Some Guy Who Kills People
With a very recognizable cast, great story, and dark humor, director Jack Perez has all the makings of a cult classic with SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE. On the surface it would be easy to say that this film is a lower budget rip-off of DEXTER, but that really wouldn’t be a fair assessment (or accurate either for those that have actually seen the movie). SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE takes the serial killer slasher genre and adds heart, and a great plot twist to the genre. Kevin Corrigan (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, SUPERBAD) stars as lonely town nut Ken Boyd. Ken is a recently released mental patient who suffered humiliation and abuse as an adolescent at the hands of a group of jocks. While that premise has been done to death, the performance of Corrigan, the rest of the cast, and the various turns the story takes are what make this film a unique viewing experience.
The story ramps up quickly as the people who used to terrorize Ken start getting brutally murdered one by one. At first the local police force are clueless, (with the hilarious casting of Barry Bostwick ((THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW) who only seems to be getting better with age. This was a role tailor-made for him,) as to who could possibly be responsible for the atrocities but soon clues start to lead them in Ken’s direction. All the while Ken is dealing with family issues like his mother Ruth, played by veteran actress Karen Black (HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES), who is dating the Sheriff, and also with the information that he has a daughter, Amy (a huge breakout performance by actress Ariel Gade who is possibly one of the finest young actresses I’ve seen recently in film both indie and mainstream. She just gives a completely fleshed out and believable performance), from a one-night stand just before he went away to the looney bin. Lastly is the possibility of a romantic relationship with Stephanie (Lucy Davis, (SHAUN OF THE DEAD)), who starts getting Ken out of his shell.
With all of the praise that I can and have heaped onto this film already, it should be noted that it isn’t perfect. The kill sequences could have been handled a little better in regard to the visual and practical effects. Most of them just don’t come off as remotely believable, even for an indie feature. Even something as simple as stabbing someone feels more like it’s straight out of a Troma feature rather than from the director of MEGA SHARK VS GIANT OCTOPUS. The characters, story, and pacing were all handled with care, but the metaphorical and literal “juicy bits” seemed to take a bit of a backseat, an odd thing to do in a horror/thriller.
That being said, I really enjoyed this movie. The humor hit in all the right places, the story arc was well executed, and I can easily see how well an audience would react to seeing this film in a large theatrical setting. A film festival director or programmer would be remiss for not including this in his or her lineup. SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE does it right on almost every level, and in terms of character development and story (written by Ryan Levin), is a film that other indie filmmakers should pay attention to when preparing their scripts.
