Bloodtype Online

  

       “Otis” is not a sophisticated killer one may be accustomed to seeing in torture films. He doesn’t leave cryptic Jigsaw puzzles, nor is he a Russian that pays to fist Amish broads. He is just a poor bastard that wants to relive his verbally abusive brothers high school past. Otis’ brother Elmo is played intensely by the comedic character actor Kevin Pollack. Otis lives in his deceased parents home and survives off fruit loops and pizza pie. His last torture victim, “Kim” got away. I don’t know what her name was. He names all of his victims “Kim” and went shit goes wrong (his last victim was an accident in a decent death scene), he cuts them up and moves on to the next “Kim”. Kim is actually the name of Elmo’s wife, who Otis isn’t allowed to be around because he got caught LICKING her panties. 

      Soon he needs a new victim and that unlucky gal is Will (Daniel Stern “Very Bad Things” and “Home Alone”) and Kate’s (Illeana Douglas “Cape Fear” and “Stir of Echoes”) precious daughter Riley Lawson. When fetching the pizza for her family she runs into Otis, who instantly falls for her. Too bad this sociopath has no game, or looks for that matter, so he decides to kidnap her on her way to school the next day. This happens right under the Lawson’s families home. From here it’s a tapless analog phone game between Otis and the family. He calls them up and lets them know he wants to take Kim to prom. The family enlists the FBI once they figure out their dealing with a delusional teen chopping maniac. 

      The golden moments of the film, feature Otis telling Riley’s parents that he’s the only guy that’s allowed to finger their daughter. Watching the family get to their boiling point was fun. Vulgarity can be cheap but in this films case it always came in a sudden moment. The coarse language in do-good suburbia was fun. To add to the inappropriate behavior of this film, the Lawson’s have a trouble making son. He is a younger brother that drinks Old English, dresses Emo and videotapes his nearly naked sister. His last memory of his sister may be him video taping her for YouTube because he thinks its artistic. He is just a funny slacker that shows his true colors once a tubby nutball kidnaps his sister. He in a sense becomes the action hero of the film.  

      Illeana Douglas and Daniel Stern were a likable couple. Daniel Stern played the All American and reasonable father and Illeana played the vigilante wife that gladly embraced taking matters into her own hands once she found out where Otis lived. The film goes from being a kidnap/ torture story to a vigilante justice/ slapstick comedy. I watched this film a number of times and the laugh out loud moments continue. Jere Burns also shows up as the F.B.I Agent Hotchkiss. He is an insensitive guy and an annoying prick that gets under the Lawson’s skin more than he helps them. When the Lawson family finds out where Otis lives, they want no involvement with Hotchkiss because he’s a jackass. 

      The cast was a delight to watch and I sensed they had fun because it shows up on screen. The film was low I take it , being that this film was intented to be direct to DVD. The film is quality no matter the budget. The suburban neighborhood was surprisingly done on a soundstage and I never noticed. The film was shot on HD and never looked like a trashy video shot film. The film is basically flawless fun, although Kevin Pollack’s presence could have been more existent. The film had lots of different comedic style going for it. The suburbia in disorder aspects and the sexual deviance of Otis kept the different styles going. Every character offered the viewer something the laugh at, and I am sure there will be a favorite character for everyone. I enjoyed each character and sincerely believe they all did an incredible job. Chemistry was the name of the game. Ashley Johnson gave a truly natural performance as the women in peril Riley. She had smarts and is a great actress in terms of reaction. I sure hope she isn’t a victim of being cute. I really feel she has a lot to offer. I hope she gets more comedic work. For being a new comer and dealing with so much sexual stuff, I give her lots of credit. She’s shackled for a large sum of the movie and offers some sarcastic humor that works. I hope her career goes beyond giving Otis his first handjob!  

      I look forward to Tony Krantz next project and hopefully he brings screenwriter Erik Jendersen along with him. This film was fresh and took advantage of a recent trend in horror, without self righteously bashing it. It was refreshing to see a smart film drop over 100 F-Bombs, have a teen character do drugs and shoot guns. The biggest fun was watching the family torture the man they believe to be “Otis”. Remember Otis’ angry brother always shows up at the house and they have no idea what Otis looks like. Tune in for the unplanned vigilante justice gone wrong. I laughed over a dozen times so that’s always a plus. I enjoyed that the humor was black opposed to quirky or British! The soundtrack features tracks from Talking Heads, Quiet Riot and the B-52’s. Violence, dancing, perversion and revenge is what makes up “Otis”. I really recommend everyone check it out.

-Russ Rutter