You Might Be the Killer | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Brett Simmons |
Written by |
|
Story by | |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Andrew Strahorn |
Edited by | Stephen Pfeil |
Music by | Andrew Morgan Smith |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Screen Media Ventures |
Release dates |
|
You Might Be the Killer is a 2018 American supernatural slasher film directed by Brett Simmons and written by Covis Berzoyne, Thomas P. Vitale, and Simmons, based on an idea by Chuck Wendig and Sam Sykes. [1] The film stars Fran Kranz and Alyson Hannigan, and features Brittany S. Hall, Patrick Reginald Walker, Keith David, and Bryan Price in supporting roles.
While in a panicked state at Camp Clear Vista, lead counselor (and camp owner) Sam calls his friend Chuck (short for "Charlotte"), a horror movie enthusiast working at a comic book store. Sam explains that a masked murderer is loose on the campgrounds and has killed "a lot" of counselors. Chuck asks Sam for more details. Sam begins recounting his first day at the camp with fellow counselors including Carol, Ted, Steve ‘The Kayak King,’ Drew, Alice and Heather, Sam's ex-girlfriend Imani, Freddie, Nancy, Brad, and Jamie.
Sam suffers a momentary blackout while on the phone with Chuck. Sam escapes the cabin where he is hiding when someone sets it on fire. Sam briefly encounters the masked killer before finding a new hiding spot. Chuck calls back to help Sam deduce the killer's identity. Sam recalls how he and several other counselors found themselves trapped at the camp after discovering several dead bodies. A flashback shows Sam stumbling upon Freddie and Nancy while patrolling the woods for the killer. For some reason Freddie and Nancy are unable to hear Sam. Sam begins suffering a blackout as he witnesses the killer slaughtering them.
Sam and Chuck eventually conclude that because he is covered in blood, holding the killer's signature blade, and possesses a mysterious wooden mask, Sam may actually be the killer and his blackouts prevented him from remembering. Sam tries to destroy the mask, but discovers it is unbreakable. He then attempts to burn the mask, only for his face to burn as well. Chuck theorizes that the mask may have imprinted on him. Fearful that the surviving counselors are going to kill him, Sam goes back into hiding.
Chuck asks Sam to remember how everything started. Sam flashes back to killing skinny-dippers at a pool, a couple in a kitchen, and then his friend, Steve "The Kayak King," while possessed by the mask. Sam recalls telling Camp Clear Vista's haunted history to other counselors around a campfire. Sam tells the tale of a woodcarver who crafted a mask from a tree where a dark spirit was trapped a century earlier by a Cajun medicine man. The mask compelled the carver to kill his family and others in the village until a young woman kills him to stop the killings. Now the cursed mask is rumored to be buried at the woodcarver's grave.
Despite Sam's warning that the story is true, the counselors go off to look for the mask. Drew manipulates Sam into inadvertently revealing where the woodcarver's grave is. Drew discovers the mask buried by the headstone. Sam convinces Drew to not wear the mask, so she puts it on Sam instead as a joke. Sam then becomes possessed by it, recovers the woodcarver's hidden weapon (a ceremonial-looking jagged blade, made from a gator jaw), and kills Drew.
Sam continues flashing back to the other murders he unknowingly committed while wearing the mask. Sam remembers choking out Imani before throwing her into a spike pit as his most recent kill. Sam's feelings for Imani allows him to take off the mask. With Chuck fully caught up, she advises Sam to be aware of Jamie because she appears to be the Final Girl.
Sam tries to fight it, but a supernatural compulsion causes Sam to don the mask again and kill Brad. Imani emerges from the spike pit, having faked her death, to regroup with Jamie. The two manage to knock the mask off Sam and lock him in a shed. Sam tries explaining that the mask made him kill. Sam also expresses that he believes that if both Imani and Jamie stay alive, all three of them could be safe since there won't be a face off with the Final Girl. Over the phone, Chuck explains the Final Girl concept to the two remaining women.
