Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images: Lenka Rayn H. / Forward Motion Pictures
Video from the Internet
A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life
Directed by Staten Cousins Roe
Forward Motion Pictures; Arrow Films
81 minutes, 2020
During the whole New Age craze in the 1980s, I
dated someone who was really into self-help and personal mysticism (crystals,
tarot, etc.). As a cynical punk rocker, I didn’t buy into any of that, which led
to a relatively quick break-up. But in that time, I got to be immersed in that
type of thinking and came to realize just how much of it is manipulation and
stage magic (check out J.Z. Knight channelling Ramtha; hysterical in rear-view mirror
looking).
Today, that same mentality has remained, this
time with “life coaches” who claim – for an entrance fee or buying a copy of
their latest tome of psychobabble – to be able to improve your life. Go to the
Self-Help section of the bookstore to find out just what I mean. Personally, I
know someone who used to be a punker but is now a self-styled life coach, hiding
within himself an Ayn Rand-style right wing narcissism. At this point, this is
a good lead-in to this film’s story.
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| Katie Brayben |
We meet Lou (Katie Brayben, made to look a bit
frumpy here), who feels spiritually lost. She clings to self-help material to aid
her in her day-to-day life, where she works in a shop in Brighton, UK, and
lives with a very demanding, demeaning and self-centered mother (Sarah Ball). Very
early on it starts to be clear why Lou is so self-deprecating.
At a talk by a mercenary writer/guru in the
field, she meets a self-styled self-help coach, Val (Poppy Roe, who is also the
director’s muse, who oozes self-confidence and wears bold, bright red
lipstick. She is instantly everything Lou wants to be. When Lou gets invited by
Val to go on a road trip to visit a self-help icon, Chuck (Ben Lloyd-Hughes),
Lou find the courage to leave her home and mom, and jump into the car for the
ride along. We are shown in little snatches that this road trip is going to be
interesting and a bit bloody.
 |
| Poppy Roe |
Essentially, this is a twisted dramedy buddy
road trip film. Nearly all of this genre tends to be male oriented, so there is
obviously going to be some Thelma and Louise (1991) notations in reviews
along the way (such as this one just now), but there’s also some Henry:
Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), along with others that would reveal too
much.
It’s easy to see through Val as the story does
not try to hide her compulsions, but we are also along for the ride, and that’s
the fun. Poe’s almost stoic and assured reading of her is part of the enjoyment
for the viewer. She is not smug, she’s just persistent. The slow growth of Lou
as she comes out of her shell is also fun to watch, as she starts – well, for
lack of a better term – to be woke, both to Val and herself.
The purpose for the road trip becomes clearer
as we go along, positing that self-help gurus are no better than televangelists
that prey on the weak who are looking for some kind of spiritual cohesiveness,
whether it supposedly comes from within or an invisible man-in-the-sky higher
power. Val admits she wants to be the best self-help person and is determined
to get to the top of the field, with oblivious Lou as her sidekick.
This is a very dark comedy, that’s more “ohhhhh”
than jokes, and again, all the better for it. The dead-pan timing of Roe and
the spaced-out and abused character worn by Brayben make them suitable as both
companions in the story, and working off each other as actors.
Part of what is amusing is that the film mixes
showing some self-help tropes (e.g., “be yourself,” “an end is only a new beginning”)
and what some may see as some sound advice, and also mixing it with a dose of
cinematic reality (there is an oxymoron for ya) to expose just what BS it
actually is in the real world. This could have come out as kind of preachy, but
it doesn’t thanks to some good writing by Cousins Roe. In some ways he expresses
everything I felt when I was dating that person all those years ago, though I
never thought of picking up a weapon other than my words.
The film itself is put together in a way that
hides the fact that this is the director’s first full length feature. There are
subtle, almost subliminal clips thrown in of what’s to come (yes, I
frame-by-framed some of it), and there are a few styles of editing thrown in.
The blood isn’t overflowing as this is more character driven, and sometimes
looks too chocolate-syrup brown, but again, for this release it’s the content
of the story that pulls the viewer through, rather than merely acts of violence
(though there’s a bit of that, too).
I am so wanting to discuss the truly
interesting ending, but I won’t. The good thing about that is that the film
makes me want to dissect it, meaning it is making me think. Not many films today
do that, especially the mainstream ones that are there mainly for the cash grab
(sequel number 18; remake number 6). Sure, there are some ideas here that can
be applied to other films (damn, that ending), as I mentioned with Thelma
and…the Other Person, but that doesn’t mean the viewer can’t be engaged.
Yes, this film is entertaining. I laughed out loud a few times and smirked more
than usual.
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