There’s a sense of unease that can only come from looking at things from afar. In exterior scenes set in the small town of Clayton, population 7891, I Am Not A Serial Killer peers at bike rides down house-lined streets, steals a glance at altercations on icy lakes, and positions its glimpses out of windows from a vantage that emphasises the feeling of spotting something sinister lurking below a seemingly normal surface. Of course, it’s fitting — and far from surprising — that the film’s lead character favours the same distanced, detached but dissecting viewpoint.
Deemed an outsider at his high school, and both bullied by his peers and frowned upon by his teachers for being different, 16-year-old John Cleaver (Max Records, The Sitter) is actually seeing a therapist (Karl Geary, Experimenter) to work through his potentially sociopathic, psychopathic tendencies. His morgue-working mother (Laura Fraser, TV’s The Missing) worries about his fondness of all things morbid, including the family business, with her fears escalating when a spree of murders starts terrorising the area. Given that John routinely turns in projects about Jeffrey Dahmer, he’s naturally fascinated. His penchant for observing the neighbourhood also comes in handy — all the more so when he finds himself several steps ahead of the local police investigation.
Adapting the YA book of the same name — the first instalment in a five-strong series by author Dan Wells — with co-scribe Christopher Hyde (shorts Red Zone and Last Light), writer/director Billy O’Brien (Scintilla) may be playing in the horror, thriller and mystery arenas; however aping the conventions of his chosen genres proves less pivotal than adopting an appropriately unnerving yet searching, dark yet cheerful mood. As John interacts with his frail, elderly neighbour Crowley (Christopher Lloyd, Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie), and is forced to examine his own thoughts and choices in the process, I Am Not A Serial Killer delves into a story and dwells in an atmospheric realm concerned with approximating normality and exposing its superficiality.
In addition to the preference for scrutinising scenes and composing shots from a broad, wide perspective, the use of 16mm film stock is influential. As a result, cinematographer Robbie Ryan’s (Slow West) visuals remain grainy and filled with texture, imbuing every image with a not-quite-dream-like, not-quite-naturalistic sheen. Alongside the nostalgic score by Adrian Johnston (News from Planet Mars) and the almost-too-pensive pacing imparted by editor Nick Emerson (Starred Up), it’s an astute choice that not only gives the feature a distinctive throwback style, but smartly mirrors John’s mindset and outlook once again: watching studiously, spying the minutiae and even finding pockets of humour, but always feeling somewhat removed from reality. When well-handled gore-filled sights splash across the screen, and when the third act embraces the supernatural, albeit less convincingly, neither looks out of place.
The other canny decision that enhances what could’ve otherwise been a flimsy venture into psychological territory is the casting of Records. While Back to the Future’s Lloyd might be the movie’s most recognisable name and face, and skillfully teases out the depths behind his character’s ostensibly benevolent appearance, I Am Not A Serial Killer’s young lead is its thoughtful, crucial centre. As he showed in Where the Wild Things Are seven years ago, his is a performance of complexity conveyed with sensitivity. Expressing such intricacy in a film filled with detached organs and frequent killings is no easy feat; crafting an effort where both the excessive and the restrained pair perfectly, and the insightful and amusing too, isn’t either.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
I Am Not A Serial Killer
Director: Billy O’Brien
Ireland | UK, 2016, 104 mins
Sydney Underground Film Festival
suff.com.au
15–18 September
In general release: 29 September
Distributor: Monster Pictures
Rating: MA
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