While Chuck warns them to keep Sam away from the mask, Sam is compelled to wear it once more. Sam breaks out of the shed, prompting Imani and Jamie to run. Thinking she will survive if she becomes the Final Girl, Imani tries to kill Jamie. However, Jamie kills Imani instead. Over the phone, Chuck tells Jamie that she now needs to kill Sam at the woodcarver's grave because it is the place of power.
Sam manages to tear off the mask and head to the gravesite himself—he has a plan. After telling his plan to Chuck, Sam convinces Jamie that they both can survive if they stop the curse by burying the mask. Jamie digs a hole at the burial site. However, Jamie becomes compelled to don the mask when she touches it. Jamie stabs Sam with the woodcarver's blade, and he falls over dead. With the mask removed, Jamie tells Chuck over the phone that the ordeal is over. She then walks off, taking the mask with her.
Two years later Chuck receives a call from a panicked Sam, having become undead.
Co-writer and producer Thomas P. Vitale appears as a Rings of Saturn customer.
The concept for the film originated in July 2017 between the banter of two writers, Sam Sykes and Chuck Wendig, on Twitter, where they had been discussing the tropes of a typical slasher film. The idea was then developed into a film to be directed by Brett Simmons, with Sykes and Wendig involved as producers. [2]
The film debuted at the 2018 Fantastic Fest, [4] and screened at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival as well as about 15 other festivals in the U.S. and around the world. [5] On December 6, 2018 it was released on Shudder before being released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 5, 2019.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. [6]
Friday the 13th is a 1980 American independent slasher film produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, written by Victor Miller, and starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, and Kevin Bacon. Its plot follows a group of teenage camp counselors who are murdered one by one by an unknown killer while they are attempting to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past.
Feeling Minnesota is a 1996 American crime comedy film written and directed by Steven Baigelman. It stars Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Tuesday Weld, Dan Aykroyd, and Delroy Lindo.
Jason Voorhees is a character from the Friday the 13th series. He first appeared in Friday the 13th (1980) as the young son of camp-cook-turned-killer Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S. Cunningham and Tom Savini, Jason was not originally intended to carry the series as the main antagonist. The character has subsequently been represented in various other media, including novels, video games, comic books, and a crossover film with another iconic horror film character, Freddy Krueger.
Pamela Voorhees is a fictional character and the overarching antagonist of the Friday the 13th series of horror films. She was created by Victor Miller, and first appeared in Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980), played by Betsy Palmer. Pamela is the main antagonist of the first film, in which she is known only as Mrs. Voorhees, and remains an antagonistic presence in its sequels, in which she is seen mostly as a severed head or a figment of her son's imagination. In Friday the 13th Part III (1982), the character appears as a reanimated corpse in a hallucination, played by Marilyn Poucher. Paula Shaw played Pamela in the crossover Freddy vs. Jason (2003); according to Palmer in Friday The 13th Reunion, she was asked to reprise her role in the film, but turned it down after reading the script. Nana Visitor played Pamela in the 2009 reboot.
Ghostface is a fictional identity that is adopted by the primary antagonists of the Scream franchise. The figure was originally created by Kevin Williamson, and is primarily mute in person but voiced over the phone by Roger L. Jackson, regardless of who is behind the mask. The disguise has been adopted by various characters in the movies and in the third season of the television series.
The Seduction is a 1982 American thriller film written and directed by David Schmoeller, and starring Morgan Fairchild, Michael Sarrazin, Vince Edwards, and Andrew Stevens. Its plot follows a Los Angeles news anchor who is aggressively pursued by an obsessive male stalker. The original music score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. Reviews for the film have mainly been negative which resulted in three Razzie nominations, including two for Fairchild.
Three is a 2007 Christian horror thriller film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ted Dekker. Directed by Robby Henson and written by Alan B. McElroy, it stars Marc Blucas, Justine Waddell, Max Ryan, and Bill Moseley. It was shot on location in Łódź and Warsaw, Poland. The film grossed $1.4 million and has a 5% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, which called it a "thrill-free thriller" in its critical consensus.
