Years ago a straight-to-video release meant the movie was so bad that only those with nothing else to do on a Friday night would bother to watch this piece of crap. But with the development of cheap digital video equipment, it became relatively easy to make your own movie. And so straight-to-video became the principal platform for many indie films that slipped through the net of international distributors. Even the recent, and brilliant, sci-fi Moon was supposedly going to be a straight-to-DVD film, proving how quality isn’t the only factor in non-theatrical releases. Which brings us to Tony – London Serial Killer, a DVD thriller made by newcomers Chump Films.

The ambitious website for the film boldly compares the film to the likes of Taxi Driver and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Indeed, all films deal with violence and feature an odd murderer, but the comparisons end there. The film follows Tony, a blank face wandering through the streets, living off social welfare for the past 20 years, and who seems content watching cheap action flicks. With no friends, and no family, the only encounters that Tony seems to have are with angry drunks and leeching junkies, whom he proceeds to murder.

The difference between Tony and many of the more famous killers and outcasts is that we don’t get inside his head. Henry, Travis Bickle, Patrick Bateman (American Psycho), and even Dexter, all give us a glimpse of their twisted heads through the inner monologues or diary entries that attempt to justify their perversions. But Tony seems less of a thinker than an actor, operating on auto-pilot, only getting anxious when someone puts their feet on his table. But that seems to be the point of the film, that we can never comprehend a killer, that his actions are alien to us. Think of it as Hannibal Lecter meets Mike Leigh. However, in attempting to deliver authenticity elsewhere the film falls flat. Some of the performances are unnatural, especially the strangely furious detective that appears later in the film. In another scene an upstairs neighbour with a cut finger asks Tony for a bandage. But who rings their neighbour (especially one downstairs… was she going to knock on every door?) for a band-aid when they can pop out to a shop? Plus, a dinner is set up that appears to be a plot point but is left hanging. It’s issues like these that not only detract from the film’s authenticity, but highlight the amateurishness of the production.

VERDICT:

Besides the usually DVD commentary, the film presents two short films, something I would like to see on more first films. Both display the origins of Tonys style. And one is a prototype for the feature-length Tony, creating the opening fifth of the film, and ironically being better paced that the feature. For a film that endeavours to tell us that we can never know someone sure makes for some interesting viewing, regardless of all the blood, guts, and decomposed flesh that we encounter along the way.

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