This feels like another of those films that people will stumble across wondering…is this real?
No, it’s not.
That should be clear if you watch it but, if you happen upon it blindly and aren’t certain then your pal Spooky Chris is here to tell you to rest easy.
It’s only a film.
It’s only a film.
It’s only a…HEY! They name-drop Detroit in regards to not being surprised that there’s a murder there.
LOW-HANGING FRUIT, BUDDY!
Low-hanging fruit.
Anyway
This is weird little creeper I happened upon while looking info up on another movie. I’d never heard of it and it was for free on Plex so there you go. The film is presented as a ‘mockumentary’ about a teenage serial killer. Let’s dive in, shall we?
The film centers around a documentary – similar to what you’d see on a news program or perhaps even on one of the streamers as the murder docs have gotten so big – telling the story of a teenager from a small that murdered several of his classmates and filmed it all and released it. What we are shown are the usual talking heads you find in these docs that tell us what the person was like, what their mind may have been like, and really set the table for the ‘real’ footage we’re shown. This is a look into the life of a lad, insane.
I have to give them credit that, for most of the film, the documentary aspect works. Outside of a couple actors that needed to reign things in, it’s done well. It’s when you delve into the ‘found footage’ that things get dodgy. The lead actor again needed to dial it down. I don’t blame them so much as I do the filmmaker though as it’s easy to see the actor is pushing too hard and there’s no nuance to the performance. It feels heavy-handed and cartoonish, not scary. I give the guy credit because it’s mostly monologues and without someone reigning him in it’d be really easy to go too far. The biggest problem though is that the film loses its credibility when it gets to the murders that make up the ‘snuff’ film aspect of it because there is no way this sort of footage would ever be released to the public. Let ALONE the sex scenes and graphic ‘teen’ girl nudity on display. It is such an obvious head-slapper that I am surprised they didn’t realize wouldn’t make sense. I can get past the dodgy acting but it’s when the movie starts doing things that would never happen is when I get pulled out of it. With a movie like BLAIR WITCH PROJECT the people ‘disappear’ and we THINK we knows what happens but you don’t see anyone murdered. In something like POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES it’s because it feels SO believable that you forgive it if it pushes into the gray.
The thing is that with modern docs we’re seeing more than we used to and we’re getting closer to the killers and their victims than ever before. Still, there’s no way on earth a family, let alone the cops, would release sex scenes and nude footage of an underage girl, let alone the murders on display.
The core of COHASSET is fascinating and eerie because – especially for a movie that’s over ten years old now – it dances chillingly close to reality. We have seen young people film or stream themselves harming and killing people and have seen people release murder tapes to the internet. It’s almost surprising it doesn’t happen more often.
Another of the problems I have here though is they work so hard to normalize the kid, to talk about how extraordinary he was and how he could have had such a great future, then they cut to him being crazy. There’s a clear disconnect between the two versions of him we see and other than some lip service to him losing his parents, we don’t see what could have created him. We jump in and he’s already crazy. I wish more work had been done to create a better view of him. They try, for sure, but it’s in such start contrast to the creep on the tapes it doesn’t match up. He’s already reached a point where he doesn’t even really try to act normal with people, just like a pervy creep always filming them. There’s no guile here so I would think he’d be the first suspect in this case, which seemingly only had one detective assigned to it. Again, there’s a real kernel of a creepy story here that the parts don’t quite line up on.
I give all the credit in the world to the film and filmmakers for going for it. It may not work for me but it will for some. Heck, the notion of a killer obsessed with movies and murder is pretty clearly inspired by and informed in part by the SCREAM movie. It’s a fascinating movie with a creepy vibe but it goes too far over the top in its portrayal of a teenager who has lost his mind. I can see a version of this that’s more subtle and shows the build-up before it goes all in. That’s not this movie though. It’s low budget, but banging on that isn’t fair. The problem is at its heart, and in its head, not in how the film is told. It just isn’t a logical film.
Worth a look if you are a die-hard, just don’t fall for the ‘cover’ image as that scene of a mangled body isn’t in the movie, which, I ain’t mad about. It sorta creeped me out a little. If it’s your thing, or you have that morbid curiosity about faux snuff films, well, give it a whirl.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2145903
1.5 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 