AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER

Shane Ryan's feature debut has been covered before on SGM, by Pryce (indeed, his review of the screener video is quoted on the back of this DVD release!). For those who overlooked the previous review - or suffer from memory lapses - here's a brief recap:

The film opens with a quote from Paul Schrader (writer of TAXI DRIVER and, significantly, HARDCORE), questioning the existence of snuff movies - but accepting that audiences need to at least believe they may exist.

Then we get to see the pretty Loren speaking into a handheld video camera. From behind the lens, Brandon (Ryan) asks her questions about herself before she strips and he has sex with her.

As the film begins proper, Brandon takes to his car one evening and drives round the empty streets looking for someone new to pick up. He happens across young Stacy (Michiko Jimenez), waiting for her mother to pick her up. Brandon convinces the girl - who tells him that she's 18 - to get in his car, and they drive to a nearby motel.

In Brandon's motel room, he continues to film Stacy as she perches herself coyly on the end of his bed (indeed, the entire film is told from Brandon's point of view, via his handheld camera work).

Brandon jokes with Stacy to keep her at ease with the situation and the couple appear to be developing a level of comfortable innocuous banter. Brandon, after all, simply wants to make a film with Stacy - he tells her it's up to her what type of film they make.

Brandon quips with Stacy, mocking her young body shapes occasionally and acting like a goof himself in order to keep her at ease. He even puts himself in front of the camera now and again, and keeps saying how thin the walls are in the room: Stacy is made to feel safe in his company.

But things take a predictably sinister turn when Brandon suggests that Stacy remove her clothing (even here, he reasons that stripping down to her underwear is just like wearing a bikini at the beach). It's here that he discovers Stacy is only thirteen years old.

But - as the title kind of gives it away - Brandon has lured Stacy back to his room with specific intentions in mind. In case you can't read the tagline on the DVD's cover, Stacy is to be humiliated, raped and killed ...

Mixing grainy black-and-white film stock with barely watchable scratchy colour film lends the film an air of authenticity. Coupled with the wobbly handheld camerawork, the roughed-up look of both video formats make APSK look unnervingly real at times.

The performances are of paramount importance in films of this nature. Ryan and Jimenez pull them off extremely well. Ryan avoids giving us a shouty, wild-eyed killer, instead making it all the more plausible that Stacy would be lured in by Brandon, by giving him an affable, quietly persuasive nature. It's a scary performance.

Jimenez must take top honours though. Her performance as the vulnerable young girl, smiling coyly when Brandon compliments her and remaining terrifyingly silent in her compliance when he starts to get her to do stuff she'd rather not. Jimenez looks young too, which makes her casting all the more crucial and uncomfortable. She is the heart of the film.

Although I've not seen APSK before, I understand this DVD version differs from the original cut. From what I gather the original cut was more literally like a "found" snuff film. This new version adds onscreen text at the end of the film, explaining Brandon's killing spree in terms of police interest. It's detrimental to the tone of the film - Ryan would have served APSK better if he left it feeling more anonymous, as ironically the bookending passages of text rob the film of it's potential authenticity.

I'm not sure whether the original version of the film had music or not. This version does, and although it works occasionally (the more melancholic acoustic guitar-led tracks are most successful), I couldn't help thinking that if Ryan had kept the film music-free - and resisted throwing in unnecessary montages of Brandon fucking previous victims - this could have been even more harrowing.

Still, APSK is an alarmingly grim affair. If you're expecting oodles of sex and violence you'll be disappointed as the violence is largely offscreen, and the sex is for the most part tame (or nigh-on impossible to see) - but the tone of the film is unrelenting. When you know the victim's fate from the offset, it's depressing to get to meet them so candidly beforehand. And therein lies the power of Ryan's film. It's a bold move and he pulls it off successfully. But, as a result, people may not want to revisit this bleak experience too often ...

The film is presented uncut in it's original full-frame ratio. The picture quality is deliberately scratched, dark and grainy, so it's hard to knock the transfer as such. Some visuals are impossible to make out but, as mentioned earlier, this lends the film a sense of realism that is helpful rather than harmful.

Audio-wise, the English 2.0 track holds up well. Obviously, being shot on a small handheld camera dictates that some dialogue is not easily picked up - Ryan's savvy enough to have provided subtitles (non-removable) to ensure we do not miss the more relevant lines.

Static menu pages do not include a scene-selection menu, but the film does have remote access via 8 chapters.

The first extra is a 10-minute onscreen interview with Ryan and Jimenez. This is a very casual affair, the pair bouncing amiably off each other with what seems to be genuine mutual affection.

There follows a 6-minute tour of the locations used in the opening scenes of the film. This is conducted in daylight with Jimenez and Ryan as our hosts.

Next up are three trailers for APSK that rely heavily on review quotes, and a trailer for Ryan's ROMANCE ROAD KILLERS.

The most substantial extras on offer are 5 short films by Ryan:

THE SNAKE'S KISS GOODBYE is essentially 3 minutes of dialogue-free arty nonsense.

SO, WE KILLED OUR PARENTS is a charming 6-minute tale about an incestuous brother and sister who beat their abusive parents to death before rutting in the shower. It's bloody, energetic and peppered with Godard-style screen captions.

THE COLD HEAT is the longest short on offer at 15 minutes in length. It's a black-and-white affair, told with noirish lighting and echoey audio. Jimenez reappears in this one.

THE PURE EXODUS starts with French opening credits then plays like a cross between Bergman and Rollin - all arthouse aesthetics intercut with naked women smearing blood into their breasts.

LUCIFER'S MIND is a 1-minute quick-edited mix of music video and clips from the aforementioned shorts.

APSK has a provocative title, a mean reputation and a very suggestive cover. But it's perhaps not what you're expecting. Its intensity comes not from gore (as there is none) but from it's restrained performance and its unrelenting sense of impending doom.

Not happy viewing, but definitely worth a look.

Review by Stu Willis