Director: Tim Hunter
Writer: Bret Easton Ellis (Screenplay)
Starring: Ronen Rubinstein, Mia Serafino, Crispin Glover, Amadeus Seratini, Ashley Rickards
Plot: About a handsome young soccer player Jake Graham who believes he is going insane, unable to shake the feeling of being stalked by something, by someone.
Tagline – They Choose. They Hunt. They Kill.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Smiley Face Killers starts as we learn about the mysterious killers that have been abducting and drowning men for years, in what was thought to be a string of accidents, but their calling sign of a smiley faces starts to connect them all.
We meet Jake Graham (Rubinstein) who has started to believe he is being followed around, his girlfriend Keren (Serafino) thinks he is being paranoid, along with his other friends.
Thoughts on Smiley Face Killers
Thoughts – Smiley Face Killers takes us into the world of a real life killers, with the mystery about the Smiley Face Killers that would leave a mark next to the body of young men who have drowned, long thought to be accidents or suicides, there is now a theory of the killers. We follow one football player that starts to believe he is being followed and his friends don’t believe him, while the killers are getting closer to taking him, we play a lot into the paranoia side of things, but it is clear there are killers after him, so any of the drama about what might be in his head gets negated instantly. The killers themselves seem to be willing to play into what the real ones did, celebrating what they might have done, over investigating the truth. The performances are not the strongest either with only Ronen Rubinstein getting an serious screen time. This is a film that does seem to focus on the wrong part of the murders, the killers, not giving us any signs of the investigation behind them, which is why Zodiac is praised so heavily, it was about the victims and the authorities trying to stop it, not the killer themselves.
Final Thoughts – Smiley Face Killers seems to focus on the wrong side of the killers, falling short in answers the questions the audience would want about them, or at least investigation into them.
Signature Entertainment presents Smiley Face Killers on Digital HD 14th December