Some Guy Who Kills People

This body has no head, Ernie. Most bodies have heads.

Someone is killing off the former basketball team that bullied and beat their mascot into such an emotional wreck he tried to commit suicide, leading to his placement into an institution. Is it just coincidence that the murders started after he was released from the institution?

****

I like a little quirk with my movies. The more quirk the better. Characters that are a little interesting often have baggage and dysfunction of some sort accompanying their personalities.

Kevin Corrigan‘s character in “Some Guy That Kills People” (2011) has more than his share of baggage. A group of loathsome basketball players use to pick on him when he served as owl mascot for their team. So he struck back using his art. He has a talent for creating comic book styled characters based on people around him that he knows. He fought back against his tormentors by lampooning and mocking them in a comic book where an owl mascot character whips their ass. This got out in school, enraging the players after much heckling by their student body to such a degree they decided to torture him afterward. Cut across the face with a knife after being assaulted by them using his comic book, and doused with gasoline (the gang giggle as one of their number lights a match), he is kicked and pummeled repeatedly, left lying on the floor next to the owl head that went with his mascot costume. He is left traumatized by it, attempting to commit suicide by slitting his wrist, and later put in an institution for four years. Upon release, his only career option, it seems, available to him is at an ice cream parlor. 

Miserable, quiet, and lonely, Corrigan has an outlook most bleak. But upon discovery that his child (Ariel Gade, a beacon of light in a seemingly black hole that engulfs poor Corrigan) now is allowed to see him (and wants to see him), eleven years old and longing to get to know him, Corrigan‘s life just might actually improve. Add a possible love interest from England (Lucy Davis) who actually likes him and is willing to commit to a relationship with him, Corrigan‘s life might just get better. But because he has problems escaping his traumatic dysfunction (he harbors the fervent desire to kill those that wronged him, creating graphic violent sketchwork depicting their horrible demises), and seemingly fallen prey to the anxieties of getting to know people instead of keeping to himself (and not sharing his thoughts and feelings with anyone else) might deter from any life improvement that could result from healthy, positive relationships. That and there are a number of grisly homicides starting to accumulate into a body count; the relevancy to the film’s hero is that the ones murdered are members of the very basketball team that left him mentally scarred! He has one friend (played forcefully and aggressively by Leo Fitzpatrick) who is motivational trying to talk him out of his abyss, but this tends to have no effect. He also has a mother (played by Karen Black!!!) that uses ridicule and snarky comments towards his inability to communicate and function; she tries to shake him from his complacency and address the daughter so wanting to bond with him. 

Barry Bostwick is a most welcome face in the cast, stealing his scenes as a tongue-in-cheek sheriff with plenty of black comic zingers (plenty of puns/remarks regarding the dead bodies piling up in his small town) as he assesses the crime scenes and offers observations and analyses regarding the way the victims were attacked (the markings on their person, and the little notes left by the killer using words/sentences cut from magazines). Bostwick also enjoys the sexual benefits provided by Black to him, with Corrigan just kind of ignoring the fact that his mom gives it up so easily to him. Then you have the smiling, energetic daughter so jovial and excited to have a father she might be able to have a connection with.

I think it is difficult to find that balance of humor, horror, comedy, and drama. I think that delicate balance is surprisingly handled well here in “Some Guy Who Kills People”. The film seems to indicate that Corrigan is the killer. He has the motive, he’s full of quiet rage that could potentially bubble to the surface and erupt, has the drawings that would provide evidence of just how violent his fantasies of killing them are, is near several of the crime scenes, has magazines with sentences and words cut from them in his car’s front seat, and is shown about to put on a ski mask when interrupted by a phone call from his mother (she wanted him to get home to spend time with his daughter; that, and so she could be relieved of having to devote all her attentions to the girl). 

Well, the film has his daughter finding him over the body of the victim (in the victim’s store), and this discovery turns her world upside down. That’s when she finds his graphic/gory sketchbook of violence, and it is soon a return home to mother’s devastated. A trip to the interrogation room, with Bostwick having learned that he was the mascot and had plenty reason to strike against those who left him in mental ruins. So you have the awkward and potentially damaged dynamic of a father and daughter due to the development of his suspect in murder, potential love perhaps squandered by Corrigan’s anti-social behavior, and a conviction maybe on the horizon. Fascinating interrogation scene where Bostwicks  does all the talking as Corrigan remains silent as if accepting the case against him without vocally defending himself. It provides an air of mystery that will either be proven true or false. The answer involves the daughter winding up inadvertently in harm’s way, believing the sound in another room is a cat, instead discovering the employer of the ice cream parlor.

The film could or could not end with a new family happily formed or Corrigan ending up in jail for life. Bostwick has the investigation wrapped up and shed to light as only he could cheekily present it. Bostwick is worth sitting though this hybrid of genres, but this film, centering on a misfit in need of direction, has plenty to offer, in my opinion. This is a great starring vehicle for the normally supporting Corrigan, with a knack for slacker, average joe characters, perfectly embodying the put upon abused loser who has a chance to improve his position and lot in life. This also is a nice introduction to cutie Ariel Gade, with a radiant smile and personality that is winning. She’s one of those child adults; smart, witty, and hard to dislike, her character is a shot in the arm for Corrigan’s suffering loner. Black, smart-assy and cranky, but seemingly devoted to getting her son out of his rut, is an absolute riot. A real gem you should go out your way to see.