Since Fred Vogel’s August Underground
hit the scene in 2001, pseudo snuff films seem to be popping up from
all over, perhaps due to Toe Tag Picture’s success and notoriety over
the years and the fact that filmmakers saw that it was possible to make
a movie both scary and disturbing on a shoe string budget. However,
none of these films have yet come close to touching the sheer detail
and savage realism put into the August Underground franchise.
Young filmmaker, Shane Ryan must have felt that it was his time to take
a stab at snuff and did just that with his voyeuristic movie, Amateur
Porn Star Killer. The problem with that is, the movie has nothing
to offer.
To start, though I personally have never
seen an actual snuff film, I would imagine that the movie doesn’t
undergo the editing process. In Amateur Porn Star Killer, not
only is a grainy filter applied to make it seem as though the movie
was shot on some sort of film, random scenes from another one of Brandon’s
films, of two passionate lovers, occupies the bottom corner of the screen
and at certain times, overlaps the entire screen. The whole obviousness
of the editing sequences damages the integrity of a movie attempting
realism.
Not only does the editing take away from
the movie but also the continuity of the movie makes it hard to withstand.
There are roughly only two cuts in the entire movie. The first cut makes
up the entire first half and consists of the two characters driving
to Brandon’s room and his attempts to coax Stacy into removing her
clothes. The movie moves slower than watching Christmas at an old folk’s
home. The second half features Brandon getting down to business. The
funny thing is, up until he becomes violent, Stacy shows no sign of
resistance. It almost appears to be consensual the entire time. She
wasn’t a very convincing victim, never seeming to be scared just somewhat
uncomfortable and nervous. You see no visual horror on her face or much
of anything due to the fact that much of the alleged rape is far too
dark and often the camera avoids full-framed shots. Her death happens
off camera where she is beaten to death with punches and kicks and she
never really gets the chance to perform as a victim.
Also, there were no special effects to
be found, instead, they figured that they would keep rape as the primary
focus and not worry too much about the finale in which the girl is murdered.
This is supposed to be snuff; how can you set out with intentions to
make such a film and in no way incorporate some sort of convincing
on screen death. There was nothing, not a single drop of blood. In the
interview with Shane Ryan on the disc, he admits that the movie was
made with a budget of $45. Maybe he should have splurged and spent an
extra $10 on some food coloring and corn syrup.
Not that it really matters, but the DVD
release by Cinema Epoch comes with an interview with director Shane
Ryan and actress Michiko Jimenez, trailers, 5 short films by Ryan, and
a “Drive Thru Crime Scene Tour.” I’m astounded that plastered
all over the front and rear cover are various quotes giving off the
impression that something worth watching lies within the confines of
the disk. I don’t know, perhaps I got the wrong movie.
“A young girl will be… humiliated,
raped, murdered. And you will watch.” A more fitting quote for the
cover would have been, “A young girl will… drive in a car, have
sex, be punched in the head. Don’t bother watching.”
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