KILLER KATE!: A Horror Comedy Lacking In Both

Genre blending is nothing new to film. Comedic horror, when balanced deftly, can produce the chocolate and peanut butter of cinematic treats. In his first full-screen venture, writer/ director Elliot Feld along with co-writer Daniel Moya attempt this feat with Killer Kate!

Treading on old territory, the simple trope of four unsuspecting young women trapped in a secluded house en-periled by a group of psychotic murders trying to end the ladies’ party weekend should be enough to base a story on. Though the backbone of creating an original twist to an old favorite comes up short on several fronts throughout the narrative.

A Little Less Conversation. A Little More Action.

The film opens with the audience introduction to the big bads in what felt more like failed sketch comedy than a meeting of vicious killers. Long winded dialogue akin to the overwritten screenplays of indie cinema in the early 90’s, casts the group more as an annoyance than menacing. Each character is imbued with interestingly obnoxious quirks designed to flesh out their individual personality types played so cartoonishly one might be remiss to find the antagonists threatening to anyone except themselves. Unfortunately, the same could be said for the cliched protagonists.

Kate and her cohorts come off as over the top versions of female archetypes: Sweetly naive Sarah, antisocial tomboy Mel, the underwritten every woman Angie and newcomer Alexandra Feld walking through the role of the titular Kate, an undefeatable heroine. With a tightened up script and better jokes these characters might have garnered more sympathy from the viewer.  Unfortunately, the screenplay tends to drag out its premise rather than build upon it where each scene plays as observational comedy without a purpose.

Adding to the monotony of this theatrically lean 1 hour 20-minute runtime is the inciting incident finally coming in around the 40-minute mark only to slow down to a crawl not long after. What follows is a series of ridiculous missteps by both sides where many of them end with a punchline explaining why they did what they did. Yeah, don’t do that. Jokes should land, not be explained.

Seemed Good On Paper

Being a newcomer to filmmaking is never easy. The brilliant idea in one’s head can and will change drastically when fully realized, for better or worse. To call Killer Kate! a complete failure feels harsh somehow. There is a premise here which merely didn’t find its footing. Tone plays a huge part in what went wrong. All too often the ‘played for laughs’ dialog is followed by an unearned melodramatic moment padding out the movie’s length unnecessarily when an action scene could have easily filled in the time gaps while keeping the movie taut dramatically.

The other issue is character design or the lack thereof. Each individual character is almost designed to be unlikeable in some way, whether intentional or not. It feels as though the character traits have been amped to eleven just to drive home the point of who they are in this world. In a more overtly satirical film, this treatment of characters would have a place within the narrative. But with the muddy tone presented here, they play as obnoxious caricatures just waiting to be picked off.

Solidifying my dislike for the film, make sure motivations are sound before basing an entire premise on them. Being spoiler free in this review, all I can say is the reason why the bad guys to do what they did might be the dumbest reason anyone has ever done anything in the history of anything. Is that spoiler free enough? But to be honest, it’s almost worth knowing out of morbid curiosity but I’ll leave that discretion up to you.

One final nitpick would be to not put ‘Introducing Alexandra Feld as Kate’ first in your opening credits. Save it for the end. It makes the induction stand out more. Just a thought.

Killer Kate!: The Not So Final Girl

I’m going to be honest when saying I was rooting for this film. The trailer engaged me with the offering of a quirky revenge story with a snappy title. And who doesn’t love a baseball bat wrapped in razor wire these days, am I right? But regrettably, I cannot recommend Killer Kate! Slow, silly and toneless sum up the final product though with some sharpening and polish Feld could hit his stride as a storyteller and I hope he does. Killer Kate!, although flawed, may be the calling card for more suitable projects to come.

Inaugural features are never easy for any director. What are some of your best or worst first films from fledgling directors? Leave your comments and keep the conversation rolling.

Killer Kate! will be released in the US on October 26. Find more screening information here.