Movies
Some Guy Who Kills People
” ‘Some Guy Who Kills People’ is a funny, bloody, and yes, really sweet take on the slasher genre that’s a welcome breath of fresh air on the horror landscape.”
When you hear of a movie directed by Jack Perez, your first instinct is to get some friends together and create a drinking game. The man behind last year’s hilariously awful Asylum production Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (which grossed a whopping $722 on one screen) and Wild Things 2, which I am dismayed to learn actually exists, doesn’t exactly provide you with the hope that you’re about to see a good flick. But with Some Guy Who Kills People, Perez manages to deliver a funny, bloody little horror comedy about revenge and family.
Kevin Corrigan plays Ken Boyd, a man in his mid-thirties attempting to rebuild his life after being released from a mental institution following a traumatic experience at the hands of four assailants. He receives no real support from his mother, who happens to be sleeping with the local sheriff; his boss verbally abused him on a daily basis; and most people, in general, treat him like dirt. So what’s a guy to do? Well, kill those who wronged him in the past is a good start. As his past tormenters start turning up brutally murdered, things start to take a turn when the daughter he never met enters his life. He strikes up a relationship with a timid Brit, and the local sheriff starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
On its face Some Guy Who Kills People is a straight up slasher film; blood flies, heads roll, and hatchets become deeply embedded in the faces of those who wronged Boyd. The violence starts quickly, but as the film progresses, you begin to forget about it all and instead become incredibly invested in the characters, a rare feat in any slasher film. Praise is thus due for all of the principle characters, each of whom bring a downright hilarious performance, all made possible by the dry humor of writer Ryan Levin.
Kevin Corrigan, known primarily as a comedic supporting actor, truly shines as a man struggling with how to be a father while simultaneously exacting revenge on those who brutally tortured him and forced him into a loony bin. Ariel Glade, who plays his 11-year old daughter, shines throughout, playing off Corrigan’s subdued, awkward humor with hilarious boisterousness. The rest, comprised of Barry Bostwick as the local sheriff sleeping with Ken’s mom, played by Karen Black, and a bunch of supporting cast members bring Levin’s characters to life, infusing in each a wholly unique personality that allows the humor to come from all sides and in numerous forms.
It’s not a perfect movie. The twist isn’t anything to write home about, and much of the build-up is presented in a way that’s slightly muddled and confusing, but in the end, it truly doesn’t matter. The performances are so good, and the humor so well executed, that any issues one might have with the story are instantly forgiven. Even then they’re not major problem, and might just be the byproduct of my high expectations and demand for perfection in everything I see. Bottom line, Some Guy Who Kills People is a funny, bloody, and yes, really sweet take on the slasher genre that’s a welcome breath of fresh air on the horror landscape.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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