Sanctimony

Although this wasn't a bad thriller, I felt there wasn't enough background for the characters to really get us in touch with them. Pare is a homicide detective on the trail of serial killer Van Dien. Pare seems to be in the middle of a mid life crises while tracking down Van Dien. Pare's wife, Oxenberg did a great job appearing genuine and vulnerable in her part. It takes a bit of concentration to figure out WHY Casper's character (the killer) would just snap completely and give up his killing spree, when he was no where near being caught. Without going into scene detail, here's my theory. Van Dien's character, already a vein and cruel individual who enjoys dominating, torturing and killing others, became even MORE disillusioned with American society. He encounters Pare as the witness who "found" a murdered girl. Obviousely Van Dien wanted to be found. Here is where you expect the killer to really start toying with the police for the fun of it. Instead, it's like he became bored with his own killing game and any statement or satisfaction that was to be gained by his killing. He just snaps and goes for broke in his killing. I got the feeling near the end that he entered an even darker place (if that's possible), hopelessness. There was gore and violence of course, but it was not over done. A bizarre thriller that is certainly worth a watch for lovers of the genre.

You may not believe this, but when the credits to this movie rolled, I looked for the director's name. When I saw it, I burned it into my memory and I never forgot it. This movie is beyond terrible. It makes Ed Wood's films look like Orsen Welles. At least B movies are entertaining, this was a soul deadening experience. The quality was so bad, I began to wonder who allowed this to happen.

I hear Uwe Boll runs fourteen miles a day. This is because wherever his movies are viewed, the people must run him out of town with flame and pitchfork. The script was terrible, the lighting was like that of a high school football game, and the cinematography was just above the quality of Roger Patterson's Bigfoot video. The acting was executed by people too ashamed of the production to say their lines with any credibility. In the end was a film Alan Smithee wouldn't have put his name on. I learned that day to avoid any movie by this man despite the circumstances. From what I hear, this is not a bad thing to do.

That was enjoyable enough, my second movie in my Uwe Boll marathon (I've watched POSTAL before and will again, just wasn't a part of the marathon). Fairly generic thriller, actually surprised me a few times and made me tense in areas. Liked the music a good bit, the random flashbacks to violence or sex were unnecessary, it felt like the editor went "well this scene is boring so let me just put this here." The music was actually pretty good and that's something I've noticed in most Boll films, the music is almost always the best part. I've seen many compare it to American Psycho and Seven so I should probably watch those to see how similar it actually is.

Oh, my goodness. I would have never thought it was possible for me to see a thriller worse than Domestic Disturbance this soon, but here it is. Armed with rotten plot, terrible editing, stilted acting, and headache-inducing 'style' (sorry, I have no other words for it), Sanctimony is the kind of movie that almost forces you to re-evaluate an entire genre; that is, this film is so bad that even the thrillers I condemned as complete failures now seem a little better.

Now, not only Sanctimony is a terrible film in itself, it also succeeds in the difficult task of ripping off better movies and do a pathetic job with it. Right from the main titles -- nothing but a blatant attempt to reproduce the ones from Se7en -- I was under the impression that something didn't smell quite right. As soon as the movie started with a series of corny, wanna-be hip quick-cuts full of gory images and bombastic colors, I knew where that smell was coming from.

It turns out that two policemen, or rather policeman Jim Renart (Michael Paré) and policewoman Dorothy Smith (Jennifer Rubin), are investigating on a murder spree in Vancouver. A serial killer, known as "Monkey Killer" (what a menacing, chilling nickname, uh?) for his working methods, has killed quite a lot of people. You see, this nut apparently works following the proverb "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" and cuts eyes, ears, and tongues out of his victims. So far, six eyes, six ears, and three tongues. In very ingenious fashion, Renart and Smith figure out that the Monkey Killer is probably going to kill other three people... well, because he probably wants to complete the number 666. So suddenly the film focuses on Tom Gerrick (Casper Van Dien), a young, successful, good-looking businessman, with a dreadful temper. And that's where the rip-off of American Psycho kicks in.

So we follow the life of the two police officers and the young psychopath, none of which is interesting in the least, until they finally meet. Along the way to that, a disco where Renart barely misses Gerrick unintentionally offers us one of the funniest scenes in recent memory: Renart goes in the back of the disco club, because... well, just because the script tells us it's a suspect place; then, with one single punch in the stomach, Renard gets rid of a big guard who blocks the path, and the guard is never heard of again? Does this scene strike anyone else as completely unrealistic?

Anyway, after another murder, Gerrick turns in as a witness, but Smith and especially Renart immediately suspect he might be the killer. In typical Basic Instinct fashion, Smith gets some dates with the young businessman, under the assumption that she might discover his true identity.

I won't spoil the ending but it is, quite simply, an embarrassment; there are contradictions, some plot holes, issues that never get resolved, and especially there is one last scene where a brutal mass murder, supposed to be shocking and sad, comes off as such laughably overdone and nonsensical that I frankly can't imagine how anyone could not laugh at it.

At 87 minutes, Sanctimony is really pushing it. You never care about one single character, because they are all so flat (not to mention boring) that you know exactly who is who the first time you meet them. You are never pulled into the story, because the scenes are connected through weak plot devices when not downright unnecessary and out of place. The acting ranges from average (Van Dien) to downright atrocious (Rubin, and most of the supporting cast); the music is abysmal generic techno, and the photography is one of the worst I have ever seen. Of course, like every fiasco of the genre, we are provided with a little bit of gratuitous nudity.

3/10

Sanctimony is a movie that is not rated here the US but it is kind of scary. I think this, well, kids shouldn't see it alone thats for sure. I guess it was ok, just scary! Casper Van Dien was excellent, he is a very good actor who can play horrific characters real good! I would give Sanctimony a 7!