Story: About a handsome young soccer player Jake Graham who believes he is going insane, unable to shake the feeling of being stalked by something, by someone.
This is one hell of a frustratingly disappointing feature, one with enough potential to at least be half decent. From the trailers, I picked up a The Rules Of Attraction vibe, considering this is from a screenplay by Bret Easton Elis (creator of the novel American Psycho). Supposedly based on an apparent theory about hundreds of college-aged men disappearing without a trace, only to later be found on beaches, but they didn't drown. Painted smiley faces were found near the places of the bodies.
This starts off rather slow, introducing a group of hollow friends you really won't care for and them dealing with their relationships and everyday routine. There's only so much I can take of seeing a group of friends partying without the story moving forward. A lot of scenes feel without purpose as they don't add anything or move the story forward. The mystery is not engaging and since we spend so much time wandering aimlessly, by the time the true horror kicks in is just too little too late. We spend too much time with characters we don't care for or that are not particularly interesting.
The last 20 minutes are when the blood starts flowing and this dead meat finally shows some energy. Doesn't help that the ensemble is made of bad actors who can't carry a movie. There's actually a scene near the end (the only part actually) involving needles that I found disturbing and had me cringing. But don't take my word for it because I'm frightened of needles.
I'll say this though, Ronen Rubinstein (911 Lone Star) is absolutely gorgeous, and the camera loves him. He is the source of this movie's entire eye candy (he's either shirtless or showing his ass 60% of the running time). Also, this movie feels rarely homoerotic, which is one of the few sides I enjoyed.
It is nice to see Crispin Glover (Willard) back in action even if his screentime is very limited. This film could've benefited from his presence. Though his part could've been played by anyone and honestly, wouldn't make any difference. We don't get much time with the group of psychos onscreen either and maybe that might've been a wiser choice.
Smiley Face Killers is a dull and amateurish movie with great potential which is a shame because I was really looking forward to this as a huge fan of the cinematic adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis work. No doubt one of the shittiest movies are seen this year.
Watch the trailer:
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