Directed by
Mark Tapio Kines

Written by
Mark Tapio Kines

Cast
Judy O'Dea .... Alena Gray
Mary Lynn Rajskub .... Grace
Melanie Lynskey .... Lauren
Sheeri Rappaport .... Gina
Marc Wade .... First News Reporter
Niki Simental .... TV News Interviewee
Stan Guo .... Chinese Delivery Guy
Will Heermance .... Man in Black
Lucas Young .... Lauren's Neighbor
Phillip Darlington .... Second News Reporter
Michelle R. Wade .... Young Woman on Couch
Matt Hightshoe .... Young Man on Couch

R
79 mins

Lions Gate has been responsible for an awful lot of garbage in its day. Longtime readers can probably tick off the number of films from Lions Gate on two hands and a few dozen feet that I've personally lambasted and exposed for the mindless dreck, patently offensive, and utterly juvenile piles of steaming cinematic dung they are.

"Serial Slayer", sent to me by the director on a DVD so fresh that it came bearing its original title--"Claustrophobia"--on the DVD load screen, is that rarest of rarities.

It's an excellent movie from Lions Gate.

But this discrepancy in titles is a prime example of what's wrong with Lions Gate. They took a seriously high-quality movie like "Claustrophobia," decided that the title wasn't going to play in Peoria for one truly baffling reason or another, and slapped on a cookie-cutter title in its place.

My guess is that Lions Gate's typical movie targets idiot fifteen year olds who crave boobs and blood in their movies, not necessarily in that order, and figured they'd be better off to have the movie scream "Slasher flick right here!" than "Hey, take a look at this well-thought-out suspense title."

So what we have here is the story of the Crossbow Killer, a serial killer with truly unorthodox methods, who is stalking a fairly affluent suburban-type area called Piedmont, which is within striking distance of Oakland and Los Angeles. Among the folks trying to live their lives around the rash of murders are Grace, Gina and Lauren, three co-workers who've, for reasons that frankly escape me, decided to embark on a weekend-long slumber party.

Which is just a smidge trite on the surface--we've all seen the serial killer invading the sleepover dozens of times before. Of course, we haven't seen it done without a collection of buxom cheerleaders, or twentysomething sorority sisters, or young plastically-augmented women playing teenagers running around, which lends a sorely needed note of originality to the proceedings.

"Serial Slayer" also gives us the Crossbow Killer, a serial killer so utterly unorthodox that he sneaks up on the elderly, at nine in the morning, and empties fifty-pound pistol crossbows into their backs all without anyone even noticing. No one has ever done this before, and it's a true surprise. Note also the integration of news events--the D.C. snipers, for example--seamlessly into the narrative.

The cast also pulls off some truly fantastic scenes in "Serial Slayer." Let's face it, folks...this movie basically has a cast of five: Gina, Grace, Lauren, whoever's doing the walking on the roof sound effects, and everybody else. They do an incredible job of ramping up the random terror in the movie as utilities suddenly die off, and so do the delivery guys.

"Serial Slayer" does one thing really well. It takes the single most hackneyed premise on the face of the earth--three girls having a sleepover that gets invaded by a serial killer--and makes it one of the scariest, most suspenseful movies released from Lions Gate ever.

Finally, at long last, Lions Gate has a reason to be proud of one of its releases.

I had heard that some people were complaining about the lighting in "Serial Slayer," and these complaints aren't without merit. Several scenes in "Serial Slayer" are so poorly lit as to be utterly unable to view. It's some of the worst lighting I've seen since "Van Helsing," and you couldn't even watch half of that movie unless you were in a room as dark as the void of space.

But this is truly a minor complaint when stacked alongside the numerous high-quality aspects of "Serial Slayer."

On a far stranger note, some of us (me included!) might wonder why these three act like the Powerpuff Girls. The comparison is actually rather apt. Stop and think about it, while you watch. Lauren is our Blossom, the slightly bossy leader type. Grace is our Bubbles, sometimes shy, sometimes chipper, occasionally whiny type. Gina is our ass-kicking Buttercup.

I can't believe it, but it's not too far from the truth--"Serial Slayer" really can be called "Powerpuff Girls Versus The Evil Serial Killer."

The ending is excellently crafted--the juxtaposition of fight sequences and long, exasperating waits makes for a suspenseful blend. Plus, the last thirty seconds will be wonderfully scary. Trust me.

The special features really don't exist yet--there's talk of some previews and subtitling, but not on the disk I received. The disk I got my hands on was so new it didn't even have Lions Gate's standard icon on the menu screen that you click on to access the previews. I've yet to see a Lions Gate title that didn't feature this icon, so we can pretty much count on it showing up at some point.

All in all, despite a truly hackneyed premise and unusual scripting, "Serial Slayer" manages to deliver a frightening little package that'll have you jumping at every creak in your house for a couple nights after you finish watching. This is probably the truest standard of the scary movie--will it scare you after you watch?

Lions Gate has finally managed to deliver a good movie for once.