Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Killer Inside Me


The Killer Inside Me is a lurid, pulpy adaptation of a lurid, pulpy crime novel.  Thus, it’ll do all the things pulpy crime novels do: it’ll horrify, it’ll titillate, it’ll probably skeeve you out.  If that’s you’re thing, have at it.

Casey Affleck plays Lou Ford, a deputy sheriff in a West Texas town.  He has a boyish look and a high-pitched voice and he says “sir” and “ma’am.”  He seems like a nice fella.  Sure, he falls for a local prostitute and finds himself enmeshed in a blackmail scheme, but that isn’t anything that couldn’t happen to Joseph Cotton or Fred MacMurray.  It’s what happens next that’ll surprise you.

I hesitate to go too deeply into just what does happens\ next, because I think the surprise is half the film.  Instead, I’ll tell you what I think you need to know in making your rental decision:  this is a film of sex, violence, good, and evil.  It’s trying for pulp, and it succeeds: it’s everything pulp fiction is supposed to be.  If that’s you’re thing, The Killer Inside Me will work for you.  If not, well, move along.  Nothing to see here.

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