Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
The Lurker
Directed by Eric Liberacki
Forever Safe Productions, FFIILLMM, Silva Shots
80 minutes, 2020
I say this without sarcasm or negativity:
another masked serial killer is on the loose, and the end result is not purity
test perfection, but enjoyable.
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| Scout Taylor-Compton (far right) and future body count |
Taking place at Crystal Lake High (no, this is
not a spoof, nor a comedy) we are introduced to the cast of the school play, Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet. The Juliet lead is troubled Taylor (Scout Taylor-Compton;
Lita Ford in The Runaways in 2010, and Laurie Strode in the Rob Zombie Halloween
remakes) and her Romeo-in-name-only co-star is Miles (Michael Emery). Both Taylor-Compton
and Emery are competent and have had a decent career to date, but as other
reviewers have pointed out, they have aged out of the roles they are playing.
But I’m willing to by-pass this, though it is a bit distracting.
While the performance is on stage, the first
of the many kills that leads to a decent body count takes place in the hallway
of the school to a guidance counselor (it’s the opening scene, so I’m not
giving anything away). What I found a bit strange, and there were a few of
these moments, is that the next day, the classes are going on with no grief
counselor offered, no sign of the principal, and all while the yellow tape is
still up and the crime scene officers are investigating. No one at the school
seems to be talking about it much, either. A student was murdered in a bathroom
in my high school back in the 1970s, and the school was closed for days, and it
was main topic on everyone’s lips for the rest of the semester (true event).
Anyway, the main focus is on popular student
Taylor, who has a career in acting envisioned ahead for her, but things have not
been going well lately, and when we meet her, she is moody and not very
likeable. But she’s a gem compared to rape-culture bully boy Miles. But Taylor
seems to have a killer after her who wears a cool raven mask and a cowl,
looking straight out of Amadeus (1984). I figured out who was, as the
Cramps sang, “behind the mask” at the 17-minute mark, but thankfully, there’s also
a nice twist at the end that I won’t reveal.
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| Michael Emery |
This film gives a bit more of a backlight of
story on the characters, making many of them not just there for the kills,
which I appreciated. As much as I like a large kill number, I want to at least feel
like some of the people getting butchered are actually there for a reason.
There is a subplot which is given to us in drabs,
at the beginning mostly in silent b-roll; however you know that by the end of
the film, it all will be clear, and that works okay, leading up to a
not-necessarily expected climax (for me, anyway) that was not deterred by figuring
out who is behind the slayings.
At first, the kills come far and between, but
by the third act, the pace picks up significantly. And the murders look really
good, with some nice physical SFX work without being overly graphic in most
cases. Also, the murders are pretty imaginative (not just “I have big knife and
I chop”); that being said, I am going to suggest you not see the trailer below because
it give too much information and shows too many of the slaughters, which I
understand it’s supposed to be the draw, but too much is too much. Why see the
film if it’s all there already? Thankfully, I watched the trailer after viewing
the film (I tend to do that, especially with indies).
The acting is mostly pretty solid, with some
experienced players such as Taylor-Compton, so there is that benefit. Some of
the writing is questionable and a bit cliched (such as a group in the woods
splitting up to go searching separately). My big question is if you know a
killer is after you at someone’s house, why would you go to the empty school
rather than the police station? That’s where I would bee-line. Little things
like that are bound to draw some groans from experienced slasher enthusiasts (while
smiling with glee knowing more kills are on the way).
There’s a few decent cameos throughout, such
as Ari Lehman (who has made a career out of popping into pix since being the original
kid Jason at the end of Friday the 13th; though with that fancy Dali-esque
goatee, he looks like he’s vying to play a Musketeer), triathlete Fast Eddie
Huchro, and Rikki Lee Travolta (no relation to John) who sports a distracting Southern
drawl for no apparent reason as this was filmed in Chicago.
One of the nice touches is that there is no
single red herring here, but rather a slew (pun intended) of them. Lots of
obvious killer possibilities to draw you away from what felt like the obvious
to me; again, knowing who the killer was did not deter from the twist (which I
had also partially figured out, though to be honest, I was not sure of the
motive until later).
In summation, while there are some script
issues and actors that are distracting by playing teenagers despite their
obvious acting talent, this was a nice throwback to the 1980s style of slashers
that are flawed, but even with those mistakes are part of what makes the viewing
all the more interesting.
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