![]() ![]() Records is great in his depiction of the troubled teen. The retro style of the opening credits and the chosen color palette of the film add to the ambience, and to some level, the realism.īut the standout element of this film is the performances. The direction of the film is excellent – the shot choices work well, getting us intimate with the characters. He’s obviously got a great knack for working with both established actors and newcomers – and his style is evident throughout. O’Brien’s previous films have included the excellent Isolation, which features similar outstanding performances. And, even in the final act, we’re treated to a particular style of story-telling rather than feeling rushed towards a conclusion. It meanders towards the final act with all the deliberate indicators of realism required. I’m a firm believer that horror is more impactful when we believe in the characters and environment. The pacing of the film is unusual but hugely welcome in a low budget indie horror. What follows is an engaging story of the young man (played in good detail by Max Records) trying to firstly figure out who the killer is, and then following him – partly out of fascination, partly in an amateur sleuth kind of way.Īlong the way we’re treated to some great scenes – one of a school party where John explains to the school bully how hard he finds it not to split him in two – and one where the killer reveals himself to John through the re-telling of a classic William Blake poem (another serial killer reference – this time from Thomas Harris’ “Red Dragon” novel). With victims suffering horrendous mutilation (which some claim has been done by a werewolf), John immediately makes the link to these being somewhat ritualized killings – and notices before anyone else that, in each instance, a vital organ is missing – leading him to believe a serial killer is on the loose. His fascination with bodies is evident from the start – but his interest is piqued when (thankfully for the family, who are struggling financially to keep the business viable) several brutal murders occur in the sleepy backwater he calls home. His mental state isn’t helped by working part time in the family funeral home, assisting his single mom to embalm bodies outside of his school time. In a small Midwestern US town, John Wayne Cleaver (a character who’s name cleverly evokes images of both notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy, and, well, a butcher’s cleaver) is a boy in his mid-teens who has been diagnosed by his psychiatrist as a sociopath. I’m not going to give away any spoilers in this review, as it’s a movie which I’m going to urge all of you to see. It’s a shame – the movie spends almost all of it’s 99-minute run time building characters and realism, only to snatch away any plausibility from the script right at the death (pun intended). Despite a strange conclusion, “I Am Not a Serial Killer” is an exquisitely paced character drama with impressive direction and outstanding performances.Ģ016’s I Am Not A Serial Killer, directed by Billy O’Brien, is a film with some excellent qualities which are ultimately undone by an unnecessary twist with no apparent meaning. ![]()
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