Review of Otis (2008) by Everett J — 30 Jan 2009

Otis.

Directed by Tony Krantz.

Written by Erik Jendresen and Thomas Schnauz.

Starring Bostin Christopher, Ashley Johnson, Daniel Stern, Illeana Douglas, Kevin Pollack, Jere Burns, Jared Kusintz, Tarah Paige.

This exceedingly funny jab at Court TV and its ilk tells the story of a corpulent young man and his deep seated longing for disco balls and hot sex with a teen-age fantasy.

Poor Otis Broth (Christopher). All he wants is to go to the prom with Kim. Only Kim is long gone and he?s left to abduct and kill her over and again. He?s a tad bit on the beefy side and he has a penchant for chaining girls up and detaching their limbs when they finally succumb to his charms.

The film opens with ?Kim? chained to the floor in Otis?s basement. She is determined to escape as Otis watches her from a partitioned glass booth from which he controls the action. He?s got a light fixture set up to emit extreme fits of heat and light whenever Kim gets too out of hand. She tries to escape and the poor thing ends up electrocuting herself leaving Otis no option but to start hacking her up for immediate disposal.

Riley Lawson (Johnson) is a cute, perky girl who seems to be excelling in school. She is well liked and loved by one and all. Otis delivers a pizza and is so transfixed by Riley he cannot speak. She hands him the money and laments that she cannot give him more. Otis is beleaguered but satisfies himself by sniffing and licking one of the bills. The next morning as Riley is leaving for school he puts a gunny sack over her head and hustles her off to his lair.

Riley isn?t exactly tortured during this experience. She is merely smacked around a bit and forced to participate in Otis?s primary fantasy where he is taking Riley, who he insists on calling Kim, to the prom where they can get crazy and dance all night to Blue Oyster Cult and Quiet Riot. Otis treats her well although he does get a bit carried away when he?s snogging her in the back of his car which never hits the road. She tries to give him a hand job but he can?t contain himself because he exists in a perpetual state of sexual excitement. He clearly gets off by doing what he does to these girls but he most likely would never be able to effectively engage in any legitimate sexual activity where he is the typically dominant male penetrating the supplicant female.

Otis is a sympathetic character even as he?s killed five girls and is working on his sixth. He does show upset when girl number five accidentally dies but most likely it?s because he prefers his playthings to have a pulse and is disappointed that this one has left him off of his own schedule. He says he?s been at it six weeks and it?s not clear if this means he?s kept this girl that long or if he?s six weeks into his abduction and murder spree. Regardless, he has created a legitimate set up in order to observe his victims day and night. He can simply observe them without the trouble of having to engage with them although this is what he most desires. He seems scared to make a stronger effort to truly communicate with them and must instead play the game of the high school prom.

It?s clear that at some point a girl actually named Kim did something horrible to Otis and he?s repeatedly trying to relive specific moments they shared together. There are two Otis?s on display in this film. On the one hand there is the Otis who puts on his football uniform and shyly and politely asks Riley/Kim to be his girl. Then there is the Otis who calls up Riley?s parents and torments them saying he is definitely going to fuck their daughter.

Riley?s parents?Kate (Douglas) and Will (Stern) are naturally beside themselves with worry. Her brother Reed (Kusintz) is a bit of a juvenile delinquent who nails a frog to teacher?s door among other stunts. Agent Hotchkiss (Burns), a criminologist with the FBI, is assigned to the case and quickly begins to irritate the family with his insensitive comments regarding Riley?s disappearance. When asked on TV the difference between him and the men he tracks he says, ?I use a condom?. It?s impossible and utterly inappropriate but it sets up the type of film this is attempting to be and for the most part it succeeds admirably .

The second half of the film focuses?s on Riley?s escape and her family?s plan to go to Otis?s house and torture him to death. They do so but it turns out that they inadvertently murder Otis?s brother Elmo (Pollack) who shows up unexpectedly. The film showcases how blood rage can afflict anyone at any time. These seemingly kind-hearted and very normal people demonstrate a sublime level of cruelty and sadism that any mass murderer would immediately envy. The moment they realize they have made a mistake is the most significant in the film. They quickly gather whatever evidence they can after cutting the body into at least six pieces and toss everything in a dumpster.

Otis is portrayed as an emotionally scarred man who seems to experience a disconnect between himself and other people. It?s as if the only way he can make himself seen is by using force. He dares his victims to see him as a masculine figure who is fully capable of fulfilling their desires. It?s heartbreaking to watch him because he is so earnest in his presentation and simply wants to be accepted by a female who sees the tenderness that obviously exists inside him. He is routinely abused both verbally and physically by his brother and it?s troubling to watch as he is reduced to a scared, confused little boy under this particular duress. He needs to find a method of handling a life that otherwise terrifies him and he finds his strength by abducting young females that he can dominate and subsequently appear physically strong to. He longing is exceedingly simple. It?s what every young man wants and he has been routinely denied it and it angers him. He is getting back at those girls who no doubt laughed at him whenever he attempted to approach and talk to them. He honestly does want the experience of taking and being seen with a pretty girl who represents a code of accomplished masculinity to his male peers. He doesn?t want ever again to be left out of the festivities so he creates the full high school prom environment.

This film explores in a genuine way the terror that afflicts many of those who embark on a well thought out plan to repeatedly murder what is typically a specific type of victim. Otis must build himself up in order to properly take charge and administer his particular brand of justice on the flesh of honies that he forces to recognize him as powerful, vital, and necessary. But of course they don?t and only in the end see him as a monster who wants to do them a tremendous amount of bodily harm. They call him fat which only tears at him further and helps force the issue regarding the limited amount of time he will allow them to live.

Bostin Christopher does an outstanding job portraying Otis. He captures the fear and sensitivity as well as the anguish and confusion that plagues this character and compels him to take out his frustration on young girls. There is such a sense of loss to Otis and Christopher?s portrayal is tender after a fashion as Otis attempts to make sense of the burden he carries about with him. The scene where Otis is cutting loose and dancing while Riley remains still is deeply moving in that is shows how much Otis is trying to impress her and how much she refuses to engage him despite the occasional smile. One wonders if a different kind of girl came along who fully went along with Otis and eagerly participated in his fantasies?how Otis would react and how monumental such a reaction would be for him. His trouble is abducting the kind of girl who is never going to see him for himself, which he has necessarily buried many moons ago. Ashley Johnson is certainly sweet and affable in her portrayal of Riley. She is believable as a hot chick who is captured for the very attributes that seem to sway everyone?s attention in her favor. Illiana Douglas and Daniel Stern are quite funny as the bumbling, regular folks who become possessed of a singular idea that turns them into monsters.

Overall, this film does a fine job telling the story of a wounded creature who attempts to make things right for himself by abducting the very girl who has terrorized him by refusing to recognize him. His needs are simple and they will never be met because his defense to the battery he experiences by everyone is so profoundly debilitating and horrific. He wants what every boy wants and just doesn?t know how to go about obtaining it. He?s not really a bad person although he does to wretched things but only to keep himself sane. As long as there are fresh bodies Otis will hang in there and function as best he can. He needs these activities in order to sustain himself and it?s the only way he can be the man he?s always intended to be.