Director: Richard Bates Jr
Writer: Richard Bate Jr (Screenplay)
Starring: Amanda Crew, Robert Patrick, Hayley Marie Norman, Johnny Pemberton, Nancy Linehan Charles, AnnaLynne McCord, Ray Wise
Plot: A woman goes to the countryside to spend a quiet weekend after losing her job and having her last complicated relationship implode. She rents a country house from an old-fashioned widower, who struggles to hide his psychopathic tendencies.
Tagline – The struggle is real.
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Killer Instinct starts as city girl Olive (Crew) has a break-up, loses her job and is left feeling down and out, encouraged by her friend Lenore (Norman) and Mother Crystal (Delaney) to escape to the country for a break. Olive ends up renting a house of Harvey (Patrick) a depressed widower who believes in life being old-fashioned way of life.
As Olive is getting used to life in the country, finding herself feeling incredibly bored with her time away. Harvey starts watching over Olive, waiting for a chance to murder her, the one thing he has always wanted to do, now he has a taste for killing.
Thoughts on Killer Instinct
Characters & Performances – Olive has seen her life take a turn for the worse when she loses her job, breaks up with her boyfriend and is left to decide what to do next. She looks to have a quiet weekend away to regroup, only not everything goes to plan, as she must look to fight to survive. Amanda Crew does bring us a modern-day character that will be confident and independent. Harvey is an old-fashion widower who believes people should do things the right way, he has a disturb set of dreams which will see him wanting to kill, an act he starts to follow through on. Robert Patrick does give us a disturbing performance, where he both talks to the audience about the changes his character is angry at, while being over the top in his deranged nature. When it comes to the supporting characters, we have the best friend, who is always a phone call away, as is Olive’s mother. We get a few different victims that Harvey meets along the way, which does contradict what he wants from the start.
Story – The story here follows a young woman who needs a break from her life, taking a weekend break away in the country, only to find herself dealing with a psychotic homeowner. The story does have a lot going on in the background with Harvey doing stalking and killing, while Olive is just getting on with her weekend. There is a lot of messaging about how both generations are seeing the world in different eyes, which is causing the tensions. We do seem to be trying to show a breaking the mould of the female character here, moving the one we follow into the next generation opinion, the strong independent one, who isn’t afraid to talk out.
Themes – Killer Instinct is a horror comedy, with the horror coming from the twisted actions of Harvey, as he slowly starts his murderous rampage and keeps being creepy watching over Olive. The comedy does miss, as it focuses too heavily on trying to make everything about the modern world, questioning people’s opinions on it. The location is a beautiful country home, that is massive, one you would expect to see in most horror films, perfect for a getaway.
Final Thoughts – Killer Instinct is an easy to watch horror comedy, with Robert Patrick stealing the show to cover the weaknesses in the comedy.
