Some Guy Who Kills People (2011)
Some Guy Who Kills People is a mixture of comedy and horror that fails to meld despite earnest performances from all. The fault lies completely with director Jack Perez who points the camera at his very choice acting collective but forgets to meld their work into a framework that befits writer/producer Ryan A. Levin’s blackly comic story (inspired by his short The Fifth). But then given Perez is also the man who directed Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus where he spectacularly failed to make a decent Z-grade movie chances were slim for him getting the comedy/horror mix right here.
There’s a shift in tone and dynamic between the plot’s numerous different pairings – between Ken and his daughter Amy (Ariel Gade) – Ken and his romantic interest Stephanie (Lucy Davis) – Ken and his mum (Karen Black) to the out and out comedy cop pairing centred by Rocky Horror star Barry Bostwick’s sheriff pitch perfect with his dead-pan delivery. Bostwick’s comedy style is vastly different to that of Davis who affects the same style that made her work so well in Shaun of the Dead.
Kevin Corrigan makes for an engaging lead never giving too much away as thirty-four-year-old Ken Boyd making for a well-rounded sympathetic character, amiable and able to convey Ken’s internal struggle as he looks to adapt back to the outside world after his incarceration in a mental institution. Working for an insufferable boss at the local ice cream parlour before returning home to the verbal bullying of his mother Ken hasn’t got much going for him. He finds solace in his artwork, the same artwork that caused him a rough deal at the hands of school mates who didn’t take too kindly to his etchings of them. Those same tormentors continue to goad him and that’s when the murders start.
Ken finds out he has an an eleven-year-old daughter Amy (Ariel Gade from the Dark Water remake and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem) who not only seeks him out but decides to live with him in spite of her mother’s expressed wishes otherwise. At the same time Ken begins an awkward romance with the delightful Stephanie. All the while his ex-tormentors are being killed off and the local sheriff begins to suspect Ken maybe responsible for the murders – an awkward situation for the sheriff as he’s dating Ken’s mother.
The end result is a quirky uneven disappointment. Normally the occasional jolt of blood spillage on-screen can liven up the dullest of genre pics however here it just adds to the confusion of whether we are meant to be laughing, shrieking or feeling for the lead’s rekindling with his estranged daughter and daughter. It goes for a nice cuddly finish that befits a chick flick rather than what set out to be a black comedy. With a title of Some Guy Who Kills People you’d expect the onus to be on killing rather than forging relationships so anyone expecting plenty of gore really ought to look elsewhere. Executive producer John Landis successfully combined comedy and horror with his classic An American Werewolf in London – what a shame he couldn’t have helped more with the mix here.
