Made by an Irish director with Irish funds based on an American Young Adult book series and set in the United States, this curious low-budget thriller, shot on 16mm, has a certain hand-sewn élan.
Max Records (Where The Wild Things Are) plays a teenage loner – John Wayne Cleaver (!) – who, along with his shrink, thinks he may be sociopathic; therefore, he is determined to avoid homicidal thoughts and instincts, lest he become a serial killer (and I thought my teenage angst was bad!). When a series of murders occur in his small town, well, naturally, his curiosity is engaged…
Good ol’ Christopher Lloyd – who, it must be said, is definitely looking old – gently and appealingly plays a local fella who befriends young Cleaver, and Laura Fraser (Lydia from Breaking Bad – did you know she was Scottish?) plays his mum, the town mortician, very well. The whole thing has quite a unique tone – a blend of extremely dry humor, creepy low-key horror, and retro-styled aesthetics – that atone for its somewhat over-extended runtime.
CJ Johnson
