The Killer Within Me

The film opens with a killer up for parole. His morally intense plea to the parole board that he is a redeemed man convinces the board to release him. But this guy is in fact an entirely unrepentant sociopathic killer, who quickly ingratiates himself to a well-off Beverly Hills family, headed by an over-the-top caricature of a liberal do-gooder. We first meet this man at a book-signing event.

The book is a plea against capital punishment, and represents the life work of Mr. Do-Good, a prominent author. A doubter in the crowd asks the author whether he doesn't know that some people are just born evil and beyond redemption. Do-Good responds with a canned speech to the effect that violent criminals are made by society and therefore never deserve to be put to death for their crimes. This moment is dwelt upon by the director, and Do-Good's smug earnestness is throughout the picture made to look like Newt Gingrich's version of everything that is wrong with "liberalism."

Do-Good's daughter is initially wary of dad's decision to take the sociopath in as a lodger, but she is quickly -and inexplicably- won over by what to the viewer are the transparently sham charms of the killer. The blindness of the family to what is presented as the conspicuous lunacy of the sociopath is a continuous theme of the movie. Once the daughter is attracted to the killer the plot thickens and moderately suspenseful and violent events unfold as expected. The actor playing the killer is quite convincing. Daddy Do-Good is a talented community theater performer. Still, the movie held my attention, as any competently made derivative thriller will for me.

What struck me most about this movie is its in-your-face anti-anti-capital punishment stance - a movie that tries to be simultaneously a tense violent thriller *and* an unremitting, hardly subtle political statement. Whatever your position on capital punishment, you can't help but slap your knee at that. I thought of the director -John What's-His-Name- who made a well known movie with Patrick Swayze about the Soviets attacking America by.... dropping paratroopers into the heartland!

There are so many things wrong with this movie I can't even count them all. The acting sucks, the plot is completely unbelievable, so are the characters, the camera work is all off....this is just a really really bad movie. Do yourself a favor and never see it. Ever ever ever. You're not missing a great piece of cinematic art, that's for sure.

I cannot believe this film was made in 2003, the whole movie looks like it was filmed on a cheap camcorder. The box cover is really deceiving and leads you to believe that it will be somewhat good. With my sense of humor, I found this movie to be hilarious. The dialog is so scripted and the characters are just unintentionally weird. The music they play is this movie is hysterical, it's like really bad 90's techno and the main character totally gets into it randomly throughout the movie, he'll just start dancing like a complete moron. The two main bad guys are a complete joke, they get angry with the main character over a lousy $40 pool bet and then start beating him up while playing the harmonica and jump ontop of cars, doing karate kicks, this movie could have been a spoof but it was dead serious which to me is hilarious. RENT THIS MOVIE!

This film was a pleasant surprise, with a very interesting plot, loosely based on a true story. All of the actors and actresses put in very good performances, as did Jesse Vint, writing, directing and his cameo appearance. My date and I enjoyed it very much, especially the ending. Riveting story, in this day and age of so many violent young criminals with seemingly no conscience. This brought to the screen for substantially less than an average feature film's catering budget. Liked Mr. Nassar's review, but I'm still waiting to see one of Fluffy Kittys productions.... I give this movie a 7. And definitely worth watching if you have any view on capital punishment either way.

From the start, you know how this movie will end. It's so full of clichés your typical NRA member will not even like this movie. I give it 2 out of 10, only because of the acting of William Benton. I can't believe people voted 6+ for this movie. It's so biased towards a 'certain point of view' (once a thief...). People aren't born bad. Neither are they born good. They are born with a clean slate. It's society, parents and education what makes them who they are. And if they take the wrong turn, somewhere down the line, it certainly isn't going to be the American penal system that gets them back on track! Anyway, avoid this movie like the plague. I bet you have better things to do with your time than waste it on this piece of crap.