Amateur Porn Star Killer 2

Shane Ryan's Amateur Porn Star Killer 2 is almost identical to his first film in the series: psycho Brandon (played by Ryan) meets an unsuspecting girl, chats her up, and coerces her into sex before killing her, all of which is filmed by Brandon on his handycam, the footage fuzzy, unsteady and unfocused throughout. Presented as pseudo snuff, the film succeeds in being disturbing largely thanks to the director's uncomfortably convincing turn as a sick, misogynistic monster.

Hoever, what really bothers me about this film is not the controversial subject matter nor Ryan's unsettling 'performance', but rather the headache inducing execution that makes it such a stupefyingly dull experience.

Striving for authenticity, Ryan depicts the events leading up to the sex and violence, as recorded by someone with a total inability to hold a camera steady and blissfully unaware of a handy feature called 'auto-focus'. It's boring and torture for the eyes. I guess the intention was to juxtapose the casual interaction between characters with the later, more extreme content, but the dialogue is so lifeless, the action so banal (a visit to a gas station for a coffee), and the picture and sound so lo-fi that it's hard to remain focused (a bit like the camera). After 45 minutes of absolute tedium, Ryan finally gets around to the film's raison d'être, the debasement and killing of the girl, but this is filmed with the same lack of technical prowess: poor lighting, crappy sound, horrible editing effects, and that migraine-inducing wobbly camerawork.

In short: congratulations are in order, Ryan, for making me hate your despicable character so intensely, but not so much for making me hate your film just as much.

Much the same set-up as the original, Amateur Porn Star Killer, but quite a different film due to the absence of the 'little girl' element and the introduction of a more knowing and initially complicit 'victim'. Difficult to watch but hypnotic nevertheless with its crazy editing and beguiling images. Here the lady in tow is clearly up for some rough sex and Kai Lanette gives an amazingly believable performance. The flashbacks to previous rapes and killings continually disrupt the 'main event' but contribute to the 'realness' and force us to struggle to stay with the reprehensible but irresistible continuing action. Much more explicit than the first and unlike others I don't have a problem with that. Sure a film can be made without nudity and a film involving sex without hardcore but give the man a break if he wants to show some sex with his violence, this simply makes it even more realistic for me.

Amateur Porn Star Killer 2 (2008)

* (out of 4)

The second film in writer-director Shane Ryan's series finds himself back playing the serial killer Brandon who lures a young woman (Kai Lanette) into a hotel room where they're supposed to make a porn movie but his plans include killing her.

It seems this series has many people who hate it but I actually enjoyed the first movie and thought it was rather disturbing but extremely well-made. The original film had a very simply plot but director Ryan did an extremely good job bringing it to life and it managed to work. Sadly, the same can't be said for this sequel, which is a pretty big mess. I will say, however, that Ryan at least did a good job in the acting department and I thought Lanette was also good in her role.

There are all sorts of problems with this film, which is basically just a remake of the first one. What made the original film work so well is that it really did feel like you were watching a real snuff film of a woman being brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer. The same can't be said with this movie because there's a music score that adds nothing and there are all sorts of experimental filters and colors going on here. The experimental nature makes it clear that there's a "director" behind the camera operating everything and this simply ruins the snuff film appeal of the first movie.

The biggest problem is that the film is just downright dull as well. Just check out the opening sequence, which seems to drag on forever as we see various women being filmed by the killer. There are flashback scenes here that add nothing to the picture and in all honesty they're not all that memorably filmed. AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER 2 sadly just never works and in the end we're left with a boring movie.