Shadow of Murder

This movie is your typical, cheesey, college murder flick, but it's not THAT bad. It is a little predictable, still it was fun to watch in a humorous way. As an huge fan of Charlie Schlatter, it was great to see his early work and to see how he has grown as an actor. I give the movie as a whole a "C," but if you watch it for a laugh, or to see Schlatter, it could easily rate a "B+."

Listen, I've seen this movie a hundred times, showing it to friends and family as a lark. It's a hilarious buddy-movie/murder-mystery with witty, punny-yet-intelligent dialog ala Clue. No, there's nothing groundbreaking here, and the production values are what you would expect from something that, I believe, went straight to video. But why should that matter? This film is completely unpredictable, and has such classic lines as "The dean has knocked off more undergraduates than Kent State." (Hilarious, if you know some basic American history and get the double-ententre.) Most movies these days require that even simple verisimilitude fly out the window, so suspend disbelief, enter with no expectation, and enjoy. It'll keep you guessing, and laughing, until the very end.

Here's a thriller which stands completely alone, with great casting and a great twist. And we have the charismatic and handsome rebel, Schlatter, who this time, receives a much higher education, he didn't want. One involving survival. The new kid at school, and falling head over heels for the most popular girl, hot Bissett, he soon becomes the prime suspect in her murder, her burning and charred remains at the campus's footsteps. Walken is fun as narcissistic detective , only one of 2, who believes Schlatter to be innocent, where soon, lone investigator Schlatter, becomes in over his head as acquaintances, like the hot Cassidy he beds, are taken out, so who is the killer. All American Murder is a really fun thriller and juicy entertainment, where an unclad Bissett, makes us see how sexy she really is., with our feasting vision. A couple of red herrings, not enough thrown in, AAM is a low key thriller, but it works, due to Schlatter's charismatic and enthusiastic performance, the film opening up, with such a weird amusing scene or more correctly WTF scene. Good music too, showing the 90's up, for what they were. Some nasty gore too

As cheesy and '80's' as this movie comes off as, I think many miss the humour and satire that embodies it all. Think of putting Risky Business, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Halloween, and The Breakfast Club into a blender. The first part is all sweet and predictable. But when the murders start happening, and more is revealed as to the perverted backgrounds of the students to the dean and his wife, it gets pretty deep. Walken's nonchalant character seems un-phased by the goings on, and seems to be a 'Scared Straight' mentor to young Artie to get him to mature and fear for his life. All in all, it does come off as a Made For TV, 80's romp. Yet the dialog, characters, language, and deviant background is memorably far from 'wholesome'. It's a fun movie that will stick with the viewer long after I think.

All American Murder(1992) is an interesting murder mystery not because its a very good film but because it is one of the rare American film that uses many ideas from the Italian Giallo. The writer, Barry Sandler seemed to have a touch of Argentoitis when he did the screenplay. Reminds me in many ways of Four Flies on Grey Velvet(1971) in the sense that someone is playing a game of cat and mouse with the main hero. Combines the giallo with the slasher film, the rebel picture, the detective story, and the love story.

Christopher Walken lifts the film from being lousy to being entertaining. Uses elements from Agatha Christie and Ed McBain novels. Its obvious that All American Murder was influenced by the films of Dario Argento and Mario Bava especially in the use of a well deguised murderer as well as the motif of the deception of human nature that Bava showed in his films. The scene where Artie thinks he witnesses the murder of Tally reminds me of similar scenes from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(1969) and Deep Red(1975).

Josie Bissett was good in the role of Tally Fuller but I wished that he played in a duel role similar to that of Marisa Mell in One on Top of the Other(1969). Another film that seems to influenced this is Brian De Palma's Body Double(1984). Has small portions of the sleeze, sex, and violence that the Italian Giallo is known for. Unfortunately, the film does not have any of the flamboyant camera movement, the explosive soundtrack, the surreal images nor the artful and stylize violence that makes Dario Argento a genius of horror pictures.