Director: Steve Lawson
Year: 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After a string of strange murders, the inspectors in a small British suburb try to connect the various clues left behind detailing the brutal crimes committed by the killer against scandalous women in the city, slowly losing their minds and sanity as they fail to keep the city safe from the cunning madman.
Review:
This was a rather solid if somewhat problematic genre effort. Among the better factors with this one is the rather large and in-depth look at the case, which may not provide the most realistic version of the case, but manages to bring up some wholly intriguing elements when taken on its own. The way it dives into the various murders, where each one initially appears as a gruesome yet seemingly isolated incident involving women being killed off in the same way, and slowly getting caught on to the idea that they’ve caught a serial killer stalking the same type of people, requiring them to get this person caught before more damage is done, sets the film going rather well. The conversations that take place here, looking into the graphic details that are known regarding the various murders and how that affects not only the town being unnerved by the fear that they could be next, as well as the more overt threats from the higher-society members hoping that the killer is caught without incident, make for an intriguing time getting used to the various hierarchical themes at play within here.
That goes into the rather fun time of trying to figure out the killer’s identity from the clues provided. There’s plenty of fun to be had with the exploits provided by the morgue attendant as he tries to piece together the clues he can remember before blacking out when the next victim is brought before him, leading into the series of encounters he had with them that provide the context that he knew who they were. There’s also the solid confirmations here, including the different confrontations involving the detectives’ questioning of the connection to the victims and how the full extent of the murders ties into the reporter receiving the letters detailing the next crime, setting this up rather well regarding setting up more potential suspects. When the final reveal of the killer gets revealed and the twist about their motivation to go through with the rampage, everything becomes immensely fun with the reveals coming together through some decent hints and twists, giving everything a lot to like overall.
There are some drawbacks here that hold this one down. The main detriment to the film is the immensely slow-going and overall dragging tempo that barely gives this much in the way of energy throughout. Far too much of the film is spent on endless conversations regarding the different clues for who the killer is or detailing the reporters’ connection to everything, making the pace slow down to an absolute crawl while this is going on, draining the intriguing investigative work and twisty premise for this approach instead. As well, that also means the majority of the supposed action scenes here are missing, as we get the aftermath shots of the victims when they arrive at the coroner’s office without seeing how they got that way in the first place, producing no real stalking scenes of the killer in action. Alongside the expected low-budget limitations usually found in these kinds of films, regarding the small cast and cramped locations, there are a few issues that hold this back.
Overview: **.5/5
A better-than-expected, if still flawed, genre effort, this one manages more to like overall, even if it does mean more as a piece of straightforward entertainment than a retelling of the crimes, even if that comes up a bit short. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre film in general or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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