Killer Movie

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Killer Movie
Killer Movie film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJeff Fisher
Written byJeff Fisher
Produced byCornelia Ryan Taylor
Michael Sanchez
Jeff Fisher
Russell Terlecki
Starring
Music byTodd Haberman
Release date
  • April 24, 2008 (2008-04-24)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,000,000 (estimated) [1] [ better source needed ]
Box office$14.32 million

Killer Movie is a 2008 American slasher film released in the United States on April 24, 2008. [2] The film premiered during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It stars Paul Wesley, Kaley Cuoco, Jason London, Torrey DeVitto and Leighton Meester and was written and directed by Jeff Fisher. Killer Movie was produced by Cornelia Ryan Taylor, Michael Sanchez and Jeff Fisher.

Contents

Plot

Television director Jake Tanner travels to a small town to film a reality television show about the town's hockey team. However, town local Jaynie is soon murdered, being decapitated by a piece of wire hung up between two trees, but the murder is passed off as an accident. Jake meets with the show's producers, Lee and Phoebe, who now want to investigate the murder.

At the local high school, Jake meets show crew member Keir, who believes Jaynie was murdered and suspects the hockey team's coach, Coach Carhartt. Jake meets the rest of the crew, including Mike, Daphne, Luke, and Greg; he also meets the team captain, Vance and the head cheerleader, Erin. Meanwhile, cheerleading coach Mrs Falls is murdered by a masked killer, who drags her into a circular saw. The crew interviews Vance, who swears he will get vengeance on whoever murdered Jaynie.

Controversial celebrity Blanca Champion (Kaley Cuoco) soon arrives with her assistant Nik (Robert Buckley) to work on the show. The crew travels to meet Jaynie's father, Coach Hansen (Bruce Bohne), who recently was released from prison for the murder of his wife. Hansen becomes angered however, and forces the crew to leave. While back at the school, Connor (Jackson Bond) tells Jake that Jaynie's death was not an accident. That night, the crew goes to a bar, and discovers Mrs. Falls's death, but again the locals pass the death off as an accident before Coach Hansen turns up and warns the crew away from the town. The next day, Lee and Phoebe fall out as Lee is changing the show to center around the deaths of the locals. Nik is sent to Coach Hansen's house to retrieve equipment that was left there previously. On arrival, Nik finds a dead Coach Hansen in a plastic wrap with his throat slashed, before the killer butchers Nik with a pickaxe.

After Erin and Blanca have an argument, Blanca attempts to leave the town but realizes there is no signal for mobile phones in the town. The crew goes to the bar after filming a hockey match, but Luke remains behind to work out. He is attacked by the killer, who chops off his hand with a meat cleaver before finally hacking him to death. Daphne decides to leave the bar, but while on her way home she discovers Greg's car. She stops and investigates, only to find Greg being horribly decapitated. The killer then turns up and kidnaps her.

The next day, the remaining crew discovers their missing co-workers, causing arguments between the survivors. Lee goes down to the boiler room where she finds the killer is filming the murders using the aid of a lipstick camera. Before she can warn the others though, the killer hangs her with a chain. After more filming, Jake, Blanca, and Keir go back to a cabin to find the others. However, they find footage of Daphne being captured. They go back to the school and drop Blanca off so she can contact help on a CB radio, while Jake and Keir go to where Daphne was captured. Meanwhile, Phoebe is in a local shop looking for laxatives to help her defecate, until she is attacked by the killer. She hides until Coach Carhart arrives and the pair flee to the coach's car. As they are about to leave, the killer slits open Carhart's throat while hiding in the back seat, while Phoebe flees to the school. The killer catches up with her though and strangles her to death.

Jake and Keir discover the killer's lair in the forest, but as they are about to leave Jake steps on a bear trap, so Keir leaves for help. Back at the school, Blanca fails to get help from the radio but finds Connor down in the boiler room, who shows Blanca a video the killer has made devoted to her. As the pair are leaving the school, they discover Daphne's dead body. Blanca soon becomes locked in a room, but Connor escapes. Keir arrives, but the killer quickly knocks her out, before finding Blanca. She escapes the room through the vents, but is confronted by the killer who is revealed to be an obsessed Mike, who murdered everyone to be close to her. Keir attempts to save Blanca, but Mike stabs her. Mike then attempts to kill Blanca but Jake shows up and ends up shooting Mike three times in the chest with his shotgun, presumably killing him.

The next morning, the police arrive and put Mike's body in a body bag. Jake finds out Keir survived being stabbed. He tells her that Mike was an escaped mental patient who was obsessed with Blanca from the start. Jake walks up to Mike's body bag and soon finds out that Mike was wearing a bulletproof vest, the film then ends.

Cast

The cast and director attend the movie's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Cast of Killer Movie by David Shankbone.jpg
The cast and director attend the movie's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Production and background

Actress and singer Leighton Meester at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Killer Movie Leighton Meester 2 by David Shankbone (2624075823).jpg
Actress and singer Leighton Meester at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Killer Movie

Killer Movie was filmed in 21 days. Filming locations included Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Withrow Elementary School in Withrow, Minnesota. Some scenes were shot at St. Paul Academy in Saint Paul, Minnesota. [3]

Kaley Cuoco and Paul Wesley have previously appeared together on television series 8 Simple Rules and they are both advocates for The Humane Society. Cuoco described working with Wesley by saying: "I first met Paul when I was 16 and he did an episode of 8 Simple Rules. We filmed Killer Movie three years ago, and he was just as sweet and nice as he was when we met. He's always been hot." [4]

The film was Jeff Fisher's feature directorial debut. [5] Fisher had previously directed episodes of reality television shows The Simple Life , DanceLife and The Real World . [6] [7] Paul Wesley praised Fisher as "the kind of director I want to work with… cool, smart, supportive and exceptional." Wesley also stated that he "had a great time on Killer Movie… one of the best experiences for me as an actor and I made a lot of great friends." [8]

Release

The film originally had a release date in the summer of 2008. It was also released to Video On Demand in winter 2008.

Reception

David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews said the film "suffers from a pervadingly humdrum atmosphere that effectively cements its place as a watchable yet entirely uninvolving horror endeavor." [9]

Killer Movie: Director's Cut was released on August 27, 2021 in the United States. [10] [11]

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References

  1. ↑ "Box office and business for Killer Movie". IMDB.com. 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  2. ↑ "Throwback Thursday ~ Paul in "Killer Movie" – Paul Wesley Chronicles" . Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  3. ↑ Killer Movie (2008) - IMDb , retrieved 2019-06-28
  4. ↑ "What They Say Wednesday ~ Kaley Cuoco About Paul – Paul Wesley Chronicles" . Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  5. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "Killer Movie". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  6. ↑ "Jeff Fisher". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  7. ↑ "Jeff Fisher || Director". jefffisherdirector.com. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  8. ↑ "Hollywood's Next Big Thing: Director Jeff Fisher". OK! Magazine. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  9. ↑ "Two Horror Films from Peace Arch" . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  10. ↑ "'Killer Movie: Director's Cut' Review: The Murderer Within". 11 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  11. ↑ Ganiveta (2021-09-20). ""Killer Movie: Director's Cut": A film crew gets killed one by one". Ganiveta. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
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