I may have seen nearly all the introspective takes on slasher films. This isn't the most radical, but it is very clever.
The thing starts out being a documentary of an aspiring young slasher legend. He sets up what otherwise would be an ordinary slasher movie. This first half of the film is not a mockumentary, at least not in the Chris Guest pattern (and is there another?). It is a quite interesting "Dinner with Andre" for Gen X, about the nature of film, fantasy and the necessity of evil. Sure, there are pokes at the genre: you need a virgin, the teens never break out the window and so on. But the business about fate driving film patterns is precious. Worthy of a folding essay.
And then it folds: the camera slowly ceases to be those of the inner filmmakers and becomes of the outer ones as our film crew becomes among the hunted. This part is there to allow us to believe it is a film and to bask in the (limited) internal knowledge of what is scripted.
Early in the thing, we meet a retired serial killer and his trophy wife. Now this may escape folks not looking at the narrative platforms, but here with this couple — especially the actress playing the wife — is the same introspective folds we are given, but from the other side, the inside. "The Final Cut," or "Scream," this ain't; they take themselves seriously. This is about film, and genre and sex. Serious in a different way.
I have "Man Bites Dog" on the way.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
The thing starts out being a documentary of an aspiring young slasher legend. He sets up what otherwise would be an ordinary slasher movie. This first half of the film is not a mockumentary, at least not in the Chris Guest pattern (and is there another?). It is a quite interesting "Dinner with Andre" for Gen X, about the nature of film, fantasy and the necessity of evil. Sure, there are pokes at the genre: you need a virgin, the teens never break out the window and so on. But the business about fate driving film patterns is precious. Worthy of a folding essay.
And then it folds: the camera slowly ceases to be those of the inner filmmakers and becomes of the outer ones as our film crew becomes among the hunted. This part is there to allow us to believe it is a film and to bask in the (limited) internal knowledge of what is scripted.
Early in the thing, we meet a retired serial killer and his trophy wife. Now this may escape folks not looking at the narrative platforms, but here with this couple — especially the actress playing the wife — is the same introspective folds we are given, but from the other side, the inside. "The Final Cut," or "Scream," this ain't; they take themselves seriously. This is about film, and genre and sex. Serious in a different way.
I have "Man Bites Dog" on the way.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.