Lou is a pitiful woman that most people (including her overbearing mother) treat like garbage and she just takes it and tries to go on with her life. Serial murder meets self-help in A Serial Killer's Guide to Life - a darkly satirical cross between Thelma & Louise and Sightseers from the creative team behind the award-winning short film This Way Out (Best Comedy, Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2013). In which case a lot of people are in trouble. Whilst this may be a slightly unorthodox choice, the increasingly discordant and erratic music provides the ideal accompaniment to Lou's rapidly deteriorating mental state. But when she looks again, the woman is gone. Mother: Sian Clifford . Noah, a self-help coach, exudes confidence as he expresses his thoughts. The film ends with a repeat of the opening scene of Lou, walking outdoors, wearing earbuds and listening to a recorded Knoah lecture. It doesn't look like it was made with a ton of money and one can see where the corners were cut but it only adds to the brilliance, in my view. Tagged as: The film has it's own unusual pace which gradually draws you into an increasingly crazy mindset where anything seems possible. If there was ever a 9 that is definitely 10's across the board, I'll forever be upset that Lou isn't my life coach. Poppy Roe as Val is what will draw you in, because shes positively electric, but as Lou, Katie Brayben absolutely transforms from a milksop to a fully-realized person, and its brilliant to see someone grab life by the horns and smack it in the forehead with a rolling pin. At one of these seminars she meets Val (Poppy Rose) who is everything that Lou wants to be and is soon convinced to leave her life behind and join Val on the road. While standing in line at a book signing following a talk by one self-help guru, Lou meets and is awed by the self-assured Val Stone who describes herself as a life coach. Despite this constant diet of positive affirmations, Lou seems paralyzed, unable to make meaningful change in her life. Motivational speakers? Katie Brayben (Louise Lou Frank), Poppy Roe (Val Stone), Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Chuck Knoah), Sarah Ball (Mother), Tomiwa Edun (Ben), Sinead Matthews (Izzy), David Manson (Ralph), Matthew Woodyat (Graham), Owain Rhys-Davies (Marcus), Carys Lewis (Rachel), Chris Bishop (Laughter Therapist). Nature Therapy Ben. 1 Hour 20 Minutes. Metacritic Reviews. Well that reason being is I wished this film had been 4 hours long I could've watched with no problem whatsoever. The real highlight of the film is the interplay between Brayben and Roe. Lou, in contrast to Val, is meekly awkward. She seeks escape from one self-help guru after another, spending her money on their books, DVDs and audio-tapes, though with little or no apparent positive results. Katie Brayben really stands out as Lou and you cant help but feel for her. With Val periodically leaving voicemails to let her mom know she is alright, they make their first stop at a wilderness retreat led by Ben. | Val Stone: Yeah. The basic plot kept reminding me of Michael Winterbottoms underrated Butterfly Kiss (1995). While out at a book signing for one of these gurus, she meets a mysterious young woman, Val Stone ( Poppy Roe) and sets forth the coarse of the rest of her life. 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A Serial Killers Guide to Life, arguably one of the best dark comedies to come out of the British Isles in a few years, was recently made available in these United States and Canada on iTunes and Digital HD Monday, 13 January 2020. If youve met any of these characters (or people who swear by their wares), youll likely have more than a few wry chuckles during these scenes. I admit..the movie is a complete B rated film. Low budget film making at its level best. This film follows the wonderfully British tradition of darkly comic understatement! [6], Shooting on a ridiculously tight budget meant problem solving continuously. It seems clear that writer-director Roe holds a strong, likely personal grudge against self-help tutors, in order to create a movie which is largely based on showing their flaws, and then killing them off. Katie Braybens performance as Lou is all soft-spoken, people pleasing ineffectuality. The message behind is hidden n this movie is totally underrated. Lou and Val leave their car behind and take the couple's minivan. I recommend watchin it. Tags 2019 A SERIAL KILLER'S GUIDE TO LIFE Ben Lloyd-Hughes Katie Brayben Poppy Roe Sarah Ball Sinead Matthews Staten Cousins Roe Tomiwa Edun. Loser, self-help junkie living as a 'slave' to her deranged mother RELATED: Soap Opera Couples Who Dated In Real Life. Here Plummer has been replaced by an altogether much more socially assured Poppy Roe, although the story of a girl being dragged along on another girls murderous spree is essentially the same. The various therapy sessions the pair of Lou and Val visit are all astonishingly real: back-to-nature, vibrational healing, rebirthing, and laughter all have their adherents, and after doing some reading up on each, it appears that the words and actions . 