My Review Of "American Killing"

Indie horror "American Killing" is directed by Matthew Ward and Justyn Ah Chong. It stars Trevor Peterson (Grizzly Park), Persia White (The Vampire Diaries), and Caitlin Gerard (Insidious: The Last Key). "American Killing" is a straight forward thriller playing with early 80's psycho killer tropes and modern digital media.

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. 

The story, though slightly mundane, offers a quality psycho killer character study, with an entertaining dose of voyeurism and slasher horror. And, even with the microbudget look and feel, "American Killing" manages to be a fun watch. The start of the movie seems slightly clunky, the energy is nearly non-existent for the first 40 minutes, with hints of what is to come sprinkled in- just so you know something is off with this guy and things will pick up. 

The working element for me was the cool way that Jeb blurs the line between protagonist and antagonist- really making you connect with him on both levels. Plus Trevor Peterson's performance is amazing. All in all most of the cast are good, which makes this low-budget chiller read as quality indie filmmaking. The things that work far exceed the things that don't. 

I do wish there would have been a bit more gore to push this closer to those classic psycho flicks like "The Intruder", "Maniac" and "New York Ripper", but the softer approach (relatively speaking, there is plenty of killing in this one) still allows for a slow, creepy thriller worth checking out. (3.5/5)