21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Home Movies!, November 27, 2007
This review is from: Amateur Porn Star Killer (DVD)
What can I say about this film but it was differnt than anything I ever seen. If your looking for that realistic film with that home movie feel this is it. Its not your typical film its more like a snuff film or what one would be. Don't expect over top film making here but a creepy realistic type home video. Its the kind of movie that makes you feel kind of bad for watcing it. Its not very long and it really has one direction and thats the torure and death of this girl. If your looking for something shocking and diffrent this is it. It has some other very strange shorts on this DVD that might peek your interest also. I have to say this one needs to be seen at least once.
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40 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
If they had minus stars, I'd give it a minus rating, December 8, 2007
This review is from: Amateur Porn Star Killer (DVD)
Amateur Porn Star Killer is a sorry excuse for a film.
Don't be fooled by the professional artwork or the lame exploitation title, intended to attract the emotionally subnormal and cash in on a particular subgenre of Horror cinema; a title that makes no sense and certainly doesn't really say anything about the film itself. Don't be fooled by the cheesy film-look filters applied over poorly lit and staged serial killer footage - supposedly deliberately shot in a headache inducing `amateur camcorder user' style - although why anyone would go to the trouble of documenting their crimes in such a poor fashion and then trying to fake it as film I'll never know! `Experimental' (or inept - you decide....) sound and muddy dialogue and atrocious acting / staging. If you buy this you're in for a tedious viewing experience.
The plot - if you can call it that - is simple. It's about a wannabe Ted Bundy armed with a camera, called Brandon (Shane Ryan), who brings an underage girl, named Stacey (Michiko Jimenez), back to his apartment, bores her with his shoddy camera antics, before having sex with her and beating her to death. Most of the action is deliberately poorly framed or happens off camera. It is technically without inspiration and is lacking in any redeeming quality.
Fans of this Guinea Pig style snuff-esque footage may get a kick out of it, but I have seen it done much better. This is completely uninspiring. The footage of sex acts could be real but who cares. It is pretty uninspiring stuff. The lack of any real dramatic narrative or characterisation makes it a completely unabsorbing experience. Dredging footage up of one girl to superimpose over another is a thinly veiled technique to try and liven up this turkey. Without any context being applied to the footage it means nothing.
The fact that the cast are mimicking realism and do not bother trying to speak properly or annunciate means that most of the dialogue is also uninteresting or unintelligible, frustratingly `improvisational' and commonplace, merely filling up gaps between events. The fact that the sound even goes in places is even worse. If that was deliberate, then it is bad judgement.
I am not familiar with this filmmakers work and after watching this and looking at his equally amateur website, nor do I ever want to. He revels in the controversy behind this film, but the only controversy I can see is that he has the arrogance to make a film that is unwatchable and call it entertainment and liken it to more famous and more accomplished works yet it doesn't deserve any of those comparisons. I am just amazed that it is even available on Amazon and others have voluntarily parted with their money for it!
The only thing that would have made this film interesting would be if it was real all along and was accompanied by a valid study of the perpetrator's psyche. Then it would be a criminally dirty little treasure for the disturbed types who seek out snuff or autopsy footage on the internet. But the fact that the sex is unclear or murky at best and the violence is off camera means that this film has no merit even for those deviants.
Half an hour of my life, lost forever! I only write this to warn others. I don't have an axe to grind per se; I just think it's not worth the money and it is films like this that convince outsiders that Horror is dead and the fans that love it have no intelligence. It is far from shocking and is merely 71 minutes of audio visual irritation. In fact the title is the only thing likely to shock when your mum sees it on your shelf when she comes around to visit.
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18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So close to being a masterpiece that even though it repulses me I have to praise it, August 20, 2007
This review is from: Amateur Porn Star Killer (DVD)
It took roughly three hours to shoot and has one of the lowest budgets ever of any film that's been nationally distributed. But neither stops underground filmmaker Shane Ryan's "Amateur Porn Star Killer" from being one of the most disturbing and thought provoking films you will see on violence, sex and nudity.
Shot on miniDV for $45, "Amateur Porn Star Killer" is the story of a girl being preyed upon by a vicious predator. Playing on the illusion what you are watching is a real snuff film, the audience follows along as Brandon (played by Ryan) takes Stacy (Michiko Jimenez) to a hotel and proceeds to victimize her emotionally, physically and sexually, before ending her life.
Love it or hate it, you can't deny the power of Ryan's film. When PollyStaffle.com reviewed it in June 2006, it was called "mesmerizing and terrifying" and "downright painful to watch." It was also noted that the film is "so close to being a masterpiece that even though it repulses me I have to praise it." It later went on to win a Polished Apple award in the Second Annual Pollies for best use of sex/nudity because of the film's impact.
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