The fascination with the subject matter of "pornographic" death on film and the concept of "snuff" movies is something that since it's coined phrase in the 1970's has seeped beyond the realms of horror cinema and anti-porn feminist fairytales, to become the stuff of everyday urban legend.

From Michael Powell's 1960 classic, Peeping Tom, or the numerous Mondo movies of the 1960's, through American Grindhouse pics such as Snuff or Last House on a Dead End Street, to the infamous Italian exploitation movies Cannibal Holocaust and Emanuelle in America. Building underground notoriety with Japan's Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment and Flower of Flesh & Blood, to more widely seen films such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and mainstream efforts such as Paul Schrader's Hardcore and Joel Schumacher's 8mm, through European films like Man Bite's Dog, Tesis and Britain's The Last Horror Movie, followed by more recent "extreme" indie films such as Fred Vogel's August Underground and Mordum, or Japan's Psycho: The Snuff Reels and Muzan-e, "Snuff" is a topic that has often reared its ugly head and refuses to go away.

The latest entry into this cinematic realm is Director / Writer / Producer / Actor, Shane Ryan's Amateur Porn Star Killer. A film that although having a provocative and by the throat exploitation title, isn't truly a work of out and out exploitation cinema, nor it doesn't fall comfortably into the bracket of horror, although undoubtedly it will be horror & exploitation film fans that will check it out first.

After the opening credit sequence of a violent assault and a young girl "performing" for the camera, the film takes on a Cinéma vérité approach. In scenes comparable to your average gonzo porn effort, opportunist lead male / pornographer / murderer, Brandon (played by Shane Ryan) drives into a deserted shop forecourt to stop and speak to a young girl, Stacy (played by 19 year old Michiko Jimenez). Enticing her into the car, Brandon says he'll take them back to "his place" which turns out to be a seedy motel room where in true "snuff" fashion the remainder of the film is set. From what we have witnessed during the opening credits and flashbacks to the sequence of events, we know what awaits Stacy and that she could potentially be Brandon's 3rd victim.

Inside the room, Brandon begins to slowly talk Stacy around, asking her to sit on the bed while all the time filming her with a handheld camera, asking her what type of movie she wants to make amongst other forced small talk. After some time he slowly coerces her into removing her outer layer of clothing, while occasionally putting the camera down to grope at her semi-naked flesh.

The scenes from here on in become quite tense and uncomfortable, more so when during the course of the strained conversation, Stacy admits that she isn't actually 18 as she had previously claimed, but is in fact only 13. This is all too believable as actress Michiko Jimenez not only looks very young for her actual age, but plays the role with convincing naiveté and inexperienced young girl awkwardness.

This however doesn't deter Brandon, who while groping at the young girls body further, makes her unzip his jeans and perform oral sex upon him. Although rather hazily shot and with a certain amount of darkness, this is still visible and rather prolonged so there is no doubt left as to what Stacy is being subjected to. Brandon then pushes Stacy onto her back and begins to penetrate her, which is suggested rather than shown explicitly… the inevitable conclusion then ensues.

While the film's main roles are very well acted by both Michiko Jimenez and Shane Ryan, and there are undoubtedly some quite unsettling scenes, especially due to the paedophilic nature the events take on, the overall power that the film potentially has is somewhat weakened by the use of flashbacks to the previous victim from the beginning credits and the use of music that feels out place. The style of grainy looking handheld psuedo-gonzo/snuff footage and the naturalistic acting rather conflicts with the more artistic approach of flashbacks and loud music, taking us from something that we could almost believe is a visual document of actual events to reminding us that we're still merely watching a movie.

This is where the film falls down compared to say a similar themed August Underground. However, the difference here being that Amateur Porn Star Killer doesn't use gore as a device, it in fact remains gore free, focusing more upon the uncomfortable nature of sexual predators, in this case influenced by the likes of Ted Bundy and the more sexual side of their crimes.

As well as making you think about this type of sexual predator and how prone young girls (or boys) are to them, the film also makes you partly question the role of pornography in society and that how since the 1980's any fly-by-night, gonzo "director" can get out there with a video camera ala Max Hardcore, to pick up amateur models and push porn more and more into the realms of an extremist misogynistic freakshow, especially since the intervention of our beloved internet.

All in all, Amateur Porn Star Killer is a film that I have mixed opinions about. I take my hat off to Shane for having the balls (if no budget whatsoever) to go out there and make such a movie. It's provocative and in part it really works, almost making you feel guilty for watching it, but at the same time if you've been exposed to a lot of the harsher side of genre cinema, you might feel it slightly falls short. A bit of re-editing and dropping the intrusive music could maybe make this a more powerful film. It's going to be interesting to see where Shane and his production company Alter Ego goes from here.

6/10

As Alter Ego are currently trying to get a distribution deal, this was a DVD screener copy provided by Shane. Copies are available for sale from the Alter Ego website, which also features news on his other projects and links to other reviewers opinions on the film. The DVD includes Michiko Jimenez interview, trailer, film notes & insert cover.

Shane also has a MySpace profile at http://www.myspace.com/alteregocinema