killers, as wel as the exploits of an unamed serial killer (Vic Badger) who has apparently captured Michael's wife and child. Also interspersed throughout are filmed testimonials from actors portraying serial killers, including low-budget legend Joel D. Wynkoop, as well as terrified statements from the serial killers (naked and tied up) victims. And guess what? There's a twist at the end! Try your best not to guess it in the first ten minutes.

At times Serial Killer is quite an unpleasant movie to watch, but unlike Nightmare Asylum this time it's actually intentional. The serial killers speaking to the camera, while sometimes unconvincing, provide some powerful and disturbing moments that, frankly, give the film more power than it deserves. The main plot leaves much to be desired, and while the serial killer scenes have some strong elements, it's a bit too grim and humourless to be entertaining. And while I appreciated the bevy of naked adult entertainers on display, their frequency began to feel more and more exploitive as the film went on, particularly when they detail their respective sexual assaults.

But despite my objections to some of the content, Cavelline was smart to edit these scenes in to break up some of the monotony of Michael's brooding. He spend much of the film drinking and looking dour which quickly starts to become tiring. It's also interesting that graphic violence is mostly avoided, at least until the end, which was a surprise after the goopy excess of Demon Slaughter.

I praised Adam Berasi's performance in Demon Slaughter, but here he's really quite unconvincing as a tormented writer. Much better is Vic Badger who hammed it up as Satan in Demon Slaughter, but his unhinged act works much better here. The serial killers on the interview tapes (which include producer Ron Bonk and z-horror mainstay Ron Ford) do their job efficiently, but it's Wynkoop who is most memorably creepy.

While it uses only a few locations, the technical aspects of the film are respectable. Aside from an ill chosen rock song during a cemetary scene, the music is very well done. Dialogue is usually intelligible, and the special FX are all tolerable, though again sometimes hurt by poor editing.

Though it's only a small detail, there was one particular moment of the film that felt quite careless. I was irked by Michael writing "Your Dead" on a note for an autograph seeking visitor. It's difficult to believe that a professional writer would make such a slip on Your/You're, and it's almost equally hard to believe that it ended up in the finished film without someone noticing.

Serial Killer is presented in a decent fullscreen transfer free of some of the pixelation issues that plague other films in the Bloody Nightmares collection. Luckily there are none of the sound issues which made Demon Slaughter so difficult to sit through.

A decent stab (ha!) at a difficult genre, Ryan Cavalline deserves credit for trying something a little different in Serial Killer, though he fails as often as he succeeds. Hampered by some bad performances and an uneven story, there are still enough effective and creepy moments throughout to make it a worthwhile watch. However, a bit more care with the production side of things could have resulted in a much stronger film.

Bloody Nightmares #2: Demon Slaughter (2003)

Now this is more like it. High in ambition but low in production values, Ryan Cavalline's Demon Slaughter has the good sense to hide its shortcomings under layers of gunplay, gore and strategically placed nudity. Of course it all looks terrible, but it's never boring and it certainly looks like it was a lot of fun to make.

Meet Jimmy. He's a complete dick of a gangster looking for a way out of his life of crime. After killing his mistress (and some hired goons), he heads to the crime-bosses' hideout (aka A Bar) and blows everyone away before demolishing the place with a grenade. Unfortunately the bossman thought this might happen and dispatched a few thugs to kill Jimmy's wife before he got there. He finds her in a pool of blood and takes a moment to mourn before being beaten senseless by a couple of baddies. Somehow getting away, he high tails it to a cabin in the woods where he starts going a little wacky and meets a Satanish gentleman. Apparently he wants to recruit Jimmy to his army of the dead. We get the requisite low-rent Evil Dead references before the place is overrun (actually, around seven) with zombies who have messy faces but surprisingly clean shirts. Jimmy blows them away before axing Satan who melts away in a nice computer effect. But Satan has a surprise! *spoiler* The goons who murdered Jimmy's wife actually killed him as well, and it looks like being attacked by zombies in a run-down Cabin is actually his eternal damnation. Uh oh, spaghettiOs.

While Demon Slaughter wears its influences (and its flaws) on its sleeve, there are still a number of irritating things that shouldn't have slipped by even in a low budget effort. The gunshot sound effects get particularly repetitive, and when you have as much gun-play as this (thanks to a combination of airsoft guns & really fake looking muzzle flashes) it's hard not to notice. It would also have been nice if the gunshots appeared to do damage to the surroundings. The gunfight in the bar features hundreds of bullets being fired, but the place still looks pristine afterward. Just a little bit of faked damage could have gone a long way.

But the biggest flaw may have nothing to do with Ryan Cavalline's production. Several times throughout the film the sound drops out, sometimes for several minutes, with dialogue, music and sound effects becoming totally inaudible. This could very well be an issue with the DVD mastering, so it may be unfair to hold it against the movie. It's definitely distracting, however, and takes away from the experience.

The acting is, as usual, a mixed bag. While he swears ridiculously frequently, Adam Berasi as Jimmy does a serviceable job in the lead, though he fares much better at being a gangster than at the sillier horror elements in the film's second half. The make-up is equally inconsistent, with the demons (like our red friend above) looking quite decent, while the zombies look like they were thrown together a little too quickly. There's plenty of blood on display, but the gore is mostly shown in flashes and i'm pretty sure I saw some halloween rubber eyeballs in a pile of goo. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The camera work is fine when sticking to handheld shots, but when trying to do anything more complicated (like aping the Evil Dead "shakycam"), things look a bit more ragged. There is also an overreliance on flashy transitions, particularly when moving into the dream sequences or flashbacks, that look amateurish. The film is almost entirely shot in daylight, which thankfully helps to avoid many of the lighting problems which plague other low budget productions.

The Bloody Nightmares DVD set presents Demon Slaughter in what was likely its original fullscreen aspect ratio. Any significant movement brings a lot of artifacting onscreen, and there's often significant pixelation, but it's all completely watchable. Outside of the mentioned issue with sound drop-outs, the dialogue and sound effects come through reasonably clear. The original music for the film is quite good, and the film also features a few song contributions for the scenes of carnage.

No extras except chapter selections, though they do not get a seperate menu on the DVD.

Fun, though shoddy, low budget crime/horror/comedy that makes for an enjoyable hour for fans. The effects are plentiful, though rough, and there's blood and a bit of pixilated nudity in a brief dream sequence. Certainly not scary, but offers a few thrills for less discriminating genre fans.

This trailer shows all the most fun effects. Enjoy.