Search - Kill Syndrome on DVD

Total amateur effort

web surfer | 10/21/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Kill Syndrome is a low budget, backyard camcorder type production, probably filmed on weekends with a group of friends. Not that there is anything wrong with this, I love independent/underground horror... a few good examples would be Zombie Bloodbath, Leif Jonker's "Darkness", or Olaf Ittenbach's "Burning Moon". The makers of Kill Syndrome just lack the expertise to make a decent movie, and do not have the talent to even come up with a "so bad it's good" flick. The story centers on a "Firefly" like family of crazies who kidnap people, kill them in their warehouse (more like a storage building) on camera and sell the tapes.

The premise is good and the acting is even alright for this type of movie (I do like the character Freakshow") but the believability of the physical torture and violence is the worst I've ever seen, and this was supposed to be the selling point of the whole thing. Any time a victim is beat or stabbed or chainsawed it seems they weren't able to get within 5 feet of the person. The actors couldn't sell a punch to save their life, and people say wrestling is fake! There is essentially no onscreen bodily damage, meaning the camera turns away then you see what took place after the fact. This is a big turn off for horror fans, it is just a cop out like the old "squirt the wall" variety of effect. They tried real hard to be like August Underground but there is little in common. Those looking for gore will be very disappointed, not much more than a little fake blood.

Maybe worst of all is the constant bickering of the family members, it gets on your nerves after 5 minutes, and it does not let up... seriously all they do is yell at eachother and then yell at their victims to scare them I guess, who in turn scream for help... the real essence of horror is silent build up, not constant noise. And the ending leaves much to be desired, kind of like the entire movie, and really just 54 minutes long? You ran out of ideas that quickly? I could go on and on, bottom line: one of the all time worst messes you will ever witness. "In the style of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre"??? Oh really. Well Dwayne King you better watch it again and try to pick up some sense of style and vision. Avoid at all costs. By the way, nice cover. The only good thing here."