November 28, 2009
'Amateur Porn Star Killer' is another entry into the Pseudo snuff genre that has potential but unfortunately fails to see the error of its ways.
The movie tells a section of an untold story that is based on the actions of our main character, Brandon, who is an ordinary youn...( read more)g man with plenty of guilty pleasures that all evolve around his video camera.
The movie takes us through a journey as Brandon picks up a young girl who lies about her age, and tries to convince her to star in a home made movie. Obviously, this leads to disastrous results.
Believe it or not, I have a lot to say about this bland movie and, yes, that's right, I do mean bland.
Firstly, as you may or may not have noticed, this is not a movie made for cinema screening. It is a direct to video release so, I feel it is in best intrests to actually comment on some of it's promotional work as things like the trailers actually give away a lot more than they should.
Shane Ryan, the director, writer and star of this low budget movie, actually believes that he is the first person to make a Pseudo snuff film. He has made this clear in interviews and at the beggining of the movie where the audience is given several quotes and facts about the urban legend that is the snuff film.
Sadly for Shane Ryan, he has obviously done no research into this what so ever. Considering that this movie was made in one night during 2006, it seems very irresponsible to promote you movie as being the first of a new genre when, there is clear evidence that such movies as 'Guinea Pig: The Devils Experiment' had already done this in the late 80's. This has been followed by many other entries including the phenomenal and highly controversial 'August Underground' Trilogy.
But lets talk about the movie its self.
As I mentioned before the audience is greeted with facts and quotes about snuff films which, as always, still states that they are in fact an urban legend. During this, an atmospheric soundtrack that is badly reordered is playing in the background.
That this is the first major problem with the movie. The damn soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, on occassion the music isn't bad, however, it is badly recorded and/or badly produced, most of the time it doesn't fit the feel of the movie but, worst of all, it doesn't stop! There is constant music through out the whole movie. There is not one second of silence.
After the quotes and facts, we begin to see what we can only pressume is video footage of previous victims being interviewed by Brandon before they succumb to him and begin delving into sexual acts. During this, certain lines from characters are written across the screen as they are spoken.
Before long the main titles fade on and off screen. It is at this point that the movie truly begins. From this point on there is only one cut in the whole movie. That's right. One cut. This informs us that the whole movie is a one take wonder.
We start with Brandon in his car attempting to 'Pick up' a young girl named Stacey, which Brandon manages to do so a little too easily. It is clear from this point that the dialogue for this movie is going to be terrible and extremley un-natural. However, Stacey agrees to go back to Brandon's place to 'Hang out'.
During her stay with Brandon she lies to him about her age, stating that she is 18. However, during the night it becomes clear that she is only 13. This does not stop Brandon in doing every thing he can into talking her into making a home made porn movie him which leads to her demise.
As you can tell, the story line is highly controversial considering the age of the character Stacy. The actress used to play Stacy is obviously of legal age, however, every thing has been done to make her look as young as possible. Which the film maker has succeeded in.
Now don't worry. So far this all sounds disgusting and depraved but, the fact of the matter is that 95% of the movie is just conversation between the two characters. And don't forget, there is a constant soundtrack playing in the background.
As well as this, everything has been shot through several filters. This takes away any form of realism and hurts the movie severely.
All in all, the movie is bland, dull and not very interesting. But the sad thing is that there was a lot of potential to make a good movie. If this had a big budget and was shot more like 'My Little Eye' or more like 'The House On Haunted Hill', then this could have made a huge impact.
As most of us already know, the Pseudo snuff genre is not meant to entertain us but to disgust us by showing the potential underground horror of the real world and what some sick bastards may or may not get up to behind closed doors. Well 'Amateur Porn Star Killer' succeeds in not entertaining us but, in does so in all the wrong ways.
So what is it's down fall. The fact that it is too artistic and that it fails to deliver what it promises. The tagline on the cover/poster reads:
" This girl will be humiliated, raped and tortured......AND YOU WILL WATCH!"
To be fair, during the course of the movie she is not humiliated. She doesn't even show any sign of struggle or emotional turmoil. She is shy but, that's about it. The rape is statutory, which means that she has still given consent for the sexual acts to go on. The torture is non existent but, her death is inevitable.
Now I'm not saying that I want to see those things in a movie unless it is what is needed to make a great story and is in context, however, if that is what is promised then it should be delivered.
The good things about this movie, and there really aren't that many, is the use of sound at the end of the movie and, the titles that actually build a background for the character of Brandon. His background is very well developed and I feel that it could lead into the making a very good serial killer movie. But that won't happen. In fact, there are already two sequels to this poor excuse for an artistic presentation.
If Shane Ryan had researched such movies as 'Thesis', 'August Underground', 'Scrapbook' & 'Faces Of Death', he may have discovered that trying to give a movie like this some form of artistic merit is a bad idea. What he should have done is tried to make it as realistic as possible or, better yet, not make it at all.
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