To Make a Killing

The bad boys in this film are fantastic - unshaven dirty jeans and flannelette shirts, and they love a bit od violence. This gets young Damon, in his pastel board shorts and t-shirt, freshly washed by Mum, even more excited than the girlie magazines under his bed, so he decides to join up with them. This starts off with a fair bit of homoerotic promise, and turns into a hetero joke. Pity.

My review was written in December 1988 after a screening on Manhattan's West Side.

"Victims" is an obnoxious Australian exploitation film that's unlikely to arouse much interest following its inappropriate holiday-season booking in Manhattan.

Sony sent director Karl Zwicky's previous pic, a supernatural horror opus titled "Contagion" direct to video Stateside and that would seem to have been the appropriate course for this violent cheapie.

Tamblyn Lord gives an earnest performance as Damon Kennedy, a rich young kid who's turned into a ruthless killer after falling in with a trio of juvenile delinquents in the environs of Harvest By and Sydney. At first he enjoys the "liberating" aspects of their amoral lifestyle, but learns the hard way when they take his mention of a rich businessman acquaintance as an excuse to rob his house and cold bloodedly kill his family.

Vulgar screenplay by Zwicky and Paul J. Hogan (emphatically not the "Crocodile Dundee" star) relies upon too many coincidences to be credible and becomes ludicrous when striving to ape Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" in the theme of an innocent put to the test by mindless violence. In fact, the cynical ending has Damon not triumphing over baser instincts but rather accommodating them, as an act of revenge supposedly equips him for today's business world where one has to have a "killer" mentality.

Tech credits are subpar for an Aussie offering, particularly the sound mix which has plenty of dead spots.

To make a killing is an uneven film, is the way the stories formulated. But that really isn't a problem. It knows where it's going. I had been wanting to see this film for a while, and though not everything lived up to my expectations, I still found it quite engrossing viewing. The movie's title refers to our hero who's forced to kill these hoodlums, after they kill his girlfriend and her parents. This hard working university student, Damon, with everything in front of him, needs something else outside of this. He hooks up with these hoodlums, these "Wild Boys" who've been breaking into houses around the area, including Damon's. Later on, out in the woods, the hoodlums share stories, get drunk and have sex with two girls they pick up, one of them who becomes Damon's girlfriend. Damon, pie eyed, having the time of his life, spouts out more information than he should have. This is valuable information for the these thieves who break into Sondra's parents house, where a q and a hostage, torture scene begins. This is truly the most remarkably intense part of the film. The killing of Sondra out in the woods, is graphic too, with Damon, having escaped, after killing all by one of the hoodlums, the leader Terry. Now Damon is living back in the beautiful city of Sydney, trying to his life back dealing with the overwhelming guilt, whatever, and losing sleep over. His pestering Dad is no help, one of those fathers who's really not satisfied with second best, while his mother is more helpful, giving her son some space. And guess who's moved in just across the street, now crippled. Damon has to finally face his demons and end this, proving we all have the killer inside of us.

I want to give imdb the highest of praise. I was telling my best friend you guys have EVERYTHING on here and he cocked an eyebrow and said"VICIOUS"?? Now Im sure alot of you have never even heard of VICIOUS. Me and my pal are big horror buffs and in our younger days we saw a copy of VICIOUS in the horror section of her video store. The picture on the cover was a young girl dissheveled and screaming in terror crouching in a hallway. We thought "Giddyup!" Only to get the film home and find its about a group of ne'er-do-well hooligans. In the beginning of the movie they pick up two girls, one of which is named Sandy...(I remember cuz I had a friend named Sandy at the time). Within moments there is shtooping in the back of the car. Next thing we know these dudes have broken into a house and are tormenting the couple that lives there a la DESPERATE HOURS. Only it's not fun or amusing or even scarey or shocking "torment" its dull and slow paced torture.(In essence, torture for the viewer). The scene we shall never forget(and we try,believe me!) is when the lady of the house offers one of the hoodlums something to drink and he snarls "JUICE!". The woman then asks "What kind of juice" and he growls "GRAPEFRUIT JUICE!" Who WROTE this script? It wasnt Ernest Hemmingway,thats for sure! I would say it has to be seen to be believed, bt its really so dull and pointless and the story has been pretty much told...BETTER...in other flicks of this nature. The thing that really makes this movie a suckfest is the fact that it is so obviously marketed as a horror when its really dull TRAINSPOTTING BREAKS INTO A HOUSE. Avoid this movie at all costs.