(2003)

review by:

11-29-03

Written and Directed by: Kevin Kangas Starring: Rick Ganz, Joe Ripple

Aric is a serial killer. He's murdered over 100 people, picking them at random and following them until he "knows their patterns." Aric gets a surprise, though, when he starts finding his prey already dead, with notes from this second killer stating that he knows Aric's pattern... Hunting Humans is a great idea for a movie. What would happen if two killers were going at it, competing for murders? Sheer awesomeness, one could say. Although well done and an interesting idea, Hunting Humans doesn't quite live up to expectations. Serial Killer #2, the element that compelled us to rent this, doesn't show up until way too late in the film. Most of the movie is spent following Aric around town as he stalks victims and goes to work, which is only so interesting. American Psycho pulled off the serial-killer-as-main-character thing because he was truly messed up and was interesting even when not killing. To add to the tedium, most of the Hunting Humans is overdubbed with Aric's thoughts about "patterns getting you killed," which he repeats and repeats until you think you're watching a serial killing training video. As Ganz sits in an empty room talking to a mic, the process used for the overdubbing, he sounds like he's sitting in an empty room talking to a mic. What promises to be a gory, murder-packed film is fairly boring until the second killer starts to interfere, and even then we are still stuck with Aric's thoughts until we see the killer at the end. In spite of all that, though, Hunting Humans is still pretty fun to watch. A guy running around killing people until he's upstaged...it's the kind of thing we at Phantom Films eat up (someday you'll be able to see our short film of similar plot). Though a bit slow, it's still entertaining. Aric seems like a pretty cool guy, and you find yourself rooting for him. There are a couple of good chuckles, some intentional and some not. This film is a great idea, and recommended for those who like low-budget serial killer movies. Just be sure to strap on your attention span if you want to get to the really good stuff. Hell, it's better than our movie...Hunting Humans has a plot and everything.

AKA: The Rules of Attacktion

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