Check out the Podcast version with spoilers by visiting these links: Amazon, Anchor, Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora. One aspect of horror that has always intrigued me more as a child was the idea of something being based or inspired by a true story. We know that when they based or inspired, it means they don’t completely know everything that happened, but they have enough source material to recreate what they believed happened hence why it always says based on a true story. That is definitely the case with the film that I chose for today which is available on Amazon Prime called Smiley Face Killers. The film stars Ronen Rubinstein (Orange Is The New Black) as troubled but very handsome college student Jake Graham, who believes that he is going insane as he rightfully feels he is being stalked by someone or something, but none of his friends believe him while college students are disappearing everywhere and later found dead in the ocean. The film also stars Mia Serafino (Zeroville) as Keren, Amadeus Serafini (Scream: The TV Series) as Gabriel, Crispin Glover (Back To The Future) as Hooded Figure, Ashley Rickards (Awkward.) as Alana, Garrett Coffey (Manson’s Lost Girls) as Adam, Cody Simpson (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2) as Jake, Daniel Covin (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) as Devon, Rachel Crowl (And Then There Was Eve) as Woman Killer, and the film was directed by Tim Hunter (River’s Edge) and it was written by Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho).
First, the thing that attracted me to the film was the fact that they said it was written by the man behind American Psycho and directed by the man behind River’s Edge. River’s Edge is one of my favorite 80’s films and American Psycho is just legendary so of course I was going to check this out. There is a whole theory out there called the Smiley Face Killer theory that was developed by a former police officer who was making connections between all of these deaths that were made to look like suicides and the fact that smiley fasces were spray painted at every sight which authorities turned down the idea and immediately just ruled it all suicides even though all of the people dying were predominantly white males in college who were believed to be good looking. That is one factor that makes this film all that much creepier is whether there were killers or not and how they were never caught. That will leave chills running down your spine and the film definitely tried to capitalize on the idea. They did a pretty decent job, but the fact of the matter is this van has been following you everywhere and for almost the whole entire film you are clueless that it’s even there? That was one of the things I found hard to believe because I am always weary of my surroundings and that’s horror 101. The opening sequence is pretty gruesome and the film flows a little slow, but when the last 20 minutes of the film are pretty intense. I think it’s worth checking out so I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.
Sometimes, you check out certain films because they look like they have the potential to be cheesy films based on the fact that it came from the 1980’s. That was definitely the case when I chose to watch today’s film My Tutor which was directed by George Bowers (Private Resort) and it was written by Joe Roberts. The film follows California rich kid Bobby Chrystal (
One of the obvious selling points of the film is that its an 80’s teen sex comedy that involves scenes where teens are trying to have sex during the film, but they fail causing some funny hi-jinx. The only issue with this film is that it’s actually very well written and very well executed as far as the acting is concerned. It was really hard trying to find something negative about the film to critique for this, but I’ll try my best. There are a lot of beautiful women in this film which can only mean one thing and that is there is plenty of T&A to go around for all of you out there that are fans of that. Believe me I get it, isn’t that why we watch 1980’s American sex comedies and what not. One of the other great things about this film is actually the cinematography as they capture some great shots of the Pacific Coast Highway as well as other spots of California. I will admit that at first, Bobby’s character can be a little annoying, but after a while you just get it. They also give away a certain scenario that will happen at the end of the film involving a girl named Bonnie. It was just a little obvious that she would appear after Bobby gets his mack on and she looks more impressed with him every time. I actually think this is a movie worth checking out so watch it where ever you can find it. On a scale of one being close to an A-List Hollywood film and five being the cheesiest film of all time, I am going to give this film an 1.3 for a final grade.
Moshpits And Movies 