Stressed to Kill

In Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train"(1951), two strangers each agree to kill someone the other person wants disposed of. In "Stressed to Kill" (2016) history repeats itself, only this time the protagonists are two very good friends. One of them he does more than that, he first train himself by killing several very annoying people that appear in his pathetic existence, managing to escape the stress permanently produced by his own wife, who has an affair with a big belly idiot. Bill Oberst Jr. is very effective in the role of Bill Johnson. I found myself in the character, I do not like neither to be bothered by morons in cinemas. The difference is that I do not kill people. I beat a few, that's right, on several occasions, in different theaters at different films. Armand Assante is OK in the role of unorthodox policeman and a little mental disturbed himself. The movie is good but I would have liked it more faster, more dynamic, it has some moments when the pace is too slow.

Checked this movie out because I'm a fan of Bill Oberst Jr. He is an awesome actor. But I do admit he has been in some low budget messes. This is not one of them! It's indy and I expect the budget was not that of a big Hollywood movie but it really doesn't show. Production quality was good, lighting & sound were decent and surprisingly the actors were all pretty good! Usually indies spend their budget on a couple big stars and the rest are..... well to be nice not as good quality. This was different though. I of course feel Bill was the stand out but the other actors who played his best friend and the cop who was after him carried their weight. Even the smaller roles were filled with actors of quality. That made all the difference in the world for me! As someone else stated it is more of a black comedy then a thriller. I think we can all relate to Bill on some level. He does what we wish we could do. There were a lot of "hell yeah" moments when he took someone down. I thoroughly enjoyed this flick from beginning to end and more then likely will watch it again. May have to buy the DVD for the collection.

I was actually excited to screen this. I heard mixed reviews, but the negative reviews were from colleagues that I don't necessarily respect. This is a nice mash up of a dark comedy and a thriller, the concept is fresh and the characters are well developed for the most part. The technical side isn't really newsworthy, good or bad, about what you'd expect from a higher end indie which is certainly my cup of preferred tea. Although some of the continuity errors stick out, in particular a magic coffee cup that can't seem to find a consistent home(you'll see what I mean when you watch it) I'm a big fan of Bill Oberst Jr and this role was right in his hot zone, the perfect role for him. I'll pretty much watch anything he's in. Without having access to the script, I can venture an educated guess that some of his dialogue that fell short was a writing issue and most of the dialogue that was on point was likely improv on Oberst's part. The other lead, Armand Assante, complimented Bill well but unfortunately struggled to hold his own from a pure talent standpoint. The supporting cast was passable, bright in some spots but fell short in others. Not sure if I can chalk this up to poor direction or poor casting by the producers. I'm familiar with Mark Savage's work and skill so I'd probably put this one on the producers. Savage puts out work that I am happy to pay to see. All in all I am pleased with this film. It drags a bit in the second act, but not horribly. Some of the performances are uneven, but overall good.

I thought this was going to be like Falling Down or something equally as cool.

It is not.

It's a bore. It drags. It's horribly acted with massive holes in the story and horrible dialogue, stupid settings and atrocious casted actors.

The setup was fairly good, but 5 minutes in, it fell flat and then remained there and started to sink shortly after.

Armand Assante mumbles his way through his lines horribly and stumbles around like a drunk on his 2nd bottle of Jack Daniels in 20 minutes.

The characters are horribly written and the developed story is anything but developed.

It could have been made a dark comedy with different comedic actors delivering the same lines and better performances, but as it wasn't made into a comedy - this just sucked.

Totally different cast could have turned this mess around.

If you doubt me now, you won't doubt me later.

Mark Savage is well-known world-wide as a genre director, a hat he is more than happy to wear. Yet, this does limit his image somewhat amongst mainstream cinema circles, both for funding and garnering audience. And that's a shame. 'Stressed to Kill' comes from a similar place as 'Falling Down'(Dir.: Joel Schumacher, 1993) but has been crafted to a very tight budget which occasionally shows on the screen. However, don't let that deter you from seeing it. Accept it for what it is - a film that sticks to its purpose with skill and care. There is discipline apparent in the acting and direction and that is applause-worthy. As a story, again, it is true to form and the acting of Bill Oberst is the star turn here as the unwell hero-anti-hero (depending on your POV). He makes this flawed, edgy chap very likable and credible with razor-sharp emotions and a build of tension that last through the narrative. Now I would like to see Mark Savage step out of the genre and for someone to give him a wad of $$$$ so that a wider audience can see his work which clearly is applicable to a very broad range of film languages and devices.