The theme is also telling us the writer how hateful those life coaches can be and some human being to be so "A Serial Killer's Guide To Life follows Lou Farnt (Katie Brayben): a 30-something, . Poppy Roe and her drama-school schoolmate Katie Brayben starred. "[14], Commenting on the musical score, Josh Sandy of The Mancunion, the University of Manchester student newspaper, said it "is packed full of orchestral pieces. https://bit.ly/3iEQTqW, Theres Something Wrong with the Children has a lot more going on for it than your average creepy-kid #horror #movie. 02/09/2020 Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019), Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), May the Devil Take You: Chapter Two (2020), Films Depicting NASA and the Space Program, Films That Make Dubious Claims to Being Based on True Stories, Coming of Age Stories in Fantastic Cinema, Films About Cryogenics and Suspended Animation, Disturbed Psychology as Portrayed on Film. I dont think I was the target audience for it so people who are more into films of this nature will probably enjoy it a lot more than I did. And often these targets of the satire seem as though they are barn doors broad enough that they barely need to be spoofed. This had a promising start, and it grew somewhat into its second act, but when it came time for the third act, it just wrapped up with a cop-out ending that had been done too many times before. Rarely does an independent film really strike cords on all levels but this truly takes the cake. We are subjected to way too many scenes where nothing happens other than Lou and Val sitting around talking about things, I just didnt care about in the first place. The thing is though, Val is a cold-blooded serial killer who enjoys taking out whoever she wants in several gruesome ways. This is where she meets a mysteriously alluring woman named Val Stone (Poppy Roe). So when strange and strikingly confident new life coach Val (Poppy Roe) suddenly arrives on the scene and invites her on a road trip of alternative therapies, Lou finds the perfect opportunity to leave, and the perfect person to become. Uncategorized. It doesn't have any meaning to take away. Chuck Knoah. 30 something, self-help addict, Lou wants nothing more than to escape her overly controlling mother and the dead-end seaside town where she grew up. "A Serial Killer's Guide to Life" (2019 release from the UK; 80 min.) I had a smile on my face most of the way through rather than laughing out loud but it was certainly very funny. Author Recent Posts Follow Me Adrienne Clark Adrienne is a writer and editor living in the rain clouds of Seattle. | On iTunes in the UK: https://apple.co/2YbAz2d On iTunes in the US: https://apple.co/2YbAz2d On iTunes in Canada: https://apple.co/2YbAz2d Meet Lou Farnt: a 3. When Lou and Val finally make it to Chuck's house, however, what they find is not the man they nor we expect. Tags 2019 A SERIAL KILLER'S GUIDE TO LIFE Ben Lloyd-Hughes Katie Brayben Poppy Roe Sarah Ball Sinead Matthews Staten Cousins Roe Tomiwa Edun. Absolutely wonderfully acted by Katie, Poppy, these 2 have such great on screen chemistry, but let's be honest , Poppy Roe steals the screen every time she's on it, the faces she gives because us, the audience know what she is and what she's up to, just the perfect face every single time, cold and calculated in her planing, but she didn't expect for Lou to be the one to be her partner in all of it. Watch. Rebirthing Cynthia. Check it out if it sounds like something you might be into, maybe youll see something in it that I didnt. Cleopatra Entertainment Unleashes The Long Dark Trail on Blu-ray/DVD! [4][5] The film received favorable reviews.[2]. However, after taking some time to reflect upon it, I really got the sense that Roes influence was more akin to the Rmy Belvaux, Andr Bonzel and Benot Poelvoorde 1992 Belgian film Man Bites Dog. Lous life consists of mind-numbing routine, whether at her low-paying job as a shop clerk or at home with her overbearing mother. Val goes to her, and Lou angrily wrestles with her and puts Val in a chokehold. www.thehollywoodnews.com is using a security service for protection against online attacks. A coming-of-age story . Thankfully, A Serial Killers Guide To Life never goes as dark as Man Bites Dog, instead taking the idea that, maybe, killing ones idols should be taken literally. https://modernhorrors.com/the-kids-arent-alright-in-theres-something-wrong-with-the-children/. The movie really needs to buy into this concept considerably further, rather than gently nodding its head. Lou packs her things and sets off to find herself. The short attracted positive attention and sales, and the filmmakers in January 2017 did a crowdfunding campaign for a feature film they originally titled Self-Help. Writer, director, editor Staten Cousins-Roe has created a wonderfully dark world as seen through the eyes of Lou, a young woman trapped at home with a frightningly needy mother. The film was a directorial debut for Statin Cousins-Roe. While standing in line at a book signing following a talk by one self-help guru, Lou meets and is awed by the self-assured Val Stone who describes herself as a life coach. Certainly the area of self help guru's (who seem to know everything, yet still need to make