Deadbook

Technical issues, sound in particular but also some odd framing choices, made this film very hard to follow. But eventually the gist of the story started to make itself relatively clear, being that some kind of serial killer is Facebook-stalking women, or something. The outside scenes filmed up on the hills looked like they were filmed using a different camera, and for some reason the cinematographer insisted on positioning every single shot in such a way as to create annoying and subject-obscuring lens-flare (J.J. Abrams eat your heart out). There was a nice moment of shock (and comedy too) when our killer casually did away with one of his ladyfriends by means of a sunroof and some non-defensive driving. A cautionary tale about the perils of driving on Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged roads perhaps? And the use of the required line at the end was perhaps the best-executed part of the whole film, a concise and effective cap to the story, such as it was.

At a seemingly innocent date at Burgers and Beers, a woman asks the guy she's with if he knows about the "Facebook legend". You see, every so often a woman will receive a mysterious friend request - and if she turns it down, she DIES. Can we see where this is going? Cut to a couple of flashbacks where, sure enough, our guy is revealed the Facebook Killer. Up at Overexposed Hill, he snares a victim with the line "Do you like Dusky Sound savignon blanc?", and then finishes her off Death Proof style by, er, jinking slightly when she's riding out the top of the sun roof. (Let that be a lesson to us all: keep your arms, legs and especially your torso and head INSIDE a moving vehicle). In intermittent returns to Burgers and Beers, our imminent victim keeps drinking it up while telling the Facebook Killer about her rubber band collection ("Over 10,000", apparently). The date ends with our Dead-Woman-Drinking bundled into the boot of the killer's car, and the film finishes with a nice use of the line. So predictability was the main problem here, really. The Facebook angle didn't seem to bring much new to the standard psycho-killer plot (although the use of the line was cool) - a more interesting twist might have been for the lead woman to turn the tables somehow, since we were all just waiting for what seemed like her inevitable death. A few tech issues as well which sometimes made things hard to follow. All learning for next year though!

The well-known urban legend of the Facebook Stalker. Simply put he connects with women via Facebook and kills them! Sound dogged this short with really quiet audio in the bar/restaurant and loads of hiss at other times. The sync was also out somewhat and in combination with some wooden acting, the dialogue and story got rather tedious. The kill, while driving was one of the better moments and the use of the required line did close things out nicely.

At a seemingly innocent date at Burgers and Beers, a woman asks the guy she's with if he knows about the "Facebook legend". You see, every so often a woman will receive a mysterious friend request - and if she turns it down, she DIES. Can we see where this is going? Cut to a couple of flashbacks where, sure enough, our guy is revealed the Facebook Killer. Up at Overexposed Hill, he snares a victim with the line "Do you like Dusky Sound savignon blanc?", and then finishes her off Death Proof style by, er, jinking slightly when she's riding out the top of the sun roof. (Let that be a lesson to us all: keep your arms, legs and especially your torso and head INSIDE a moving vehicle). In intermittent returns to Burgers and Beers, our imminent victim keeps drinking it up while telling the Facebook Killer about her rubber band collection ("Over 10,000", apparently). The date ends with our Dead-Woman-Drinking bundled into the boot of the killer's car, and the film finishes with a nice use of the line. So predictability was the main problem here, really. The Facebook angle didn't seem to bring much new to the standard psycho-killer plot (although the use of the line was cool) - a more interesting twist might have been for the lead woman to turn the tables somehow, since we were all just waiting for what seemed like her inevitable death. A few tech issues as well which sometimes made things hard to follow. All learning for next year though!