I have never heard of this movie until it popped up on Shudder one day, and since it has Jesse Williams, who I love from Grey's Anatomy, and Jordanna Brewster, who I love from D.E.B.S., I was eager to watch this as soon as possible. I didn't even care what it was about once I saw the cast, honestly, but the premise sounded good too, so I was pretty sure I would like this movie.
So check this out. this movie is about a comic book writer who created this character called "Slasherman" based on a real life string of killings from two decades earlier. He's going on a tour to promote the final issue of his comic, while making it publicly clear that he's not sure how to end the story yet, when he begins to notice a frightening similarity between his comic and real-life current events. Soon it becomes clear that someone is using his comic as an inspiration for a string of real-life murders happening in the present day. Art-imitates-life-imatates-art. Freaky.
So this movie is full of gory Murder set pieces (like that movie Murder Set Pieces, nifty) and there's plenty of violence and blood and gore. At first our main character resists tghe idea that the new murders are based in some way on his work, like he's offended at the idea that he's somehow to blame for these killings, and I tend to agree that blaming violent art for the violence in the world around us is messed up, but in the case of this movie it soon becomes clear that the killer really is using the comic as inspiration for his killings, and I kind of feel bad for the comic book writer then because he starts to realize hye is responsible for these acts, however indirectly.
When the comic writer (Todd) goes on his press tour announncing his final issue of the Slasherman comic and visits the town where the real-life murders that inspired the comic took place twenty years earlier, it seems really tasteless and like a very bad idea to me, because hello, of course people in the town aren't going to appreciate your "art" when it depicts something hoorrible that really happened to them, and Todd's outrage feels kind of whiny and self-centered to me, which makes his character less than likeable, especially when his girlfriend keeps trying to get him to focus on the real victims who were really killed by the very real killer, and he keeps whining about his art and how he's misunderstood and it's not his fault and blah blah blah. He loses a lot of credibility with me on that note. Jesse Williams is still hot though, so he can be forgiven for the shortcomings of his character.
The violence in the movie is really stylized and beautiful and the blood and guts are almost pretty, which I can see getting under the skin of a lot of people who have a problem with violence in the media, and this movie isn't going to change their minds (especially when it goes all-out preachy at the end, like literally having a voiceover preaching at us while the final scenes are playing...real subtle, guys). Though I do kind of agree with what the voiceover is saying at least as far as it relates to the violence in this particular movie. The problem is that I was really enjoying the movie until it decided to get all preachy on me, and when the ending devolves into one big master's thesis on violence and art I was tired from a long day of watching violent movies and all I want is a nap, not to go out and commit any violent crimes, so since I have major plans to watch 100+ horror movies this month and 0 plans to commit any grisly murders, I have to disagree with preachy artsy-fartsy voiceover woman and wonder why she decided to inturrupt my movie and shit all over my parade. Rude.
So the verdict here is that the movie is really pretty, really gory, really preachy, and really heavy-handed at the end, and I'm still glad I finally checked it out, but I think it could have definitely been better if it STFU and got out of its own way a little. Cool beginning, bummer of an ending.
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