money telling everyone else their secrets) should be made fun of. It stars Katie Brayben, Poppy Roe, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Sarah Ball and others. A Serial Killer's Guide to Life (2019) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review. Overall, A Serial Killers Guide to Life is an assured, if slightly flawed, feature debut. She allows people to walk all over her. As the road trip continues, the body count increases. Despite being flattered by the attention, Lou initially can't bring herself to leave home for an extended time for the first time. . Had the pleasure of viewing A Serial Killers Guide to Life and Grimmfest this year followed by a Q&A with its director and it's certainly been a film to make a lasting impression. Life is like a box of chocolates, Noah said, all the crappy ones get left behind.. But moments later, when police arrive, Val seems to have vanished. Production Company Forward Motion Pictures. Firstly, how long you see the end twist coming before its announced. Shortly thereafter, we see our main character listening to Noah through her headphones as she walks aimlessly. The two struggle, and Val is being overpowered when Lou kills the husband. But Lou cannot, and the two lay exhausted in the field. And on that note, these words also apply to the main character. Awards A SERIAL KILLER'S GUIDE TO LIFE DIRECTOR: STATEN COUSINS-ROE / SCREENPLAY: STATEN COUSINS-ROE / STARRING: POPPY ROE, KATIE BRAYBEN, BEN LLOYD-HUGHES, SINEAD MATTHEWS, SIAN CLIFFORD, TOMIWA EDUN / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 13TH A young woman struggling to find her place in the world turns to the world of self-help. Note the scene where she picks up a rock and begins to run after a woman. For its one that most viewers will see coming, especially if they are familiar with a couple of cult movies from 1999 and 2003, the latter reviewed here. He does such a good job playing this type of character and I think the best part of the film is when Val and Lou finally meet him, and we find out what type of person her really is. Although fairly predictable, the story still keeps you watching and wondering where this little journey will go next. Then during a visit to a birth-memory guru, and while Val waits in the hall, Lou begins to hallucinate. Consequently, because of this, she is seen as a doormat. Cheddar Goblin is my co-pilot. She didnt give a fig, and seemed to be an even sharper-edged version of Phoebe Waller Bridges Fleabag (although that might be due to Fleabags Sian Clifford in a role as a rebirthing coach). [2], Lorry Kikta of Film Threat wrote "[a] bone-dry dark horror-comedy, A Serial Killers Guide to Life, is I Heart Huckabees meets American Psycho by way of Thelma and Louise. 2020. In 2013, Poppy Roe and her husband, Staten Cousins Roe, made a darkly comic short film, This Way Out, about a euthanasia clinic doing what it could to get more clients. One aspect of the film didnt really work for me, and holds it back from a higher rating. Lou is a pitiful woman that most people (including her overbearing mother) treat like garbage and she just takes it and tries to go on with her life. Ok, mildly interesting, but the "twist" is completely illogical. Staten Cousins Roe had a vision for this film and it's nothing short of brilliant. Val, a confident self-empowered woman, seems to possess the answers Lou needs to succeed in life. As a successful artist, when he wasn't stalking Jason Morgan . Run time: 1h 48m. TV Shows. A Serial Killers Guide To Life, Lifelong horror fan, former projectionist & video store clerk. [6], A trailer was released in January 2020. It does have a great cast and all (which is probably its biggest strength), but overall, I just didnt think that it was anything special and I was left feeling more than a little underwhelmed after everything was said and done. Id heard a lot of great things about A Serial Killers Guide to Life before I watched it, so I went into it with some high expectations. [8], After premiering at the London FrightFest Film Festival on 24 August 2019,[3] it later played at such festivals as England's Grimmfest: Manchester's International Festival of Fantastic Film[9] and Fantastic Film Festival Australia. Won't ruin the end but please everyone, you need to have this film ion your life, the directing was spot on, camera work with the follow focusing worked brilliantly every time, and the acting, you would believe these 2 women have had 100 projects under their belts. They visit a laugh-therapy workshop and murder the members. Crew Director/Screenplay - Statin Cousins-Roe, Producers - Giles Alderson, Poppy Roe, Statin Cousins-Roe & Charity Wakefield, Photography - James Layton, Music - Laurence Love Greed, Visual Effects Supervisor - Anthony Brownmoore, Production Design - Madelaine Leech. Katie Braybens performance as Lou is all soft-spoken, people pleasing ineffectuality. Lou Farnt (Brayben) is stuck in her life, with a dead-end job, no apparent friends to speak of, and still living with her domineering mother (Ball). Lou's journey of self-actualisation takes a darker turn when she is adopted by radical life-coach Val for a road trip of self-discovery. Jet-black comedy-thriller feature about self help addict, Lou, who unwittingly finds