Review of Killer Movie (2008) by Jim R — 29 Oct 2008

Who can't stand reality television anymore? What first started out as a novelty grew into a fad and now has devolved into a plague. Though a few shows were initially humbly produced as social experiments (The Real World, Survivor), eventually the genre mutated into the exploitative (The Moment of Truth), the voyeuristic (The Simple Life), and the malicious (Temptation Island). With premises becoming more ridiculous and the term "reality" becoming more ironic, TV execs are constantly trying to up the bar for a more entertaining product.

Jeff Fisher, writer/director of the horror-comedy Killer Movie, knows all about reality TV. Fisher has worked as a writer/director/producer for reality shows such as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge and Big Brother for years so it should be no surprise that his feature film debut exists within the world he knows so well. What is a surprise (and a delightful one at that) is to see a native son of the biz like Fisher recognizing and lampooning the more destructive elements of reality TV. These inherent themes provide the film with some redemption to make up for the problematic execution of a promising first time script from a first time director.

Jake Tanner (Paul Wesley) is a down on his luck Hollywood director who's recently seen his show, Back to the Ranch, cancelled and his girlfriend leave him. Needing work, his agent, Seaton Brookstone (Nestor Carbonell), talks him into taking over directing a reality TV show. The story is one of the classic underdog: a high school hockey team from North Dakota is on fire for the first time in recent memory courtesy of their star player, Vance Carhartt (Andy Fischer-Price). To his dismay, Jake learns that aiding him on the film, among others, will be disgraced diva Blanca Champion (Kaley Cuoco), who is doing research for a role that will hopefully regain her credibility after a nasty incident involving a PA and scalding hot coffee, and an apathetic local soundman, Mike (Jason London).

Blanca's attention-grabbing behavior isn't the only problem facing Jake and his crew though. The sleepy North Dakota town has a history of tragic "accidents," the most recent claiming the life of Vance's girlfriend. The show's cold-hearted producer, Lee (Cyia Batten), demands Jake exploit this more incendiary, whodunit angle of the story. Though he refuses, Jake is forced to confront the situation when his show's subjects and crewmembers begin dying "accidentally" one by one and the list of suspects grows.

From the get go Killer Movie sets the tone for the genre it comments on with its voyeuristic cinematography. There are a few scenes shot through bushes, around corners, or through windows and the school in which the show is filmed is equipped with multiple security cameras. Combine these methods of filming with the talking head confessionals from the crew and you've got a humorous and revealing method for character exposition. When the film threatens to get too serious, the crew's wit and cynicism inject the mood with some pleasing chuckles.

Unfortunately, many of the characters the film follows aren't very interesting due to their one dimensionality. Jake, while finely acted by Wesley, is projected early on as nobly unflawed and doesn't change much from beginning to end. On the flip side, Blanca, who does experience the quintessential character arc, isn't very likeable and that severely hampers an emotional response when she finally does turn a corner. Outside of Wesley and Cuoco, none of the other performances stand out as particularly noteworthy. Some characters, like Greg (Hal B. Klein) and Phoebe (Torrey DeVitto), exist only to be killed.

The film also fails to deliver on the promises implicit in the horror genre. There are typically two ways to disturb an audience during a horror film: gore effects and jump scares. While a film doesn't need these to be successful (see Session 9), both methods are attempted here and both come up short. The gore appears hampered by the low budget of the shoot, relying primarily on implying what happened instead of showing it. Meanwhile, the jump scares are few and far between. The film does manage to successfully keep the audience guessing about the killer's identity until the end but even then, hindsight doesn't recall enough hints to make the revelation an "a-ha!" moment.

Though the cons greatly outweigh the pros in Killer Film, Fisher has shown a sharp self-reflexivity in being able to recognize the exploitative nature of reality TV. In killing off crewmembers one by one in the film, Fisher has created a sliver of wish fulfillment for those vehement critics of reality TV. With a potential Killer Movie 2 in the works it would be intriguing to see Jeff's premise executed by a veteran director.