Sexy Killer

This is the movie that would have resulted if a Spanish fashion designer had adapted American Psycho whilst on acid. Full of jokes and nods to the genre (not all of which work), but this is still well worth a watch.

Sexy Killer is a Spanish comedy about a woman who as the title states is a serial killer and very sexy. Can she continue her work of killing and find love?

This movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept 12th 2008 and was received very positively in both showings. Festival audiences generally greet films warmly, but both audiences were exceptionally enthusiastic about this film. In the showing I attended people laughed throughout and there were even a couple instances were they applauded DURING the movie, which is a rare thing. And this was even considering that it was being seen by a largely English-speaking audience and it's in Spanish with sub-titles!

I think what made people respond so strongly was first, the movie was just a huge amount of fun. If there was slow boring moment in the movie I wasn't aware of it. Secondly was the serial killer herself, played charismatically by Macarena Gomez, who is so unapologetic, certain in her own justification for killing, so gleeful in her work, that you can't help but hope the best for her! You may even find yourself cheering for her!!

While Sexy Killer, does reference a few Hollywood horror films, it is far more than a parody and stands on it's own a good solid comedy. There are some gory moments in the movie (a couple of which get huge laughs), so it might not be OK for very young children but it is all played for fun.

This was my last movie of the Festival and a great way to end it!

What starts off as a slasher parody ends up as a zombie movie going through a morgue and Re-Animator phases. The first couple of minutes of Sexykiller are quite charming as a slasher threatens a campus. Early on we find out that the slasher is a girl named Barbara, a medical student. Her dog is names Jason- just one of the many horror movie references- and when the dog is run over, she grabs the driver and proceeds to tell us how she ended up being a killer. At that point things go downhill quickly. The parody is piled on exaggerated strokes, the cast starts breaking out in song, there are infomercial parodies, it goes on and on, we find out a bit about her childhood and teen years. Cops arrive to investigate the crimes. Two other students created a device to visualize people's dreams and also serves to show what a victim saw during their last minutes. They hope to be able to catch the killer that way.

Barbara and one of these guys fall in love but don't express it till later. Meanwhile, the guys realize that their device when used on the dead, brings them back to live and turns them into zombies. Throughout the movie no one realizes that Barbara, who is not all that subtle about her murderous inclination, is the killer. Fortunately the parody elements slowly fade away and the movie becomes more of a good comedy with serious horror elements.

Overall, the script is smart, the parody is not all funny though. It becomes a bit funnier once it settles for comedy. The movie is gory though, and if this crew would have gone for a straightforward horror movie or a mild horror comedy, they could created a pretty good movie.

SEXY KILLER is a one-of-a-kind Spanish production that tells the story of the titular character, a female serial killer who goes around bumping off everybody who falls foul of her. The story is told in a light-hearted and jokey way despite the copious amounts of spraying bloodshed and gore, with the star frequently breaking the fourth wall of cinema by turning to address the viewer.

It's a simplistic tale but a madcap one, packed with high energy. The narrative is jiggled with so that various parts are told in flashback, perhaps to hide what would otherwise be a predictable tale. The main issue I had with it was that I found chief actress Macarena Gomez's acting to be a bit lacking and her character to be entirely unsympathetic; if they'd somehow managed to make the killer a likable creation then this would have been a lot better.

Still, things do pick up in the second half, with a twist in the story bringing zombies to play, and then we get some BRAINDEAD-style mayhem in the big climax. Horror fans will enjoy the many and frequent references to classics of the genre, but make no mistake, this is a simple black comedy done up to look like more than it is.

The movie is almost to clever for itself. Breaking the 4th wall very early on, it still tries to be a "relatively" normal movie. It's a parody of course, but as it is very self-aware and self-conscious, the jokes are hit and miss.

It's a nice change to have a woman being in the lead role, in a movie like this, but in the end, even that joke is worn off, pretty quickly. It's actually pretty silly and you can have a lot of fun, if you stop thinking about a few things. So just try to enjoy it if you can and not see the many mistakes/flaws the story has. A funny horror movie that dares to be bloody and funny at the same time then ...