herself on a killing spree with her unhinged new life coach, Val. Far from a mastermind, she acts knowing that eventually things will fall apart. Lou and Val leave their car behind and take the couple's minivan. The self help guide to end all self help guides. Marcus (Owain Rhys Davies), the vibrational healer and his herbal relaxant certainly needed that bread knife. Few films come along with a director, actors, actresses, producers, that will give that big wow factor while pitching the project to a major studio. Depending on whether you give any credence to what the practitioners do or instead, view them as money-grubbing charlatans, your mileage may vary as to how stoked you are for their inevitable demise, but personally, I felt some of them definitely deserved it. While it could be waved away with the unreliable narrator trope, I did find myself wishing the film had handled either this decision or its reveal differently. 1/2 She meets Val one day and they hit it off from the start even though they are totally different people and they go on a trip together, visiting several self-help retreats and the like. Whilst the two women possess significant differences, one cant help but notice Lou has a well-hidden darkness lurking within her. Quintessentially British filmmaking with a heart. Lou stabs Val, who earlier had called the police in an attempt to frame Lou and escape. Unfortunately for Lou, Val's a serial killer. Children at Play! A Serial Killer's Guide to Life is a 2019 British satirical horror road movie written, directed, co-produced and co-edited by Staten Cousins Roe in his feature-length directorial debut. The basic plot kept reminding me of Michael Winterbottoms underrated Butterfly Kiss (1995). A Serial Killer's Guide to Life is based on Roe's 2013 much-acclaimed short film This Way Out. You will be redirected once the validation is complete. When she does, her reaction is little more than a shrug, admitting it feels quite empowering to kill. Mother: Sian Clifford . The various therapy sessions the pair of Lou and Val visit are all astonishingly real: back-to-nature, vibrational healing, rebirthing, and laughter all have their adherents, and after doing some reading up on each, it appears that the words and actions taken by the films fictional therapists arent being exaggerated for laughs. On the one hand, as a horror, it demands a taut, lean, thrill-ride, on the other, as a road movie, it would suggest a meandering, spiritual journey. If youve met any of these characters (or people who swear by their wares), youll likely have more than a few wry chuckles during these scenes. Poppy Roe, Soon Val and Lou are traveling the English countryside. As radio news begins reporting about the murders, Lou has Val pull over in order to throw-up in a field. It sounds like Val has a score to settle with the self-help expert. So when strange and strikingly confident new life coach Val invites her on a road trip of alternative therapies, Lou finds the perfect opportunity to leave, and the perfect person to become. Poppy Roe as Val is what will draw you in, because shes positively electric, but as Lou, Katie Brayben absolutely transforms from a milksop to a fully-realized person, and its brilliant to see someone grab life by the horns and smack it in the forehead with a rolling pin. . A Serial Killers Guide to Life is based on Roes 2013 much-acclaimed short film This Way Out. She later meets the woman, who introduces herself as Val Stone, a self-help teacher who believes she would be perfect for Lou. Director/Screenplay Statin Cousins-Roe, Producers Giles Alderson, Poppy Roe, Statin Cousins-Roe & Charity Wakefield, Photography James Layton, Music Laurence Love Greed, Visual Effects Supervisor Anthony Brownmoore, Production Design Madelaine Leech. There is a believability to their respective characters that shines through the performances. Note: not if, when. In Message, a man leaves several voicemails on an ex-girlfriend's phone to gloat. Katie Brayben, playing Lou, is possibly better known to Luther fans as Penny Leyton. from the University of North Texas, Im a freelance journalist and a social historian. The actress also appeared in the 2017 Doctor Who episode Oxygen. On paper it does, but I just thought that something was lost between the script and the actual execution of things. Noah, a self-help coach, exudes confidence as he expresses his thoughts. . Val Stone. She has a memory of herself killing her mother before leaving on this trip, with the image intercutting with that of Val murdering her mother. A Serial Killers Guide to Life Leaves a Trail of Bodies and Gallows Humor. Either she regards them as a curse on humanity with their vapid schemes, or she simply wants to dispose of the competition. The likes of Killing Eve have shown even we British can engage in a gleeful embrace of the darker side of things. A Serial Killers Guide to Life opens midway through an interview with Chuck Noah (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). Spoiler-free #review is up. Movie Review, Katie Brayben, I found myself a mentor in Colin Goudie (editor of Monsters and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), who I met on an editing workshop he spoke at. 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