Amateur Porn Star Killer 2
When
I received the press release about this film – bragging about how the
original Amateur Porn Star Killer movie had been made for a whopping
$45.00 and this one was only $20.00, it seemed somewhat intriguing. Of course that budget was bullshit
(the camera and the videotape alone would cost well more than $20.00) but it seemed to have a
renegade indie film spunk long missing from big-time Hollywood
entertainment. Even most indies now seem like they are pumped out of the
system. This would be a little down-and-dirty DIY filmmaking.
Besides, you had to love a filmmaker who was ironic and shameless enough to
use an over-the-top title like Amateur Porn Star Killer.
Perhaps I should have looked deeper – and found that the truth was all just
a bit more sordid.
After I’d agreed to check out the movie for review (but
before I’d actually received it) I clicked on the link for the first film’s
website. It turned out that the movie seemed to be a tribute to the
urban-legendary idea of the snuff film.
Uh oh. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe irony had nothing to do with these films.
A
snuff film is a movie in which someone (almost always a woman) is actually
violently murdered on film. Usually after sex. Usually in some deep,
secluded place where no one can hear the actress scream.
Of
course, that is all in theory, because snuff films are
urban legends. No matter how many people claim to
know someone who has seen one, no one seems to have actually seen a
legitimate snuff film themselves. Certainly there has never been one which
was given any kind of theatrical release. A 70s
exploitation film - appropriately called Snuff - did become a minor
hit by floating the possibility that it contained a real murder, but that
turned out to be a scam. Undoubtedly some crazed murderers
have probably filmed their crimes, but those have certainly never seen the
light of day, thankfully.
I
have been hearing stories of snuff films since I was a kid (which is much
longer ago than I’d like to admit), and while it was a disturbing idea, I had
absolutely no interest in actually seeing one – even if they really did
exist. Even during the 80s video boom I actively avoided seeing the
infamous Faces of Death series – the closest thing to an actual snuff
movie available – which was just a series of gruesome deaths which were
caught on film.
That’s not entertaining to me. That’s just sick.
So
why would I want to see a movie that was pretending to be a snuff film?
While I do like horror films (and I’m rather fond of voyeurism, too), people
who have read some of my reviews know that I have no interest in the new
wave of torture porn – in which suspense, storyline and chills have been
replaced fetishistically graphic portrayals of slow-paced, ultra-sadistic
violence. I’ve only seen one of the Saw movies, and neither of the
Hostel movies – and one sick British import called Broken was
so sadistic that it is the only film I have ever had to review which I’ve
ever turned off after just 10 minutes just because I couldn’t stand being in
its vile company for one moment longer.
I’m
sure there are some people who find that entertaining. I’m just not sure I
want to know those people.
Still, I held out hope that Amateur Porn Star Killer 2 would bring
something more to the table.
It
only partially did.
The storyline and
dialogue seems made up on the fly. There are only two characters in the
whole film – a killer named Brandon (Shane Ryan) and a woman he meets on the
street (Kai Lanette). (Ryan and Linette also "wrote" the
movie and he directs.) Brandon picks
her up and talks into going home with him for a little kinky sex. Later –
when she starts to have second thoughts – he kills her.
All of this is dragged out over about 75 minutes, though their actual sex
and violence doesn't start until almost an hour in.
Periodically
throughout the film, Ryan cuts
away to flashback scenes of Brandon having sex with earlier victims. These
are filmed so darkly and muddily and at such odd angles
that they are nearly impossible to make out – and unless I totally
misunderstood the end credits, it appears that
these are actually just scenes from earlier exploitation films
from the same distributor which got recycled here.
Interestingly, though,
Amateur Porn Star Killer 2 is not nearly as graphic as the earlier
torture porn movies I mentioned. This is mostly because of the extremely
bare-bones approach they took to filming it. In fact, the hand held video
often looks like a porn film (the music also reeks of porn scoring). What
little violence is shown is mostly neutered by the fact that the filmmakers
try to overcome their lack of funds and effects by nearly constantly using
simple disorienting video tricks – double and triple exposing the picture,
turning everything grainy black and white, filming entire scenes in inverted
colors, covering up entire scenes with out-of-focus bright color swaths.
This quickly gets way too precious and as a viewer you are positively
thankful in the short and rare occasions in which the video is left alone
and you can actually see what the hell is going on.
The
actual murder is so quick and filmed at such an odd angle that you can’t
even tell for sure it happened at first. Honestly,
the fact that the violence was not as graphic as I had feared was actually a
plus for me. I do have to admit that the DVD comes in
both the "Movie Version" and the "Snuff Version" and I chose to only watch
the movie version, which I would assume was tamer.
However, the sex – which had mostly been relatively tame in the hour leading
up to the last half hour, does occasionally get very graphic. In short
bursts there are some rather explicit shots of oral sex and penetration –
none of it long enough to be considered porn, but definitely more than you
will see in most films.
I
can’t say I liked Amateur Porn Star Killer 2. The ad-libbed dialogue
was mostly superficial, the characters somewhat unbelievable and the whole
situation of him talking to her as he filmed her was way too reminiscent of
internet porn. However, strangely, this very amateurishness in filming did
make the movie feel oddly immediate and kind of intriguing. It’s not as
scary or sexy as it wants to be and I would never watch it again, but
strangely I don’t regret seeing this quirky little film.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2008 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: June 6, 2008.
