Killing For A Weekend

It took a month, but I got a review in over at my other blog. I try to do one a week there, but sometimes I just don't get around to one. Before it was taken out of the theater this week, I managed to go see Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. If you are interesting in hearing what I thought, head over to Top Horror Movies Club. It is the first link in my list off to the right. I was trying to get through three films before Netflix pulled them from instant watch. My last review here was for the first one I watched. While I didn't get to all three, I did manage to watch Killer Weekend (2007) before it was pulled. Two out of three isn't bad.

Linda (Jenna Colby) is worried about her husband Mason (Eric Roberts). We get the gist of it when we get to listen in on her phone call with Mason's psychiatrist, who doesn't seem to care about Linda's worries. Fearing for her life, and that of their son, she has decided to invite her sister Tracy (Frida Farrel) over to the house. Tracy of course invites all kinds of other people because she doesn't like Mason either. Before Tracy and company gets there though, Mason has been watching Linda through all the video cameras in the house, so knows that she wants to leave for good and how she really feels about him. Knowing this, he kills her in the bathtub before everyone gets there. Once everyone is there, Tracy wants to see Linda right away, but Mason always has some reason why she can't. He has plans for them, just like his wife.

Much like the last film I watched for here, I wasn't expecting much. Most times when I'm not expecting much from a film, I usually end up enjoying it more than I probably should. However, in cases like Killer Weekend, even not expecting anything doesn't help at all. Even though the story wasn't too bad, the execution left a lot to be desired. The main problem with Killer Weekend is that it can't settle on what kind of film it wants to be. Director Rob Walker has a gardener who Mason doesn't like. Because he killed some flowers, Mason decides to kill the gardener, but he doesn't die. Instead he just pops up now and then making weird noises which are sometimes heard from those inside.I could never figure out if this was supposed to funny or what. Even though Tracy was invited by her sister, she never really demands to see Linda. Tracy will make a fuss, which Mason waves off and comes up with some excuse as to why Linda isn't around or can't be seen. Tracy seemingly excepts this for a while at least only to go over it again later. That isn't the only thing that repeats. We often see Mason watching everyone on camera, which often times doesn't really further the plot any. Unless you think watching one of the ladies in the shower an important plot point.

To make matters worse, you have the special effects. While some turn out to be just okay, there are those that aren't so okay. The worst one that stood out in my mind, even after watching it weeks ago, was a sword that Mason uses. It appears to be very real as far as how it looked. After someone gets stabbed with it though, in which he somehow manages to stay standing, the sword looks much more like a prop sword. It doesn't even look the same as the real sword. But then when Mason kills someone else on the same sword, somehow keeps it not moving while still stuck in the standing dead guy, the sword looks real yet again. Probably the best part of the whole film was one of the deaths. While Mason is having sex with one of the women...well, lets just say he kills her. The acting was just okay for me. It wasn't great, but at times it could be somewhat bad. Not being a fan of Eric Roberts, I didn't really care that he was the main actor.

Killer Weekend is one of those films that you might remember some key scenes just because of how stupid or funny that came out to be fore you, but the rest will quickly forgotten. One of the things that annoyed me the most was flash forwards of how someone was going to die. I don't know whose idea this was but it completely destroys any build of of tension that could have been there by not knowing how a person was going to be killed, or if they were even going to be killed. Much like my last review, I'm probably being too generous with my rating here. Unless you happen to be the biggest Eric Roberts fan ever, skip Killer Weekend if you should come across it somehow.
2 out of 5 I guess there are worse ways to go besides death while having sex