Writer: Maciej Pieprzyca (Screenplay)
Starring: Miroslaw Haniszewski, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Agata Kulesza, Magdalena Poplawska, Piotr Adamczyk
Plot: Inspired by true events from the 1970s, the story revolves around a young detective who becomes the head of a police unit focused on catching a rampant serial killer of women, nicknamed ‘The Silesian Vampire’.
Runtime: 1 Hour 57 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Interesting Crime Thriller
Story: I’m a Killer starts when detective Janusz Jasinski (Haniszewski) gets sent to lead the investigation into a serial killer dubbed the ‘The Silesian Vampire’ for the relentless number of kills and styles of kills of random women and constant mocking of the police in the letters being sent.
The police are forced to up the investigation when one of the nieces of first secretary is murdered, which sees them looking for people to give information, with Wieslaw Kalicki (Jakubik) becoming one of the main suspects.
Thoughts on I’m a Killer
Characters – Janusz Jasinski is the lead detective placed on the case to bring fresh eyes to the murders, he leads the fellow officers in the investigation, which sees him trying to think outside the box more, he gets a prime suspect, which leaves him waiting for the rest of his team to believe it is the person he believes it is, all while he starts to see his own personal life spiral out of control with an affair. Wieslaw Kalicki is the prime suspect, he does confuse with Janusz with a plan that together would see him look to plan for insanity, he isn’t left with many choices with all the evidence pointing at him. Lidia and Teresa are the long suffering wives of both of detective and killer that deal with their consequences of their actions.
Performances – Miroslaw Haniszewski is the best of the performers in this film, showing us just how his character must take charge, while seeing things in his own life get out of control. The rest of the cast are all fine without being truly brilliant or bad.
Story – The story here follows the investigation into a serial killer in Poland that has been killing a range of women, making it difficult for anybody to put the killings into a bracket, within a country that isn’t willing to accept that type of sexual predator on the streets. The story picks up with a new detective trying to break the case, which would make sense, seeing new eyes being put on it, but it does end up giving us the problem where we are once again focusing on a country that wouldn’t accept anything outside their perfect views on the world being a potential killer, where they would rather wrap up the truth than solve the crimes in question. This isn’t the most engaging investigation, because it focuses more on the idea of getting the story out of the papers, than solving the crime.
Crime – The crimes that have been committed are murder of women in a sexual manner, we don’t see any of the crimes, just the remains and the attempts to get the case closed.
Settings – The film does take us back to the 1970s Poland where the film takes place, using the environment to make us feel like we are part of this movie.
Scene of the Movie – Punch heard around the office.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The music choice makes it feel like a heist movie.
Final Thoughts – This is a crime thriller that doesn’t get the right ideas through, it focuses more on the idea of cleaning up the case, than actually solving it, making it less engaging to learn about the truth.
Overall: Crime thriller that just shuts down the case.