A Killer on the Loose

As a Missa X fan I was very unhappy with the results of this would-be crime thriller she farmed out to Canadian filmmaker Eric Boisvert/Ricky Greenwood. Count me in the camp hoping Missa returns to the director chair and brings her talents back to the fore.

Format is an obvious steal from "Silence of the Lambs", made explicit by naming FBI heroine Aiden Ashley "Clara" and having her rely on incarcerated Prof. Peterson (smug, one-note performance by Seth Gamble), a destitute man's version of Hannibal Lecter.

Hunt for a serial killer and race against the clock, presented at a snail's pace by director Greenwood, to save a kidnapped girl (Vanna Bardot) is nearly as uninteresting as the dollops of verbal back story concerning Clara. It seems that Peterson will only hand her key clues if she opens up to him about her background. Needless to say, Ashley opens up to Seth sexually before the final reel.

Stirling Cooper and Kenzie Taylor as fellow cops add nothing to the story, merely providing big-bust XXX content on cue when Kenzie services Stirling in his office. Very poor screenplay by Boisvert and his regular Mile High Media scripter Maddy Barton has uninspired dialog and several twists packed into the final reel that I won't reveal as spoilers.

Ashley, an accomplished performer in Adult cinema for over a decade, is awful here, all jittery and uptight in a role crying out for a modicum of screen presence. Current tv series "Clarice" only shows up what she fails to bring to this carbon copy role. Gamble presumes smugness is acting, but he's too young for a part calling for the gravitas of a Brian Cox or Tony Hopkins. And the suddenly rushed pace of the climactic plot twists nullifies their lame duck effectiveness.