'Amateur Porn Star Killer' leaves you with a bit of a "what did I just watch?" feeling. I'm pretty sure I understand what they were going for, trying to take the 'found footage' genre to another level with extreme amateurism, but sadly I don't think it worked. 'Found footage' can be incredibly effective at making the audience feel like they are watching actual footage, and thus bringing a whole other level of reality to proceedings. The problem with going a step further and making the picture grainy and the dialogue often inaudible and seemingly unscripted, is that it has the opposite of the intended effect and takes you out of the picture. It's distracting and just leaves you thinking "why am I watching this?"There was an idea here that I think could work if executed properly. Snuff films are indeed a scary prospect and can be used very effectively as a film topic. 'Found footage' would also be the way to go about it and I feel like a skillful filmmaker could really do something with this concept. Sadly 'Amateur Porn Star Killer' is a poor attempt at pulling it off and is one to miss.

This film has 3 major faults, the first two are filmed in 3D which is pointless and completely removes the viewer from getting into the film. Nothing happens in 3D to make you go, that was cool. 2nd, the random overlays of a couple having sex are again a poor choice the director chose to include in this film along with the small in screen box of the same. Again, as a story teller you need to make decisions that enhance your film. The 3rd and most important, we never learn anything about our characters. Who they are, where they been and where they want to go. The film is a moment in time captured without substance. In life, this happens, but in films, we need substance, we need to feel for our protagonist, we want her to survive and get out of this situation but she has no story. So in the end, we don't really care. The third I mentioned is what ultimately dooms this film because I loved the voyeur aspect, the sepia, the raw street type, gorilla film making that is used. The little glitch as if it is film is annoying because NO FILM does it that much. However, you grow used to it and after a bit you don't see it. The film is haunting, the score is beautiful. The performance of our young girl is wonderful and refreshingly innocent but playing a 13 year old is a stretch, should have kept it at 16 as that is more believable. The constant sounds of the camera hitting something and movement again are poor choices. This film could have been a classic film in the style of Lynch or Kubrick if a few choices that the film maker made were not made. I guess that is what separates the greats from the average. The choices we make as film makers. This film is still good, worth checking out as it touches a subject that is fresh and will always be fresh.

Firstly, none of the photos on the DVD box are from the film and secondly this is far better than its IMDb rating would suggest. Difficult to watch both physically and emotionally, the picture continually flickers and the sound becomes barely audible at times whilst the power of what is before you titillates and truly horrifies at the same time. What is more, as well as the convincingly way this is presented, so that we believe what we are seeing is 'real', this rough footage is intercut and occasionally superimposed with more rationally shot porn. This footage is a million miles from the 'real' footage and helps reinforce the belief that this is 'real'. It also provides more titillation to further confuse and distract from the rape and murder of a young girl. Having recently been to an exhibition of early Warhol movies, I am prompted to suggest that Ryan shares with Warhol the understanding that 'boring' bits, seeming, 'incoherent' bits are not an obstacle to a believable film, quite the contrary, life's like that.

Here's another shot-on-video pseudo-snuff flick, this one comes from Shane Ryan who up until now has worked predominantly in the short film and music video format.The film opens with a quote regarding snuff films from Paul Schrader director of Hardcore ('79) & Auto Focus and screenwriter for Taxi Driver & Raging Bull. We then see some of what looks like homemade porn footage followed by some more text explaining how snuff has generally been put down to urban legend as no one has ever actually seen one. Right away this gives you an idea of what you're about to witness.Shot from amateur pornographer / serial killer Brandon's (played by director Shane Ryan) point of view, we see him cruising the streets with his camera and eventually pick up a girl, Stacey (Michiko Jimenez) who he convinces to come back to his hotel room. From here on out the action is confined to the claustrophobic setting of a hotel room. Brandon constantly films Stacey, asking her questions - ie: how old she is, what does she do, etc. (she mentions she is eighteen and that she lives with at home with her Mother) after a lotta chit-chat & probing questions - scenes which are intercut with footage of Brandon f****** an earlier victim - he soon manages to convince her to strip down to her bra and panties, she uncomfortably does so. On seeing her lolita-esquire figure Brandon presses her further on her age and she shyly reveals she is actually thirteen, which doesn't bother him in the least.Things quickly become a little more tense as Brandon becomes more confrontational, verbally intimidating her (but in a creepy smooth way) and persuading her to give him a blowjob. Afterward she seems visibly shaken, her nervous laughter and flirtatious smiles gone, she seems to know what's coming next. He lays on top of her on the bed and attempts to smother her with a pillow, when that doesn't work he brutally beats her to death (off screen). The end credits explain how Brandon goes to video shops and swaps their rental tapes for tapes of his crimes a la The Last Horror Movie.I honestly wasn't expecting much from this film, I figured here's yet another SOV wannabe "extreme'' fake-snuff flick, ho hum, but I enjoyed it immensely. Even though APSK has not one drop of blood I found it to be far more disconcerting and unpleasant than say the August Underground films or Slaughtered Vomit Dolls because it felt a lot more realistic - I mean yeah, I enjoyed those flicks for their gore, nastiness and overall nihilism and its always good to have controversial boundary-pushers but they're just not disturbing to me. While watching APSK you actually feel quite uncomfortable, like a voyeur witnessing something you're not meant to be (I guess the age thing has something to do with it too). Then again, empty-headed gorehounds would probably be bored outta their skulls. Another one of the elements which make this film work is the superb acting of Michiko Jimenez, she is completely believable as a nervous young girl, giggling shyly, constantly fidgeting, uneasily scanning the room, not making eye contact, etc.Although a couple of things that brought this down a few notches for me was the visual effect used which tries to make it look like the film was shot on old 16MM film stock with grain, scratches and a jumpy picture even though its obviously set in recent times and shot on DV. Also the stylized way it is shot combined with the infrequent red-hued visual effects often work to blur and conceal some of the graphic nudity. The other irritating thing was that it had a soundtrack (which often drowns out the actors lines), it would've seemed a lot more credible if there was no soundtrack at all. Apart from those minor flaws, an excellent feature film debut from Shane Ryan. 7/10