How to be a Serial Killer Plays on Fantasies that Many Occasionally Have
But, How to be a Serial Killer takes those morbid fantasies to a level that becomes increasingly disturbing with an underlying sense of horror and dread.
Written by The Horror Czar
May 15, 2009
Release: Late Summer, 2009 (U.S. Projected)
Written and Directed by: Luke Ricci
Starring:
Dameon Clarke as Mike
Ryan K. Smith as Thug
Laura Regan as Abigail
George Wyner as Dr. Goldberg
Matthew Gray Gubler as Bart
“Is it hard for you to get up in the morning? Has your life lost a sense of purpose? Do you feel like giving up is the only option? Don’t despair because Mike Wilson can help you! Once suicidally depressed, Mike turned his life around when he became a serial killer. Now he’s going to share his secrets with you in this amazing life-changing seminar!”
Have you ever had fantasies about viciously bashing in the head of that guy that cut you off on the highway? No? Maybe that’s just me…
In any case, Mike (Dameon Clarke) is indeed a serial killer, and apparently sells tickets to a seminar he presents on how you too can learn to “listen to the voices in your head” and stop repressing those liberating feelings. Self confidence, fulfillment and a new lease on life can be yours for the low price of one invigorating program.
When Mike meets Bart (Matthew Gray), the attendant in a local video store, he recognizes a soul that longs to act out his violent tendencies… or maybe he just recognizes an impressionable young man that is easily influenced. In any case, the two become inseparable as Mike decides to take Bart under his wing and teach him the ropes, so to speak, of living life as a serial killer.
Shot in a format that is part documentary and part live-action, How to be a Serial Killer is a story of unhealthy friendship, manipulation, psychosis and murder, told from a comedic point of view. The laughs, which are plentiful, 
are abruptly halted by violent and gory moments that come out of nowhere and slap you across the face. As the saga continues the film becomes less and less funny and the nature of Mike’s severe disturbance bubbles slowly to the surface. For those who have occasionally had sinister fantasies of shutting their boss up for good this film can be both particularly satisfying as those actions are talked about openly and acted upon, and particularly distressing as the reality of actually committing such crimes is also played out in sobering Technicolor. No amount of cheerful music or gleeful smiles can make the reality of taking someone’s life any less terrifying. Maybe I’ll just make nice with my boss after all.
How to be a Serial Killer is imaginative and intriguing, offering many points where the laughter blurts out before you have a chance to glance around the room to see who might hear you. Dameon Clarke and Matthew Gray give impressive performances, each on track and believable in the light of the characters they are portraying. The progression of Dameon Clarke as Mike through the transition from happy-go-lucky and fun to disturbed and unbalanced is particularly effective, as the demons within only occasionally show themselves via a word, a moment of insecurity or an evil look in his eyes.
How to be a Serial Killer is slated for a theatrical release in late Summer 2009, and a DVD release in October. This film maintains the grit of a lower-budget independent movie while having a high enough production caliber to win over those unaccustomed to non-Hollywood fare. Being a serial killer can be fun, if it weren’t for the severe mental imbalance necessary to act out such morbid fantasies and nasty consequences that are always sure to follow. Questions or comments about How to be a Serial Killer? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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