The Killing Floor

THE KILLING FLOOR .

David Lamont : ( Hubristic Hero of The Killing Floor ) :

" Story's my business.... Just what I do"

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This film stars two young actors who both captured my heart when I first saw them in their T.V. roles. Shiri Appleby , of Roswell; and Marc Blucas , of Buffy the Vampire Slayer both play the leading roles in this relatively small budget ( one guesses, though I don’t know the numbers ) yet expertly filmed and directed horror film. The concept , especially, is delightfully entertaining: A film about a Horror Story editor who begins to” live the story” , so to speak.

This is a Man whose constant tirade to the writers he represents is :

Make. Me. Care. !!

His life turns into a nightmare. As the denouement of the story approaches we hear him tell his latest heart-throb whom he has violated:

"I just don't give a F**k !!"

( This object of his attention is played by Reiko Ayelsworth , also an awesome TV actress --she played Michelle Dessler in 62 episodes of "24" ).

He has been "Made to Care", to the point of no return.

Throughout the film random and planned events intertwine, as slowly but surely , the Hero begins to sink into madness. Only at the very end are we , the viewers, permitted to see what of this series of events is incidental and what is planned by the diabolical mind whose agenda it is to destroy the Ego maniac who spurns and destroys writers as much by his attention as by his inattention. The Motif of revenge and the Motive of spurned attentions are old hat , of course. But our flawed , hubristic hero nonetheless tugs at our heartstrings . At the end of it all we feel for him.

Without revealing too much of the plot and thus spoiling the experience for the very few people who will bother to watch the film ( Shame on all you who are afraid to watch yourselves die, for the hero is actually a mere reflection of what we all aspire to : success, wealth, sexual prowess ) , I can say that much of the pettiness at the root of our corrupt society is touched upon in this film--including , in passing , the plight of actors. Of course, there is no real resolution to the conflict, for this is merely cinematic expose, a Photo-narrative so to speak -- of how we are essentially mere puppets of the desires and whims of others. Something as trivial a thoughtless oversight, a spilled coffee , an overheard word or a glimpsed apparent meeting of two people whom we do not know to be acquaintances, can set off a chain reaction of fearsome fantasies and tip the balance of the most stable mind into un-reason.

Even if one can afford a beautiful chunk of Unreal Estate in the Heart of New York upper levels ( Floors 15,16,17 in this case ) , one is not immune from the vagaries of the surrounding environment and from the affectations of those others whom chance ( or fate ) chooses for us to share our fences with ….

I quote:

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Detective Martin Soll : (John Bedford Lloyd ) :

“New York is a corrupt cluster fuck , just like any other City . “

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Irony of Ironies---as I was watching this film, in what is usually a quiet time in my downtown Montreal equivalent of a luxury condo for the poor worker , a one and a half in what was once a sumptuous townhouse , now crudely subdivided to meet the cash flow needs of landlords , I had to endure the traumatizing sounds of some form of Boom-Boom music as it shook my floor. A recurrent problem which I usually deal with by leaving the premises---Something as trivial as a neighbour's bad taste in music or tendency to like IT loud, are enough to drive the sanest of us mad… This time, I was committed to watching a film for the purpose of writing this review. Luckily I could not locate my Axe in the disorder of my home . This interjection merely to point out that Horror is never far away...no matter how unsuspecting any of us ,( in this case my downstairs neighbours ) - are.

Noteworthy: The melodious song accompanying the the credits “Faraway”, by Dara Shindler and Classic’s, is transcribed in the subtitles, allowing the hearing challenged to appreciate the well chosen lyrics.
The Organization naming itself Chutzpah films, supporters of this project, deserve a nod and a wink.

The two writers, Ryan Swanson and Gideon Raff also relative new comers to the larger production highway, created a spare and careful script, and although this sort of writing does not usually win the hearts of critics of literature - (the Genres of Horror and Murder remain the bad boys and girls of the craft), there is much to be said for simple dialogue and well placed words. This, Swanson and Raff seem to have a knack for.

As our tragic hero states in the opening 20 minutes of the narrative:

Story's my business.... Just what I do

The Book Fool. ( fictionalworld@hotmail.com )

The Killing Floor can be rented at Movieland , 1972 Rue Ste Catherine O. Mtl.