Conor Boru (director)
(studio)
18 (certificate)
88 (length)
28 August 2021 (released)
05 September 2021
A montage of news channels reporting a brutal murder the narrator calls them the ‘Campervan’ killer. Cue Norman Graysmith (Jared Rogers) a documentary maker whose hooked up with Aidan (Ed Hartland) a serial killer who actually hasn’t killed anyone; accidently shooting a cat doesn’t count.
Sacked from his job at a cinema Aidan now has time to dedicate to what he thinks is his vocation as a serial killer. Along with his girlfriend Claire (Kaitlin Reynell) they set about looking at the options. The trouble is Aidan isn’t up it as he fails to kill the lead singer of his metal band, even with promise of sex afterwards, he can’t perform, so to speak.
Deciding that working as an individual isn't going anywhere, they decide to form a family in the Manson frame. Distributing application forms they attract varied collection of individuals including a very scary twins Veronika and Viktoria (Ronja and Vår Haugholt), a yoga teacher speaking very little English Masoud (Kavé Niku), the demented Amy (Octavia Gilmore) and stall-holder Jack (Yasen Atour).
Some very funny interviews and the family comes together and then put through their paces at a boot camp and then set up a family headquarters. All that’s required are victims which they find and merrily slaughter. It’s a great success though Aidan not having taken part and taking all the credit gets up the nose of the killers.
The film that came immediately to mind was the Belgian 1992 serial killer faux doc Man Bites Dog, which is done in the worst possible taste and the laughs are in the should I be laughing at this. When the Screaming Starts is in bad taste but very much more playful with the humour.
Having said that the actors play it pretty much straight drawing the laughs from the situations and Aidan’s ineptness and fear of being a nobody. Ego is very much at the centre of this with Aidan coveting fame while Norman too looking for his big break too. They are the fulcrum with the rest of the cast working around these two though they are very good too with their stories wrapped up nicely at the end.
Co-written with Ed Hartland, director Conor Boru spatters the screen with plenty of blood and gags, though the blood does tend to hit more often than the gags, in particular towards then end when the film takes a darker turn. Nevertheless this is good solid comedy horror that is well worth a look.
