Serial Killing 101

Rating:
Summary: Camp cackle 101
Review: Casey Nolan is a high school senior who leads a bland, boring existence. Neither a nerd nor a popular jock he goes unnoticed by most, except for his teachers who are always on his case due to his lack of discipline. Casey becomes enamoured with the dark things of life such as horror movies, goth music and especially serial killers. So much so, that Casey decides he wants to be a serial killer himself, figuring it will finally get him noticed and give him a chance to put his stamp on the world. He's not exactly sure where to start until he meets Sasha (Lisa Loeb), a goth girl in his class who cuts a deal with him: She will help him become a serial killer as long as he makes her his first victim. Casey accepts the deal but as time goes on he realizes that it's mighty hard to kill someone you're falling in love with...

A dark comedy in the vain of the 80's classic "Heathers", Serial Killing 101 is a very amusing film. It's dumb, unrealistic and totally deserving of straight-to-vid status but still has a quirky charm that elevates it over other such fare. The best thing about the film is definitely the characters and the actors playing them. Lisa Loeb, the alt-pop princess, has tremendous on-screen presence and outshines everyone else in the film, no easy task considering she is 34 years old attempting to portray a 17-year old. And then of course you have Thomas Haden Church (Roach in "Demon Knight") who gives an outstanding performance as the gym teacher from hell. His performance is one to make R. Lee Ermey proud. And last but not least there's a cameo with Corey Feldman that is one of the funniest things I've seen all year.

Where the film falters is in its struggle to balance the horror and comedy genres. It's hard to tell whether or not the filmmakers intended it to be a horror picture but if so they failed on all counts, especially when it comes to the main character. See Casey wants to be a serial killer yet doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He is a total woos who gets queasy at the sight of a frog being dissected in physics class. He doesn't look the part either, with his pretty boy looks and gel-coiffed hair. The Marylin Manson t-shirt he wears looks horribly out of place. Also his motives for wanting to be a serial killer are rather lame, just that he's a bored suburban kid with a grudge against a few of his teachers. Still, "Serial Killing 101" kept me entertained throughout, especially with its subplot involving a real serial killer in town dispatching teenage girls. It definitely kept me guessing as the film introduces tons of wack job characters who could easily be the killer. If you like straight-to-video cheese flicks give this one a try, you're bound to find it at least mildly amusing.


Rating:
Summary: taught me a lesson
Review: i just got finished watching this movie on Moviebeam so the review is still fresh in my mind, so here it goes....this movie was such a piece of crap! the name of the movie serial killing 101 and you only saw one person die in the entire film (and that was @ the end of the movie!) dont buy it, dont rent it, dont watch it! the only thing this movie killed was my brain cells from having to watch such dribble!

Rating:
Summary: Great Teen Serial Killer Movie
Review: I rented this film mostly because the description of the plot on the back of the movie's cover sounded like it could be potentially entertaining and also because Corey Feldman was advertised as one of the actors in the film. I thought his performance in "Lost Boys" and "Bordello of Blood" were praiseworthy and so I had been watching for any new movies of his. I watch a lot of low budget horror films and generally only find a small minority of them that are better than cheesy b-rated flicks only mildly amusing for their horrible acting, cliched storylines, and lame special effects. So I expected this one to be exceptionally bad, especially being Lisa Loeb played one of the main roles.
Although Feldman only has a very small and trivial scene in the movie (but a very memorable one) the movie itself was a very pleasant surprise. In fact, it was so good I can't believe that it didn't get more media attention. Its basically about a young troubled teenager who idolizes serial killers and decides that he would like to be one when he reaches adulthood. He meets a girl whom he is infatuated with who begs him to make her his first victim. In her own words she wishes to be the Sharon Tate of her generation. The role of the girl is well acted by Lisa Loeb who should give up her career choice of making lousy music to become a full time actress and I hope to see her in more movies. Full of dark humor, I was thrilled and entertained as our young and supposed serial killer makes one failed attempt after another to try to become the most notorious serial killer of his generation.
The performance by the actor who played the gym teacher was also commendable and his drill sargeant act was side splittingly hilarious.
In any case, I recommend this movie to anyone who loves dark humored teenage movies in the same vein as Daniel Water's 80's masterpiece "Heathers."