INHUMANITY * USA 2018 Dir: Joe McReynolds. 120 mins
In Austin, Texas, Six Pack Sam (so called because he leaves six beer bottles at the scenes of his college girl murders) is institutionalised and subjected to experimental plans to reform the most dangerous criminals via a pioneering drug. Meanwhile, the one survivor of his brutal assaults awakes from a coma determined to expose the link between the authorities and the killer. This endless, pedestrian would-be “thriller” shoehorns in everything from a parody of tabloid TV crime shows to attempts at serious drama about PTSD and extended golf sequences. Exposition is offloaded in the clumsiest way possible, while the dialogue and performances are on the level of a particularly wooden daytime soap opera. Someone actually says at one point – and with a straight face – “This is the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever seen”, perhaps the most accurate assessment the film will receive. It still doesn’t make up for a laughably unfrightening killer, ridiculous scenes of topless women throttled while he utters dumb one-liners, a silly S & M interlude and a lame chainsaw finale (“I’m your sister!”).
Review by Steven West