Anyone who tells you that the indie filmmaking scene is dead would be sorely mistaken in his or her choice of words. There are more independents making horror flicks these days than I could ever even dare to count. Enter, 4th Floor Pictures and their attempt at a successful slice of indie horror, Serial Killer. There's a bit of the familiar to be found within as well as a bit of the unfamiliar. The question at hand is whether or not this mix makes for an ultimately comfortable, or ultimately uncomfortable viewing experience.

Successful horror author Michael Johnson (not our resident Mad Scientist, but another Micahel Johnson) is finishing his latest book and things are looking up, he's getting published. what's his book about? Yup, you guessed it, his book is about serial killers. It seems as if Michael's inspiration came from real life encounters with serial killers through interviews and testimonials. This is where things get weird. There's also a serial killer out there who's made contact with Michael, unfortunately this is contact of an unwanted kind. Our friend, the serial killer sends Michael tapes of his victims being either tortured or begging for their lives, usually tied to a chair naked. It would also appear as if Michael's wife/girlfriend and/or daughter may have been kidnapped by this madman as well... are ya still with me? The solution to the madness lies here somewhere, and the question at hand is really quite an easy one. Does the solution lie within this serial killer who spends his time watching bizarre bondage/torture tapes slicing and/or dicing anyone who rings his doorbell (sometimes placing them in a cage lik a dog), or does the madness lie within Michael and his deviant obsession with the mind of this killer he knows nothing and everything about at the same time.

Ok, let's see where to start with this one. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have... Serial Killer. I'm kind of on the fence about this one so let's just do the math. On the plus side, some of the performances here (which are key) are pretty impressive, including Vic Badger as "the killer". On the minus side, some of the performances aren't so hot and a bit amateurish. I don't necessarily blame the actors here either (well, not wholly anyway), I think it boils down to improper casting. Too many of these actors were much younger than their respective parts called for. I understand that in the world of low budget filmmaking you have to make do with your current resources, so I try to look past it, but in an instance like this performances are of the utmost importance. I also didn't get Michael's motives and why his character was portrayed such a dick. For no apparent reason he just scoffed and yelled at everyone in sight, it just didn't seem to fit even in the end, I didn't like his character at all, not in the sense of the film either, just in general. The ultra abrasiveness didn't work for me, it was too over the top.

I never thought I'd hear myself saying this about an indie flick but there was not enough horror (blood and guts) and too much nudity (did I just say that?), oh on with me! The nudity stemmed from the videotapes of the female victims pleading for their lives and it made me feel very uncomfortable, which I suppose it was supposed to do so kudos for that. Which brings me to another point, the parallels between videotaped confessions of multiple serial killers early on describing what it was like to do the killing with that of the tapes of the victims describing the torment of being a victim. Nothing but a nice touch here, so there goes another kudos, it was very effective. I also feel compelled to mention that I really dug the complete absence of comedy within. There was absolutely nothing funny going on here and there was no break to the mayhem, there goes another kudos, this is a strength that many indie horror flicks are missing these days.

The presentation of the film itself wasn't without its problems either. There were a few awkward edits and a few of the set choices provided horrible acoustics. Once again, I know this falls under the fact that the filmmakers had to make do with what they had. There were also a few harsh lighting situations, but on the plus side there were a few effective fades and transitions.

Has anyone been keeping track of my Serial Killer scorecard? Hmmm, me neither... I'm gonna tell you straight away, there are those who won't be able to stand a frame of Serial Killer because of its ultimately amateurish appearance. However, those who are digging the indie scene and may be a little more familiar with this sort of look than others may want to give 4th Floor Picture's Serial Killer a look. The tape featured a few trailers as well as a behind the scenes making of, all in all a valiant effort from an up and coming indie studio.

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