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After some qualms, she agrees to depart with Lou, whodoes indeed deliver on her promise. But how much you get out of it may depend on two things. Spoilers The synopsis below may give away important plot points. He liked its "darkly humorous tone" that "nails the self-indulged attitudes and attributes of many a life-coaching element," and he "appreciated the dry tone and believable delivery from each actress, as well as the surrounding cast," but felt that, "The idea is a one-trick pony that doesn't truly evolve the premise beyond what's expected and becomes a rinse/repeat of therapeutic slayings that are visually stifled by repetitive cutaways and (sometimes) after-imagery of a corpse." "Come see me if you want to change", Val tells Lou. Watch jet-black comedy film! The likes of Killing Eve have shown even we British can engage in a gleeful embrace of the darker side of things. Lou does, however, notice a spec of blood on Vals face. If you appreciate low budget independent films then you'll have no reason for enjoying this one. Lou Farnt is a meek young Englishwoman with poor self-esteem, who is emotionally browbeaten by her harsh and demanding mother, with whom she lives. The cinematography is notable, particularly in capturing the rural settings. Val calls Lou the best student she's ever had. 2020. REVIEW: Like several other Grimmfest films, A Serial Killer's Guide to Life is a debut feature for its writer/director, Staten Cousins-Roe, and he has created something very much his own here: the dry, sarcastic humor, the innocent inspired to find "empowerment" sure, we've seen these things before, but not combined like this. 2019. Author Recent Posts Follow Me Adrienne Clark Adrienne is a writer and editor living in the rain clouds of Seattle. She befriends Val at one of the many self-help meetings she attends and the two decide to take a little trip together. All rights reserved. ASKGTL takes us on a bizzare, original, dark and funny journey in the form of a road trip to enlightenment via a number of grizzly murders. Director Staten Cousins Roe deftly builds on his experience directing the short film This Way Out, which also starred Katie Brayben and Poppy Roe. On the plus side I did think that the cast was excellent. Its not until later that we discover shes a serial killer. Roe's Val isn't your typical killer, either: she's guarded, yes, but also nervous. Despite this, given his self-serving tone, the scene suggests hes more interested in helping himself than he is other people. There is nothing quite like a bloodcurdling film that makes one giggle and tremble at the same time. [2], Lorry Kikta of Film Threat wrote "[a] bone-dry dark horror-comedy, A Serial Killers Guide to Life, is I Heart Huckabees meets American Psycho by way of Thelma and Louise. Fiona Glascott . A self-help addict unwittingly finds herself on a killing spree with her unhinged life coach. When Lou attends a motivational seminar, Val, a forty-something woman, reaches out to Lou. 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The service requires full JavaScript support in order to view this website. Lifelong horror fan, former projectionist & video store clerk. Few films come along with a director, actors, actresses, producers, that will give that big wow factor while pitching the project to a major studio. While the documentary crew within that film know from the start that its protagonist is a serial killer, and Lou only gradually comes to the realization that Vals been knocking off folks as they drive about the British countryside, in both cases, the followers quickly become willing participants in the murders committed by the lead. A Serial Killer's Guide to Life is structured in vignettes, each one corresponding to a platitude from Chuck Knoah's teachings. Did all the same people praising it watch the same movie that I did? Performed in New York 1922 and an English edition published in 1923. After premiering at film festivals in 2019, A Serial Killer's Guide to Life was released by Arrow Films to digital media / video on demand on 13 January 2020,[1] including the streaming channels Amazon Prime and Hulu and the cable channel Showtime. Cheddar Goblin is my co-pilot. Even though she didnt follow through with whatever it was she was thinking, Lou had obviously intended the woman harm. There is a significant body count in this dark comedy. I didnt think that things got particularly interesting until maybe the last 20 minutes or so and I am still not sure if I liked the big twist at the end or not as it reminded me of the ending of High Tension in a lot of ways (which I despised and feel ruined the entire movie for me). I just wasnt a fan of A Serial Killers Guide to Life even though I really wanted to like it, especially after hearing so many positive things about it. Quirky and tightly written, well acted and filmed despite a ridiculously low budget. While it wasn't what I was expecting in terms of what I imagined a festival of that name would deliver, I was very glad to have seen it. Its a veritable rogues gallery of faux shamans, rebirthers, skeevy new-agers, and snake oil salesmen. SICK seems to check all the boxesstoked. She seeks escape from one self-help guru after another, spending her money on their books, DVDs and audio-tapes, though with little or no apparent positive results. So when strange and strikingly confident new life coach Val (Poppy Roe) suddenly arrives on the scene and invites her on a road trip of alternative therapies, Lou finds the perfect opportunity to leave, and the perfect person to become. Chuck Knoah. But Lou cannot, and the two lay exhausted in the field. In addition to his work for Scene-Stealers, Nick can be found bitching about music elsewhere on the Internet at his blog, Rock Star Journalist, and as Music Editor for The Pitch. I had a smile on my face most of the way through rather than laughing out loud but it was certainly very funny. The character work between Lou and Val is the real highlight, along with the pitch-black humor. She meets Val one day and they hit it off from the start even though they are totally different people and they go on a trip together, visiting several self-help retreats and the like. Val leaves her card and Lou goes to meet her. I wasnt expecting this movie to be a slasher flick or anything, but I was hoping there would have been a lot more death scenes and action in general. Louise Frank lives with her mother and is a devoted reader of self-help books in an effort to improve her life. Lous life consists of mind-numbing routine, whether at her low-paying job as a shop clerk or at home with her overbearing mother. | How to Get Your Book or Comic Reviewed on HNN. [4][5] The film received favorable reviews.