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[tab title="Movie Review"]
Sometimes, that feeling of being watched is not wrong.
Amy and the Alien, a once favorite show on a cartoon network, is teetering on the verge of cancellation. Only two seasons in and it’s do or die time. And Jeb, the show’s creator, is desperate to keep it running; he knows this show will put him on the map. He’s from Kansas and his mother wants him to get a real job . . . like at Wal-Mart.
So, yeah, Jeb knows just how important this writer’s retreat that the network is sending he and his team to is for his continued employment. Unfortunately, his obsessive qualities get the best of him.
Those same qualities will chill you to the bone when you witness the shocking and dark turn of events in High Octane Pictures’ latest offering, American Killing. This chilling film puts a new spin on hidden-camera shenanigans and it will definitely have you believing that, yes, you ARE being watched.
You see, Jeb (an excellent Trevor Peterson, last seen in Grizzly Park) takes no chances with his writers and installs cameras throughout the cabin the team is sent to in order to spy on them, record what they are saying about him, and otherwise manipulate them into creating what he deems as their best work . . . and it is all to save the cartoon that he loves. {googleads}
Only there is nothing child-like about what he ends up doing to these writers. Because, yes, he’s recording their behind-the-scenes shenanigans and, as nothing goes as planned, he winds up with a snuff film about, you guessed it, an American killing. Suspenseful and tight as hell, American Killing, directed by Matthew Ward (who also wrote the disturbed story) and Justyn Ah Chong, is a fantastic thriller that will have you gasping for the very air you take for granted.
The film is memorable and, with great performances from Persia White (The Vampire Diaries), and Caitlin Gerard (Insidious: The Last Key), unpredictable as the studio fires Jeb, yet he continues to spy on his writers as they are tasked with writing the third (and probably final) season of this cartoon series. Jeb can’t help himself, though, and something within him simply snaps. With camera in hand, a new idea springs to mind: documenting the descent into delinquency and madness that will eventually lead to MURDER!
Recalling his time covering the BTK killer, back when he worked for a Wichita, Kansas local news station, Jeb finds himself surrendering to his baser impulses, returns to the cabin in the mountains and takes matters into his own hands. Complete with a side plot including Jeb’s crazy “walking with the lord” mother, American Killing is an independent thriller unlike most. It is unexpected and suspenseful and will leave you shaken.
Safe words? Where we’re going, we don’t need safe words. American Killing arrives on VOD and DVD on August 6 from High Octane Pictures. Prepare for the punishment.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 83 mins
Director: Matthew David Ward and Justyn Ah Chong
Cast: Trevor Peterson, Persia White, and Caitlin Gerard
Genre: Horror
Memorable Movie Quote: "I just need a little time to pull it together."
Theatrical Distributor: High Octane Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: August 6, 2019
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: Jeb’s cartoon is on the verge of cancellation, so the studio sends him and an eclectic team of writers to a secluded house in the mountains. As Jeb's controlling personality and obsessive work ethic starts to push the team apart, he goes even further by planting spy cameras in places shared and private, obsessed on what everone is doing. Jeb is soon fired by the studio but he continues to spy in sercret from his home leading him further down the road to madness. In his most desperate hour, Jeb seals his fate as a viscous madman by returning to the house and murdering his writers one-by-one, on camera. Past emotions and tensions flare, and while nothing goes as Jeb planned, the unforeseen twists, turns, and revelations make his snuff film a violent spectacle sure to go down in infamy.
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