Filthy Review - Some Guy Who Kills People

Some Guy Who Kills People (2011)

Review by Jude Felton

Some Guy Who Kills People could quite possibly be one of the most generic titles ever, for a horror flick. However, this is an intentionally bland title that hides beneath it a true gem of a movie. Hell, it’s not even a horror flick. Well it is, kind of, to a point, erm…. No, in actual fact Some Guy Who Kills People is a film that has blended horror, comedy and a family drama into one seamless movie. Sounds like a brave step, doesn’t it?

Trying to make horror and comedy work together is a fine art, and quite often it fails miserably, but when you add a further element, such as drama, into the mix and you could be forgiven for thinking that the film would end up being a complete mess. Fear ye not though, because with Some Guy Who Kills People director Jack Perez and writer Ryan Levin, along with an outstanding cast, have worked wonders.

The story of Some Guy Who Kills People follows Ken; he works in an ice cream parlor after being released from the loony bin. You see, poor Ken was severely traumatized by a royal ass-kicking he got at the hands of his fellow students when he was a youngster. He’s all good now though and wants nothing more than to establish a relationship with the daughter whom he missed out on so much with.

However, bodies do start piling up, in a wonderfully gleeful manner, and it’s down to Sheriff Walt Fuller to get to the bottom of it all.

I won’t lie, I never do, when I say that I loved Some Guy Who Kills People. It was one of those movies that I had hoped I would enjoy, but never expected to be blown away by it. As it transpires it kicked my ass, made me laugh (a lot) and managed to surprise me along the way. Not bad for a wee indie flick.

The film itself is loosely based on writer Ryan Levin’s own short movie The Fifth (more of which later) and is indeed about some guy killing folk. This is not a stalk and slash affair though, I mean the kill scenes are very cool and quite bloody at times, instead the focus is very much on Ken and the relationships he has with his daughter, Amy, and a potential love interest in Stephanie. Throw into this mix some genuine laugh out loud moments and you get yourself a quite terrific movie.

The star of the show is most definitely Kevin Corrigan, who plays Ken. You will no doubt recognize him from numerous films and the show Grounded for Life, and he is certainly one of the most underrated actors working today. The subtlety of his performance is just terrific and he nails the role of Ken to perfection. Alongside Corrigan there are also wonderful turns from Karen Black, as Ken’s mother, Ariel Gade as Ken’s daughter and Lucy Davis as Stephanie. However, the show-stopper and scene stealer is without a doubt Barry Bostwick, as Sheriff Walt Fuller; he is a riot. Bostwick plays the role dead straight, but his delivery of his lines is comic genius. Anyone who can throw out the line “Most bodies have heads. Where’s his head? Find me a head. You don’t cut off someone’s head unless you’re one angry fella” with a straight face, and make it believable is automatically a winner with me. Superb.

As you may have gathered, I quite enjoyed Some Guy Who Kills People. No kidding, it’s a bloody good film.

Included on the DVD release (what, no Blu?) is an audio commentary and ‘Making of’ featurette, and also the short film The Fifth. This should definitely be watched as it was the genesis of what eventually became Some Guy Who Kills People. All I will say about it is that it features a game of poker between friends, a dead woman and a lot of laughs; it was bloody hilarious!

If you hear people crying that there are no good genre films made anymore, I suggest punching them, and then tell them to watch this film. I can say without hesitation that it is one of my favorite DVD releases of the year so far.

Some Guy Who Kills People is released on DVD on July 3rd from Anchor Bay.