Alter Ego Cinema’s third (and supposedly final) installment in the AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER series is a rough watch. It’s gritty, it’s pornographic, and it’s way, way too realistic. The POV camera work makes you feel like you’re sitting in on the chaos, even though you’re watching safe on the couch, and is, for that reason, one of the best examples of using the style correctly. The film starts off going back and forth between shots of random around-town scenery and a young woman being humiliated, sexually abused, and eventually killed by a man in some remote outdoor location. The film moves along in a way that evokes home movie footage, with its starts and stops when the camera is turned on and off. We witness the smooth talk that captures two more victims that suffer similar fates before we are introduced to Mickey. Mickey (played by real life porn star Regan Reese) is a wanna be actress trying to get back to town to take care of a family emergency when she encounters Brandon (played by writer/director Shane Ryan.) What starts off as a goodwill ride from a stranger turns very dark over the course of their encounter. This is where the film-making shines. The pacing of their ride is slow and builds up to the darkness and eventual horror. It gives you as the viewer time to forget the previous atrocities and get comfortable along with Mickey who gets more and more comfortable with Brandon as their time together goes on. Of course, things don’t stay that way for long as he convinces her to start removing pieces of clothing and the verbal, mental and sexual assault begins. There is no blood shed in the film whatsoever, and it isn’t needed. The horror in this film comes from the fact that it is so realistic, and things like this do happen in real life. Personally, I find that much, much more frightening than actual physical torture, and by those standards AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER 3 makes films like SAW and HOSTEL look like Disney films. Now, my main problem with this film is the sexual material. There are scenes of actual oral sex and penetration which crosses the porno line in the sand to me. I have no problem with sex in films at all, or very scary hardcore sexual situations. But by having actual on-screen sex acts, it takes the film into a different territory I think. Other films that have done this, for example, are Vince Gallo’s BROWN BUNNY with its ridiculously uncomfortable close up blowjob scene with Chloë Sevigny. ’70’s rape/revenge classic THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE with its spliced in, hardcore sex close-ups that are obviously not the same actors, suffered because of this as well. Overall, APSK 3 is a powerful piece of exploitation cinema, and whether it pushes the envelope too far as far as sexual content, that’s for the viewer to decide. Would I recommend this film to the average, everyday horror fan? No. Would I recommend it to fans of abrasive cinema and pure exploitation? Yes, and I do. It’s something that stays with you after the film is over, and you’ve showered a dozen times to get the ick off, and that means the film did it’s job.
Jan
22
2010
Basement Screams 