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★★★½☆
30 August 2017
A movie review of 68 KILL. |
“Relax. Take a chill pill okay. You’re acting like you’ve never killed anyone before.” Liza (AnnaLynne McCord)
At first 68 KILL may feel like a run of the mill carnage pic. To be a compelling conductor of mayhem, see for example Sion Sono’s TOKYO TRIBE, you must create engaging characters in the build-up to the crescendo. And 68 KILL builds and builds, adding to glib put-downs with a variety of hilarious obscenity. A game cast, who might have read the script and balked, bring it to life. The film shares a similar gleeful macabre inventiveness as the movie director Trent Haaga co-wrote, CHEAP THRILLS (2013). If you are squeamish, these two aren’t for you.
At first 68 KILL may feel like a run of the mill carnage pic. To be a compelling conductor of mayhem, see for example Sion Sono’s TOKYO TRIBE, you must create engaging characters in the build-up to the crescendo. And 68 KILL builds and builds, adding to glib put-downs with a variety of hilarious obscenity. A game cast, who might have read the script and balked, bring it to life. The film shares a similar gleeful macabre inventiveness as the movie director Trent Haaga co-wrote, CHEAP THRILLS (2013). If you are squeamish, these two aren’t for you.
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Liza makes Lady Macbeth look like Mother Theresa. She is a foulmouthed encourager and instigator. Her boyfriend, Chip (Matthew Gray Gubler), has rose-tinted puppy love for her. The opening image of a fly trapped in spilled honey is a metaphor for his predicament, as we then see him staring longing at her while in bed asleep. An observation of when you make yourself too available to a lover, they are likely to take you for granted. If the violence were removed, 68 KILL would still be a relationship comedy, better than most rom-coms. (Nice also to see here some diversity in a horror movie cast.)
What elevates the flick, and instantly gives a refreshing spin, is the role reversal. The three leading ladies, as well as the supporting female characters, are no-nonsense take-no-names badasses. First with the scathing disparagement, then following up with physical intimidation. It is a joy to behold. Chip is like a leaf on the wind, buffeted by these strong women. He has no backbone and slowly starts to grow one, though not before being sucked into robbery, murder and kidnap. Practically everyone here is a socio/psychopath.
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Liza and Chip live in a trailer. So financially strapped they do not even bother locking up, as they have nothing worth stealing. Chip’s emasculation at the hands of his girl is compounded by his job literally shovelling sh*t. He works in sewage, going around sucking up effluent from residential cesspits. Another metaphor. Liza is so bolshie she was fired from a strip club. She makes rent by having a sugar daddy on the side, Ken Mckenzie (David Maldonado). The latter foolishly reveals to his paramour that he has $68,000 in his safe, to be spent on a “Lambo”. (Efficient shorthand for him being a douche.) Ever the opportunist, as we’ll come to see, Liza hatches a plan to steal it. She needs Chip. It goes wrong of course. Bedlam ensues. There is no clean getaway. Wait till you meet Monica (Sheila Vand – star of truly excellent vampire film, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT).
For all the positives in evidence, it is a shame the production values look budget and the camerawork artless. A bit of polish would unlikely have hurt the end result, but as a calling card one is looking forward to Trent Haaga’s next project.
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