Originally published December 8, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
I Am Not a Serial Killer, 2016.
Directed by Billy O’Brien
Starring Max Records, Christopher Lloyd, Laura Fraser, Karl Geary
SYNOPSIS:
A quiet American town is plagued by a series of gruesome murders. A troubled local teenager decides to investigate, only to discover that the killer lives among them and is the person least likely to commit such horrors. Now all he has to do is destroy the culprit – and keep his own demons under control at the same time.
It’s absolutely true. Teenager John Wayne Cleaver (Max Records) isn’t a serial killer. The trouble is he has more than enough of what his shrink calls “indicators” to grow up into one. He takes much more than a passing interest in his mother’s undertaking business, helping out at every opportunity, he’s showing sociopathic tendencies and he’s fascinated by serial killers. But he’s not completely lost. He’s acutely aware of his problems and keeps them under control in a number of ways, one of which involves doing chores for the elderly couple who live across the road.
And for the first half, I Am Not a Serial Killer ambles along at a leisurely, small town pace, relishing its quirkiness and wry humour but also creating a vaguely sinister atmosphere at the same time. There’s been several murders, the body count is rising steadily and, for a while, John thinks he’s discovered the killer. So his tails him – only to discover that he’s been earmarked as the next victim. And the culprit is the least likely person in town. At that point, the narrative changes in the blink of an eye, gathering pace and piling on the gore, so that the film becomes more of a horror and the dry humour fades away to nothing. There’s something of the super natural about the murderer, but this is awkwardly bolted on towards the end and explained through some less than special effects.
Director/writer Billy O’Brien simply can’t sustain the film’s early promise, which means he runs out of ideas and the movie loses its way. All he can do is fall back on conventions to tie up the plot, but the sense of having seen it all before – and often – is depressingly unavoidable. Oh, for some of the little verbal nudges of the first half! Like John having, presumably unwittingly, been named after one of America’s most notorious serial killers, John Wayne Gacy. Or that his creepy neighbour across the road is called Mr Crowley (Christopher Lloyd). As far as we can tell, his first name isn’t Aleister.
The film is saved from falling flat on its face by its two main actors. Max Records is a convincingly troubled teen and everybody’s favourite eccentric Doc, Christopher Lloyd, combines a growing frailty with something decidedly darker. But they’re simply not enough. What could have been an engagingly offbeat comedy/horror with a certain quirky charm turns out to be short on just about everything – ideas, plot and tension. And the audience feels short changed.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Freda Cooper – Follow me on Twitter, check out my movie blog and listen to my podcast, Talking Pictures.
