Admit it. One late night, while you were drearily scrolling through articles online, you came across an ad for a dirty video, and you clicked on it. Guilt might have washed over you, but the adrenaline from breaking some kind of moral code kept your eyes glued to the screen, taking comfort in the fact that no one would ever witness your sins. It may feel slightly wrong, but this behavior is not that uncommon. In a society where revealing celebrity photos are often leaked online, and nearly every craving can be coaxed within seconds without even having to leave your home, who hasn’t peeked at something naughty online that they shouldn’t have? Inquisitiveness is part of what makes us human, but if we allow our Id too much control over our actions, and give into our every whim and desire, our humanity is what we wind up sacrificing. In its attempt to explore the depths of our morbid curiosity and society’s instant gratification via the internet, Killers becomes the Videodrome of its generation.

Have you ever thought about killing someone? Nomura suggests that it’s something everyone ought to consider. He’s been taking lives and hiding the evidence ever since he was nine years old, starting with his very own family. First he finds the girls, then he films himself torturing and killing them (in a terrifyingly awesome mask), and then cleans up the mess and posts the video online under an anonymous account. Nomura is just a lone wolf terrorizing Japan, but his debauchery managed the catch the eyes of millions of people, including Indonesian journalist Bayu all the way over in Jakarta. Bayu thinks of himself as a good man, just trying to hold white collar criminals to the same standards as the rest of their peers, and punish men like Dharma for their crimes. But when Bayu is randomly attacked by two barbarous thieves and is forced to defend himself, he feels the immense power of playing god, and and falls prey to a lethal spell. As he glides his camera phone over the robbers’ lifeless bodies, Bayu feels calamity wash over him like a mother’s lullaby, and he finds joy in the act he once feared. As soon as Bayu posts the video online, Nomura reaches out to him, and encourages his murderous rampage. One man in Japan, and one in Indonesia, the two men set out on their deadly paths, one born into an emotionless sociopathic world, and the other sinking a little further down a self-destructive rabbit hole each day.

Told entirely from the villains’ POV, this film provides an excellent analysis of the makings of a serial killer though the old debate of nature vs. nurture. Nomura represents nature, since he’s been murdering people from the age of nine, and in all likelihood, long before that. He feels no remorse, and displays no emotions, only exhibiting calm power over his victims and taking delight in their brutal deaths. A true sociopath, Nomura works hard to fit in and appear normal amongst his peers, making a strong case for the argument that murderers are simply born with an innate need to kill. Bayu on the other hand starts out like most people, a simple man who’s made some mistakes and is currently paying for them. As much as he loves his daughter and her mother, the responsibility of a family frightened him, so he walked away, and has been trying to make things right ever since. However, after his name as a writer is tarnished by Dharma, the man he seeks to imprison, the weight of his family and his failure in his work weigh heavy on him, and the men who rob him are just a tipping point into his journey of madness. Therefore, one could argue that murderers are made when good men are forced to make bad decisions in traumatic events. Both sides of the argument are equally supported, and as disturbing as the film is, the ride is surprisingly quite engaging.

Like Cronenberg’s Videodrome, Killers points out how our society is never satisfied with our means of entertainment. Whereas Videodrome was a commentary on video nasties of the 1980s, Killers is an updated version, capturing the underbelly of the internet through handheld cameras, cellphones, and laptops. Nowadays, a simple story about a boy and a girl falling in love isn’t gonna cut it. We want gun fights, we want nudity, and we want it now. We won’t be happy until we’ve drawn blood. As we hungrily seek the next thrill, the only logical next step to titilate our senses is to raise the stakes and hurt somebody. In Killers, we, as the audience, sit safe behind a screen and watch the violence unfold, becoming just another pair of eyes in addition to the many that watch Nomura commit his wicked deeds, just as Bayu did before he joined in on the action. Killers is not just a brilliant look at the overstimulation and desensitization of humanity, it actually manages to wrangle in their viewers as participants in this sick and twisted game. The sadistic acts are as tranquil and artistic as they are barbaric, making it hard to look away. Through this, the viewers understand first hand the slippery slope that is the journey from passive watching to active involvement.

With layered, oddly relatable antiheroes and utterly astounding performances from Kazuki Kitamura and Oka Antara, Killers is an extremely impressive addition to the Mo Brothers’ catalogue. The best parts of the film are the interactions between Bayu and Nomura, and it would have been nice to see more of Nomura taking Bayu under his wing and training him as his understudy. With a little tweaking and fine tuning to make a tighter story, this film would be nearly perfect. However, despite its small faults here and there, Killers is wildly entertaining and a fascinating inquiry into the mind of people who take pleasure in extinguishing life. The Mo Brothers are oozing with potential, and with a little recognition and a bigger budget, one day, they will undoubtedly make a masterpiece.