[2]. As soon as Poppy Roes Val appears onscreen, however, I was absolutely drawn to her. I saw this unusual film in Lewes in Sussex where most of the action was filmed. seeks escape with mysterious 'Val' her new life coach. Crew Director/Screenplay - Statin Cousins-Roe, Producers - Giles Alderson, Poppy Roe, Statin Cousins-Roe & Charity Wakefield, Photography - James Layton, Music - Laurence Love Greed, Visual Effects Supervisor - Anthony Brownmoore, Production Design - Madelaine Leech. Ffs, that's coming-of-age, road-trip movie-making 101! Kill off social media influencers, reality TV celebrities or Los Angeles Dodgers fans, and Id be right there with you. The story itself is an original and interesting one and the director masterfully brings us into the world of the film with some excellent choices in terms of how the story is told. [8], After premiering at the London FrightFest Film Festival on 24 August 2019,[3] it later played at such festivals as England's Grimmfest: Manchester's International Festival of Fantastic Film[9] and Fantastic Film Festival Australia. And found it VERY funny. Self-help addict Lou (Katie Brayben . Our DoP, James Layton, helped source our camera. The short film, starring Poppy Roe, Katie Brayben, Sarah Ball, Christopher Gilling, and Adam Venus, proves the perfect jumping-off point for a feature film. Harsh Light News is now available on the News360 website and app. Please enable cookies on your browser and try again. Irritated with her life, not to mention her mother, Lou attends a self-help seminar. https://bit.ly/3iEQTqW, Theres Something Wrong with the Children has a lot more going on for it than your average creepy-kid #horror #movie. They are opposites in every way imaginable. Watch. [10] Picked up by Arrow Films for commercial distribution, it was released to digital media / video on demand in the US, Canada, and the UK on 13 January 2020,[1] including the streaming channels Amazon Prime and Hulu and the cable channel Showtime. Apple Inc. The tone is deftly inventive and offers surprises . There is a believability to their respective characters that shines through the performances. "[13] Bryan Yentz of Rue Morgue felt the same way. Where the film does become more interesting is the twist where it reveals [PLOT SPOILERS] (with a certain ambiguity) that Poppy Roes Val is actually an imaginary companion/split personality in Lous head. Tomiwa Edun . Internet Service Terms Our guide to the cast and characters of Mindhunter season 2, including the real-life versions of agents and serial killers featured in the show. (Rossum's Universal Robots), written in 1920 in Czech and first performed in 1921. It has a very interesting theme (which I won't spoil) that actually speaks for itself with very strong attention to detail, top performances and slick direction. At a different self-help guru's lecture, Lou sees a middle-aged women who strikes her attention. A Serial Killers Guide to Life is structured in vignettes, each one corresponding to a platitude from Chuck Knoahs teachings. A Serial Killer's Guide to Life - ARROW A Serial Killer's Guide to Life Serial murder meets self-help in A Serial Killer's Guide to Life - a darkly satirical cross between Thelma and Louise and Sightseers from the creative team behind the award-winning short film This Way Out (Best Comedy, Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2013). ( Rossum & # x27 ; s Universal Robots ), written in in... Given his self-serving tone, the scene suggests hes more interested in helping himself he. 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Notable, particularly in capturing the rural settings cookies on Your browser try. This movie is a complete B rated film he expresses his thoughts try. Not until later that we discover shes a SERIAL KILLER 's GUIDE to Ben... This one capturing the rural settings enable cookies on Your browser and try again darker side of things New. Writer and editor living in the rain clouds of Seattle tagged as: the film has it 's always delight. British tradition of darkly comic understatement in real life is other people people pleasing ineffectuality she befriends Val one... To find herself this unusual film in Lewes in Sussex where most of the darker side of things had. 'Ll have no reason for enjoying this one fan, former projectionist & video store clerk even though she Follow... & # x27 ; s coming-of-age, road-trip movie-making 101 is all soft-spoken, pleasing... Winterbottoms underrated Butterfly Kiss ( 1995 ) her mother and is a believability to their respective characters that shines the! Himself than he is other people Adrienne is a significant body count in this dark comedy each one to! And Val is the interplay between Brayben and Roe her life shes SERIAL. Appreciate low budget drama-school schoolmate katie Brayben Poppy Roe Sarah Ball Sinead Matthews Staten Cousins Roe Tomiwa Edun like! Reason being is I wished this film follows the wonderfully British tradition of darkly comic!. Ache to find great movies and it 's own unusual pace which gradually draws you an... Budget meant problem solving continuously this, given his self-serving tone, the woman is gone obviously intended the harm! ] the film has it 's own unusual pace which gradually draws you into an increasingly crazy where... Independent films then you 'll have no reason for enjoying this one in the field between and! Has it 's always a delight to find a hidden gem, unable to make meaningful in... Escape with mysterious 'Val ' her New life coach Follow through with whatever it was she was thinking, seems!
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