Follow That Woman is a 1945 crime film starring William Gargan, Nancy Kelly, and Regis Toomey. The movie was directed by Lew Landers.
Bloody Murder is a 2000 American slasher film directed by Ralph E. Portillo and written by John R. Stevenson. It stars Jessica Morris, Crystalle Ford, Peter Guillemette, and Patrick Cavanaugh. The plot follows a group of counselors working at a summer camp, where a masked assailant begins a murder spree. The film was released direct-to-video.
To All a Goodnight is a 1980 American slasher film directed by David Hess and starring Jennifer Runyon and Forrest Swanson. Its plot follows a group of female finishing school students and their boyfriends being murdered during a Christmas party by a psychopath dressed as Santa Claus.
Camp Blood 2 is a 2000 American slasher film, and sequel to Camp Blood. The film was directed by Brad Sykes and produced by David S. Sterling. It was followed in 2005 by Within the Woods.
Freddie Roscoe is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks. He is played by Charlie Clapham, and made his first screen appearance on 6 May 2013. Freddie's notable storylines have including learning Darren Osborne is his half-brother; murdering his stepfather Fraser Black, his affair with and eventual marriage to his brother Joe Roscoe's fiancée Lindsey Butterfield, his relationships with Mercedes McQueen and Sinead O'Connor, his feud with Joe, being framed for the fake murder of Mercedes by Grace Black, nearly being murdered by Lindsey, his on/off relationships with Marnie and Ellie Nightingale, having a daughter named Lexi Roscoe with Lindsey and allowing Joe and Mercedes to adopt Lexi.
"Seven Minutes in Hell" is the sixth episode of the horror black comedy series Scream Queens. It first aired on October 20, 2015, on Fox. The episode directed by Michael Uppendahl and written by Ryan Murphy. In this episode, Chanel makes a surprising decision: to protect herself from the Red Devil by leaving Zayday in position of power and win the election as president of Kappa Kappa Tau. When the Kappa girls hold a slumber party, it costs the life of some people and a shocking discovery is made. The episode title refers to the game Seven Minutes in Heaven, one of the ones played by the Kappa Kappa Tau sisters and Dickie Dollar Scholars brothers in this episode as part of the slumber party.
Charles David Wendig is an American author, comic book writer, screenwriter, and blogger. He is best known for his online blog Terribleminds, for his 2015 Star Wars novel trilogy Aftermath, the first book of which debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times Best Seller list and No. 4 on USA Today's best seller list, for which series he created the characters of Gallius Rax and marshal Cobb Vanth, the latter of whom would subsequently appear in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Wendig has additionally written comics for Dark Circle Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Marvel Comics, and VS Comics.
Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight is a 2020 Polish supernatural horror slasher film directed by Bartosz M. Kowalski, written by Kowalski, Jan Kwieciński, and Mirella Zaradkiewicz, and starring Julia Wieniawa, Michał Lupa, and Wiktoria Gasiewska.
Scare Package is a 2020 American anthology horror comedy film created by Aaron B. Koontz and Cameron Burns. It features a series of horror shorts written and directed by Aaron B. Koontz, Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar, Anthony Cousins, Emily Hagins, Chris McInroy, Noah Segan, and Baron Vaughn.
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is a 2021 American teen supernatural slasher film directed by Leigh Janiak, with a script co-written by Janiak, and Zak Olkewicz, from an original story by Janiak, Olkewicz, and Phil Graziadei. Based on the book series of the same name by R. L. Stine, it is the second installment in the Fear Street trilogy after Part One: 1994 and stars Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins, McCabe Slye, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr., and Olivia Scott Welch. The film centers on the cursed town of Shadyside, a killer’s murder spree terrorizes Camp Nightwing and turns a summer of fun into a gruesome fight for survival.
Wanderers is a 2019 novel by American author Chuck Wendig. The novel focuses on a group of people whose lives are impacted after multiple individuals begin making a zombie-esque trek across the United States. A sequel, Wayward, was published in 2022.