68 Kill
[95 minutes. R. Director: Trent Haaga]
68 Kill is the sophomore directorial effort of screenwriter Trent Haaga, who subverted the horror genre with his thought-provoking scripts for Deadgirl and Cheap Thrills. While the cast will appeal to genre fans, the film has more in common with the pitch-dark, trailer-park comedy of William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, crossed with the misleading conceptual simplicity of a Coen Brothers caper (think the money-minded parables of Blood Simple and Fargo).
Adapting a novel by Bryan Smith, Haaga parcels out moments of gory violence at unexpected moments. Even when played for laughs, the effect is more striking and affecting than in films that simply gorge themselves on a deluge of viscera. As with Deadgirl and Thrills, the writer-director possesses a keen sense of character and pace, maintaining interest in each person’s stakes in the game.
Chip (Matthew Gray Gubler – Life After Beth) lives in a trailer park and pumps out rich people’s septic systems. He’s a likable guy who’s sincere to a fault. His bonkers-hot girlfriend, Liza (AnnaLynne McCord) prostitutes herself to a rich local scumbag (David Maldonado) to ensure that the rent’s paid each month. During a postcoital monologue, Liza discovers that said rich scumbag has $68 grand locked away in a safe, and hatches a plan to steal it. Roping passive-permissive Chip into the scheme, things go awry, with corpses left in their wake and a hostage (Alisha Boe) in the trunk.
Haaga keeps things moving over a compact timeframe, and while he sometimes shoots the works to keep, say, a car chase exciting, the effect is pretty darn sincere. Ironic that one of the film’s greatest assets is its avoidance of outright cynicism as a tactic of gaining a cult-status “cool factor.” The aesthetics of 68 Kill are marked by harsh green, red, and blue lighting, complemented by a soundtrack that includes Suicidal Rap Orgy (with lyrics more hilariously vulgar than the track Justine dances to in Raw). The film is reminiscent of the nihilistic sensibility of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, even if it doesn’t approach its extremes.
While the tale of a guy who undergoes a series of unfortunate events to assert himself as a Standing-Erect Male is nothing new, it is the female ensemble of 68 Kill that truly stands out. Liza is an emotionally abusive narcissist, constantly flipping the narrative to suit her own ends, while Boe’s Violet (the kidnap victim) proves to be assertive and savvy in her unique situation; and Monica (Sheila Vand – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) is a gothed-up convenience-store clerk who’s introduced via a “Fuck Off” name tag. Instead of accumulating these women into a powder keg of volatile circumstances – the film is neither Atomic Blonde nor Mad Max: Fury Road – they appear, disappear, and sometimes reappear over the course of the run time. What is refreshing, despite the focus on Chip’s arc from milquetoast to self-assured male, is that the women of 68 Kill are ultimately independent – confident in their identities and actions.
McCord, who made a big impression in Excision, continues to take on intriguing roles that play up her beauty while stripping away layers of diseased, antisocial behavior. Here, she achieves a level of freewheeling brutality that draws favorable comparison to Sheri Moon Zombie’s tough, scorpion-like performances in The Devil’s Rejects and 31. Boe, who enters the film proper near the midpoint (once she’s released from the trunk), is presented as mysterious and enigmatic; the exchanges between Violet and Chip always keep the true motives of the former at arm’s length, up until her departure. Boe, who played a far more serious character in 13 Reasons Why, proves a strong match for the material, which teeters on a precarious balance of bloodshed and dark comedy. And Vand, who shows up late in the game, is a vicious mix of deadpan humor and sociopathy who exudes power and authority in a manner that bypasses base “queen bitch” stereotypes.
68 Kill hums along with the excitement – and fun factor – of some forbidden, “adults only” comic book from a bygone era. Haaga doesn’t reinvent the caper film, but his attention to character makes things pop with personality. There’s a reason Gubler is shunted to the side of the video box art – while the story may center around his character, it’s the trio of distinctive women who strongarm the film into something special.
4 out of 5 stars
The Plot Sickens: Here’s the part one analysis of Jonny Numb’s report on Pet Sematary Two!
(Still photo of AnnaLynne McCord in 68 Kill via PopHorror.)
Crash Analysis Support Team
Jonny Numb
(Aka Jonathan Weidler) has experienced enough pet and human death to justify several volumes of Pet Sematary fan fiction. He co-hosts THE LAST KNOCK horror podcast on iTunes, and can be found on Twitter and Letterboxd @JonnyNumb. In addition to Crash Palace Productions, he also contributes to Loud Green Bird.