Art imitating life and life imitating art is a well-trodden juxtaposition at times, particularly when it comes to the horror genre. Couple that with the serial killer genre that emerged after the likes of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS shocked audiences three decades ago and it remains a potent mix.
The latest addition to this genre, RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE, echoes another entry, KALIFORNIA, which starred Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis.
Based on a graphic novel of the same name by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE is the story of Todd (Jesse Williams), who is a graphic book artist. his most successful creation, Slasherman, is about to be retired from the shelves, but Todd is struggling to find his ideal ending.
His partner, Kathy (Jordana Brewster, the FAST & FURIOUS series) is looking to get some closure by writing a book about the victims of the notorious ‘I-19 Killer’ who claimed a number of victims over a few years and wants to interview possible witnesses who lived around the area in question.
They are joined by Todd’s agent, Ezra (co-writer and director Jay Baruchel) and assistant Aurora (Niamh Wilson), herself an aspiring graphic artist who wants to make her way in the world.
The quartet decide to head out on the road from Canada to America and decide to do a mini tour of some of the sites that happen to be where bad stuff happened, but before they know it, death is around the corner – and taking the form of certain visual images from Todd’s comic books, suggesting that the killer in question is in the area – and determined to show everyone that the reality is always a lot more graphic…
Darkly disturbing and very graphic on occasion, RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE is certainly going to be on a lot of horror fans’ must-watch radar. It’s atmospheric style echoes some of the classic road movie horrors like DUEL and the original 1986 version of THE HITCHER
However, within the graphic imagery (which does get a little more intense as the film progresses) this film is also designed to make audiences feel uneasy and it does provide a conundrum for audiences, like HENRY did, to question what we see in an artistic and creative context in terms of how violence is represented.
The ending might divide audiences, perhaps for being either too convenient for some, but at least the film is not afraid to go that little big further and not compromise its’ story for the sake of necessary catharsis to prove its’ point. There is a little more depth to the blood and gore on show here and it is suitably dark for all that.
