Random Acts of Violence

The director seems to work hard to make this film look like a highly stylish gory thriller but alas in the act of stylishness it ends being a wannabe slasherman movie with not much thrill or solid substance. Loads of gore also do not help much to give it the crime thriller feel. Had it been made as a straight crime thriller it would have been a way more enjoyable movie and with better results.

Random Acts of Violence tells the story of a comic book writer who is having trouble coming up with an ending to his new story, all while being stalked by a killer who is stylizing the murders after his books.

The story beings on a road trip with Todd played by Jesse Williams and his girlfriend Kathy played by Jordana Brewster heading to a publicity interview for his comic book series Slasherman, with his two assistant friends Ezra and Aurora, played by Jay Baruchel and Niamh (Neeve) Wilson, respectively.

The interview starts out great, but quickly gets railroaded when Todd begins getting grilled about basing his comic book on actual murders that happened along the highway. He then receives a phone call during the interview with a cryptic numeric message from an unidentified man. The gang think nothing of the phone call, until they stumble upon a crime scene which is similar to how Todd's characters were murdered in one of his books.

Random Acts of Violence is a throwback to the 80s slasher film but unfortunately, there are some flaws to the film. It seems like a lot is missing from this story, and it was quickly wrapped up in its short 81 minute runtime. There is really no introduction to the killer aside from his lair which looks eerily similar to Leatherfaces in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There is also a Christmas themed side story which does not get resolved until the end of the film. Christmas themed movies during Summertime is always awkward.

The title Random Acts of Violence is actually appropriate. However, while things were unfolding on screen I was questioning why the film was moving in this direction. I think with a story a little more fleshed out, it wouldn't have felt so shocking and random.

Horror film these days are too funny and do not take themselves serious. Many people argue that real life is scarier than movies. If that is the case, then horror should be at peak right now because it should be flooded with real life inspiration. Films like Silence of the Lambs and A Nightmare on Elm Street were based on real life events that were able to be transformed to film. The one thing I was able to take away from Random Acts of Violence is that it actually attempted to take itself seriously. Where so many horror films are now dual genres pairing oh so well with Comedy, Random Acts of Violence hopefully will begin to set a trend of making the slasher film scary again.

The film's premise is interesting but overall lacked a sense of direction (especially at the midpoint of the movie). The technicality and cast of the movie was decent - although there was a stylistic choice of a darkish green tone in some of the scenes (I believe it was to mimic comic book visuals) which could make or break it for some people - but personally, it felt too much and unnecessary.

The film is scary in terms of the premise and could've been a lot more than just your conventional slasher flick, but the way it was executed narratively and character wise, it was more-so of a disappointing watch.

If this were a short film I would probably rate it a little higher. In fact, my guess is that it started as just that since there is so much unnecessary filler here. And the pacing is way off. In the way only a first time filmmaker falls prey to.

The film has some interesting ideas for both plot and cinematography but isn't actually good. The plot is slow and uneventful, and the ending comes out of nowhere.

The comic book visuals are potentially interesting.

The cast is good and the technical side is good enough to watch. but I wouldn't recommend it.