American Driller Killer — American Driller Killer (DVD)
American Driller Killer is a low-budget blend gory killings, a quipping/ talking to himself killer, and dark/ mischievous sense of humour. I guess you’d say it’s a mix/ tribute to the original Driller Killer & Henry Portrait Of A Serial Killer- but with a more knowing/ postmodern edge, and sleazy-to- pitch black humour. Here from the fine folks at SRS Cinema is a DVD release of the film, taking in a directors’ commentary track and a few other things.
The film is from the year 2020 it was directed/ co-writen by Milan, Michigan Matt Jaissle (The Necro Files, Gobblefoot, Maws)- who I’ve recently become a big fan of, so I’m slowly but surely make my way through his back catalogue, hence this review- though the release is still very available. Oh, and keep an eye out soon for an interview with Matt on [M]m!.
As with many of Mat’s films it’s got a short ‘n’ sharp runtime of just over seventy minutes, and for most part it remains engaging/ entertaining.
The film focuses on moustached, stubbled, and shaved haired/ floppy fringed Reno (Justin Scro)- he’s a struggling screenwriter living in a rundown district of Detroit with his goth/ punk girlfriend. He’s not had any work for some time- the bills are piling up, and she’s less than pleased. Then he gets a job from gangster like producer…but hope is short lived, as it's cancelled just as he starts typing…so he basically snaps, going on a killing spree with his recent brought drill.
A fair bit of the film is shot in nighttime streets- with some nice tense chase scene enhanced nicely by pulsing/ choppy electronic. The more unhinged/ moody moments are scored by bass churning, droning, and vague harmonic cues- so just like other Jaissle films, thought has been given to the score.
The gore is cheap/ effective enough- there’s in the head attacks, though the jaw, the stomach and in the eye- with plenty of spurting red stuff.
The thing that I think surprised me most were the humorous / postmodern touches. These move from amusingly sleazy banter between two streetwalkers, Reno talking to his childhood self who questions why he’s not selling body parts on ebay, and ranting/ cleverly done nighttime monologue scene- where our killer is ranting & raving to himself
Justin Scro is good as the losing his sanity/ kill hungry madman. The rest of the cast in fine for this type of thing, oh and Jaissle has a short cameo as a news reporter, and he does a decent enough job.
I guess it starts to loose steam/ gets a little silly in its last quarter- when there’s a squat party with spring-eyed-glasses & wonky muzak/ gone crazy keyboard demo score. But there is still entertainment to be had in this part of the film.
On the extras side we get a director’s commentary from Mr Jaissle, as I’ve come to expect- it’s another informative/ interesting track. We find out much of the film was shot in Adrian- which was an hour & half out of Detroit, though he did shoot some tone setting shots in the city. He talks about how the film was meant to be a homage/ semi remake of the original Driller Killer- though with some differences, which he points out, as it goes on. We find out the apartment used was the lead actor’s real apartment. He talks about how the project was originally going to be a cannibal film- but they didn’t get enough money in the go-fund me, so they decided to make this instead. He talks how he wanted to use a lot of bare light bulbs, and we find out the film was shot over a period of eight months at the weekend. We find out the drill used in the picture was the cheapest they could find- at a cost of $19.99. He points out a few actors as they appear, and locations in Adrian. Later on, he talks about his favourite locations in the film, and we find out most of the picture was shot a short distant from his then own apartment in the city. We find out he put a green filter over the whole print, and he touches on happy accident shots.
Otherwise on the extras side we get two isolated shots from the film- the director’s cameo, and an ad for a DIY store. As well as a few trailers.
American Driller Killer is entertaining blend of splatter & psychodrama, with some rewarding touches of post-modernism/ humour. So, another well worth checking out Jaissle picture.