The Last Horror Movie

If you watch the movie on TV,it loses at least 80% of its frightening power,so take my advice and rent it.You will find out why.

You can call it bad taste ,cynicism ,but this movie is more ABOUT horror movies than a horror movie.Many people may be disappointed .Something like Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom" -which is anyway highly superior to this one and which in 1960 was already a horror movie which made the viewer ill-at-ease - revisited with a faux cinema verite treatment.Kevin Howarth is excellent as the killer who makes all the peeping toms like us feel guilty.

And "the last horror movie" could really be your last one!

Grand Rapids,Michigan.A radio announces that a serial killer,responsible for the deaths of six teenagers at a holiday camp,has escaped from prison.A waitress closing up an isolated diner hears a noise,steps on a Haloween masked,and is stabbed again and again and...Suddenly the face of an English man,Max Parry(Kevin Howarth),appears, declaring "The film you borrowed from the video store,I recorded over it...I think you'll find this more interesting" -and what follows is a homemade video of Max in London,murdering people,serving meals for his friends and family,shooting wedding videos for his day job("the best place in the world to meet women"),trying to persuade his retiring camera assistant(Mark Stevenson)to take a more participatory role,lecturing to camera on the moral underpinnings of his way of life,and slaughtering more people."The Last Horror Movie" by Julian Richards is a truly disturbing and grim horror film with hauntingly realistic central performance by Kevin Howarth.The film is clearly inspired by "Funny Games","Angst" and especially "Man Bites Dog",but it still manages to disturb.The killings are cold,merciless and extremely brutal and the violence is genuinely unnerving.Don't miss this one.8 out of 10.

Smooth talking serial killer and amateur film-maker Max Parry has made a fly-on-the-wall documentary about murder. By copying his movie onto a rental tape at his local video shop, he gets people to unwittingly start watching his opus, in which he delivers a snuff showcase of his greatest 'hits', whilst glibly commenting about the nature of killing.

Despite borrowing heavily from Belgian movie 'Man Bites Dog', the classic 'Henry: Portrait of a Seial Killer' and 'American Psycho', and ending with a gimmick which is reminiscent of Japanese ghost movie Ringu, director Julian Richards manages to deliver a grisly film that succeeds in being genuinely disturbing. The catalogue of stabbings, beatings and strangulations are filmed with a gritty authenticity that will shock all but the most desensitised; but despite all of the nastiness, there is a knowing sense of ridiculousness which will appeal to those with a very dark sense of humour. Kevin Howarth's Max is both chilling yet comic; he claims to be sane, and talks intelligently about his project and his reasons for killing, yet he is clearly a few sandwiches short of a picnic. At times he is logical, calm and collected whilst going about his business, but we see just enough glimpses of his completely wacko side to know that he is far from 'mentally balanced'.

A sharp script, impressive hand-held video work and some gruesome effects (try watching the burning scene without wincing) add to the realism of the film. The Last Horror Movie is a brave plunge into the dark world of an unhinged individual. Unashamedly violent and unflinchingly graphic, it is not a movie for the easily offended.

The Last Horror Movie is a cinema verite film. Done obviously on a low budget and this does show. But this really does just add to the authenticy that the film is trying to portray, a home made documentary about a serial killers life.

Starring Kevin Howarth as Max, a seemingly normal, intelligent and suave gentleman who works as a freelance wedding photographer. The problem with Max is the fact he is also a cunning, evil and cannibalistic serial killer.

This film does borrow heavily from the great Belgian film "Man Bites Dog" and even seems to have even gone so far as to steal a couple of lines of dialogue from the above mentioned movie.

This film does hold up on it's own merits. It has some very cringe worthy scenes of extreme violence. Even I, who on the whole part am quite jaded had a chill down my spine on a few occasions. Though it is not a murder fest with every scene yet another depiction of ultra violence.

Overall it has been done before, but is still a refreshing film due to the intelligence of the script and amazingly scary portrayal of Max by Kevin Howarth.

If you are into more mindless violence it really deserves a out 5 of 10

If you like a bit of story and character interaction then this gets a 7 out of 10

ames Handel's brilliant script for The Last Horror Movie has a lot to say and does it without preaching or getting heavy handed. It's an uncomfortable film, but a compelling one and that modern day rarity, a horror film that makes you think while scaring the hell out of you. Howarth takes centre stage throughout and is simply amazing as the unreadable Max - he himself admits that he's not mad, but offers no motivation for why he commits his appalling crimes other than that he wants to create the "last horror movie you'll ever see." The Last Horror Movie will work even better on video and DVD than it does on the big screen though one has to wonder what its prospects will be. With no big name stars and the still unshakeable stigma attached to British horror films, this could go unwatched by many who would love its perverse charm and uncompromising violence. And that would be a shame as this is one genre film that deserves to be huge.