Director – Mike Mendez (Tales of Halloween, Big Ass Spider!)
Starring – Dave Larsen (Vampire Centerfolds, The Teas of Heaven), David Gunn (The Gravedancers, The Convent), and Damien Hoffer
Release Date – 1996
Rating – 3/5
Blu Release – 3.5/5
Mike Mendez is a filmmaker that I became familiar with several years ago when his anthology film Tales of Halloween was hitting store shelves. I snagged a copy for my collection and soon realized that he had been in the game for sometime before then after a quick look at his imdb page. Since then I’ve watched Big Ass Spider! and Lavalantula.
Sadly, that was all of his work that I had seen until recently when my friends over at Synapse Films sent me two of Mendez’s earlier works. I decided to start my journey with the 1996 horror crime thriller Killers. Like always, I want to take a moment to thank Synapse for sending this one my way.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows convicted murderers Odessa and Kyle James who just escaped from prison and make their way to the Charles Ryan and his picture perfect family. However, as they get cozy and settle in while the police is looking for them, things heat up between Odessa and Charles wife while his oldest daughter has eyes for Kyle. Once they relieve themselves of sexual tension, the pair realize that the home they forced themselves into for safety was anything but that. **Spoiler Alert**
Killers is a movie that took itself too seriously resulting in a lot of unintentional laughs. While I did enjoy the movie, I still found myself laughing at the cringey characters and over-dramatic performances. It’s a movie that may have found it’s market in the late 90s direct to video action thriller boom but doesn’t hold up as well these almost 30 years later.
The acting in this one is almost a parody of every direct to video action movie of the 80s and 90s. The cast is very over the top. Their cliched performances is clearly modeled after villains from infamous low budget films that littered the video store shelves. Everyone in this film hams it up and their performances inspired a lot of laughter from me.
The story for this one is actually pretty fucking wild. We follow two Mendez Brothers style killers who break out of prison and find their way into the Ryan family home. The Ryan’s just happen to be serial killers with a secret dungeon under their home. The two evil forces clash as the feds attempt to infiltrate the home to capture the James Brothers. Honestly, I enjoyed this story and I could see myself loving the film if the acting was a little more grounded and not so over the top.
Finally, the film has a lot of blood. The kills are mostly gunshot deaths with the squibs and so on. They are not that imaginative but they fit the style of the film very well. Overall, Killers is a must see especially if you grew up through the video store age. While it almost feels like a parody of the action thrillers that I grew up on, it still has a great story that just happens to be accompanied by some unintentional humor. This release from Synapse Films is well worth your time. Check it out.
Special Features:
Original unrated director’s cut scanned and restored by Multicom Entertainment Group
Audio commentary with director Mike Mendez and author/horror journalist Michael Gingold
Original promotional trailers
Alternate Ending
Liner notes by critic/writer Heather Drain
