Kill For Me (2013)
Take a little bit of Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train and a dash of Single White Female and you’ve got Kill for Me, a film where ‘originality’ takes a break and allows ‘derivative’ to stand in, making for a decidedly average and rather forgettable rental.
Co-writer/Director Michael Greenspan pitches Kill for Me, in the ‘Making Of’ extra, as a moral dilemma. Would you kill for someone else? Probably not, but then genre films tend to thrive on stupid people doing stupid things and that’s exactly what we get again here. It would have been more refreshing if Greenspan said instead to camera ‘I just wanted to make something that appealed to the lowest common denominator and therefore do well as a rental.’
Katie Cassidy, daughter of Seventies pop star David Cassidy, stars as Amanda Rowe a college student with issues. Her friend and college roommate, Natalie Ross (Leah Gibson), has been missing for six months. There’s also an abusive ex-boyfriend Mark (Adam DiMarco) who is harassing her and letting himself into her home for Amanda to add to her pile of woes.
Natalie’s disappearance has had a financial impact on Amanda and her other roommate, meaning that they cannot afford to keep living at their digs without another housemate paying rent. Salvation comes in the aloof form of Hailey Jones (Tracy Spiridakos), who rents the vacant room. Before you can shout ‘psycho-bitch from Hell’ Hailey has gotten into Amanda’s knickers and also dispatched of her troublesome ex.
This is where the Strangers on a Train crib comes in. Hailey, having killed Amanda’s abusive ex, now expects Amanda to help kill off her nasty father in return. We are led to believe that Hailey’s father (Donal Logue) is nasty because, at every opportunity, we are shown the numerous scars Hailey has upon her back that he has is said to have inflicted upon her. Amanda is naturally rather reluctant; however our Hailey is a resourceful young lady and knows how to manipulate the situation her way by kidnapping Amanda’s only apparent buddy.
Katie Cassidy is no stranger to the genre having starred in the guilty pleasure that was the Black Christmas re-imagining and the less of a pleasure that was the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Here though Cassidy’s performance is subdued, as requested by director Greenspan, which makes her seem despondent and lethargic in any scene that doesn’t require her to scream. As a result her character is hard to warm to. Elsewhere Kill for Me is adequately acted for a film where the acting shouldn’t really count, with Donal Logue making up for his appearance in Shark Night 3D as Hailey’s allegedly abusive father.
Quite why Kill for Me was awarded an 18 certificate is more of a twisty conundrum than any plot ‘twist’ the film takes. The lesbian sex scenes will hardly titillate and the violence/killings are so-so at best and everything looks and plays as if it were made for TV. Kill for Me is surprise-free, even to those that may have never seen a thriller before ever, and driven to appeal a less demanding viewer. In that case the makers have achieved their aim and even though it doesn’t deserve to, it will do well as a rental. For anyone expecting a decent thriller, based on the packaging, be advised that it’s a promise that remains unfulfilled.
