For the most part, movies about serial killers are dark and chilling dramas. The main antagonist is usually fully formed and the drama focusses on the good guys hunt to stop him before he kills again. Not so with the new film I Am A Serial Killer. Here the story revolves around a young man who is trying his best not to become the stuff of nightmares.
John is a troubled teen. Not your usual teen problems though. He has been diagnosed with sociopathic tendencies and displays the markers that fits the profile of a person who could go on to become a serial killer. His fascination with death that makes him an outsider at school is fed by his home life. His mother runs the town mortuary and John helps out with the bodies. A couple of unusual killings where body parts are missing come to his attention. John starts to investigate the killings as a way of dampening his tendencies. He starts to turn his attention to an old man that he believes is somehow involved.
This is a clever film. It takes the central premise and skews it in such a way so that he audience doesn’t feel at ease with the story line at any point. The story unfolds from the point of view of the character of John. Basically we see what he sees. So when things start to get dark there is the tendency to just go with it. It isn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that there is a sense that he may not be the most reliable of narrators. Sometimes he sees things that aren’t there as demonstrated when describing the dangers of walking across the road.
The main character is a complex and layered individual. He has the pointers that lead his psychologist to believe he is a sociopath and will soon lead to even darker traits. It is played by really quite subtly by Max Records. The performance is dialled down to the point that he uses body language and gestures far more than dialogue. It adds to the uneasy air of the film and fits very well.
Christopher Lloyd provides superior support as the object of John’s suspicion. He is creepy at all times, even when he appears to be happy and contented with his wife. You never know what he is going to do next and as we are seeing him through the eyes of John we get a distorted view of his behavior.
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