Kill for Me seems such a by-the-numbers standard 'thriller' that there is almost no need to watch the film at all. Nothing about the film is particularly bad, but then there is nothing about it that is particularly good or original either. As a throwaway 90 minutes of diversion, Kill for Me is adequate, mildly interesting but almost instantly forgettable, given that it is almost entirely derivative of other, superior films - Single White Female and Horrible Bosses being just two that come immediately to mind. The very definition of a straight-to-DVD movie.
The plot is obvious enough for even Ray Charles to see coming - university law student Amanda (Green Arrow's Katie Cassidy) takes in a new roommate, vet student Hayley (Tracy Spiridakos) when her former roommate goes missing. Meanwhile her ex-boyfriend has taken on creepy stalker-ish tendencies, while Hayley's dad is apparently quite free and happy with his fists. Amanda bonds with Hayley over their shared pain. Can you tell where it's going yet? Hayley of course seems fairly normal to begin with, and Amanda sees in her a kindred spirit. When thoughts inevitably turn to murder to solve each other's problems, things take a turn for the even more predictable and cliché, with one or two 'twists' that might as well have signposts signalling their imminent arrival.
Yet there is a reason that this kind of story has been done before; it generally works quite well, and, for all its predictability, Kill For Me is relatively enjoyable. Admittedly it will never be in the running for an award for best original screenplay, but the performances of the leads do enough to gain the audience's investment in their fates, and are easy enough on the eye to measure up to other sorority house-style killer thrillers. There's even the inevitable Sapphic turn of events, which again regularly seems to appear in films featuring sorority age university girls. But the film is not sexy enough to be a true sorority flick, not bloody enough to be a real slasher, and not tense or unpredictable enough to be a genuine thriller - an isolated farmhouse, a mysterious disappearance and a few taut violin strings are not enough to automatically ratchet up the suspense.
Overall, an average, adequate, run-of-the-mill (or any other synonym of merely satisfactory) thriller, that will provide 90 minutes diversion without the audience clamouring for a refund, but without much applause either.
Meh.
The plot is obvious enough for even Ray Charles to see coming - university law student Amanda (Green Arrow's Katie Cassidy) takes in a new roommate, vet student Hayley (Tracy Spiridakos) when her former roommate goes missing. Meanwhile her ex-boyfriend has taken on creepy stalker-ish tendencies, while Hayley's dad is apparently quite free and happy with his fists. Amanda bonds with Hayley over their shared pain. Can you tell where it's going yet? Hayley of course seems fairly normal to begin with, and Amanda sees in her a kindred spirit. When thoughts inevitably turn to murder to solve each other's problems, things take a turn for the even more predictable and cliché, with one or two 'twists' that might as well have signposts signalling their imminent arrival.
Yet there is a reason that this kind of story has been done before; it generally works quite well, and, for all its predictability, Kill For Me is relatively enjoyable. Admittedly it will never be in the running for an award for best original screenplay, but the performances of the leads do enough to gain the audience's investment in their fates, and are easy enough on the eye to measure up to other sorority house-style killer thrillers. There's even the inevitable Sapphic turn of events, which again regularly seems to appear in films featuring sorority age university girls. But the film is not sexy enough to be a true sorority flick, not bloody enough to be a real slasher, and not tense or unpredictable enough to be a genuine thriller - an isolated farmhouse, a mysterious disappearance and a few taut violin strings are not enough to automatically ratchet up the suspense.
Overall, an average, adequate, run-of-the-mill (or any other synonym of merely satisfactory) thriller, that will provide 90 minutes diversion without the audience clamouring for a refund, but without much applause either.
Meh.