As Good As It Gets

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Fantom kiler (1998) BOMB (out of 4) Pointless, tasteless, disgusting, amateurish and just downright pathetic horror/sex film from Poland, which caused quite a stir when it hit the underground market several years ago. A man in a mask goes around slaughtering, mutilating and sexually assaulting women who he deems whores. The sexual violence in this film is quite disturbing and even more disturbing is the fact that several people actually get off on watching this type of stuff. I've always stood up for horror films and the mainstreams attack on the violence against women but this film here crosses about every single line and creates new lines just to cross them as well. We see women getting raped by knifes, tire irons and various other objects and for what? There's no story going on here, just various images of women being tortured. The other half of the film is nothing but nudity as the women, for no reason whatsoever, take their clothes off at every chance they get. A truly pathetic film and what's worse is there are two sequels.

I'm amazed that some people are so negative towards the Fantom kiler series. I think Roman Nowicki is filling a gap in the market. Which is for a stylish, European style fantasy horror with erotic situations. All too often these days the horror world relies on the U.S for this kind of thing (New Jersey in fact). And basically all the films look the same, and seem to star the same starlets. Fantom Kiler has its own feel, a very different pacing. If it is shot on video it has a very nice look to it (Better than many films actually shot on film). If it is a low budget production then I doesn't look like one. Girls of that caliber don't come cheap, you know. And how many low budget films re-create an entire indoor woodland scene these days? I know of none. Even the music is a cut above the average with more than one catchy theme. I would much prefer to watch a Fantom Kiler than a Scrapbook or a Necrofiles.

The embarrassment of "Fantom Kiler" runs in a straight line from the poor viewer who has wasted his (or, God forbid, her) few sheckels to see the film right back to the pitiful director/producer who hides his shame behind a pseudonym and refuses to admit his cinematic crime by denying that he's the responsible party from his nickel & dime magazine shop in merry ol' England. But, then again, he has every reason to hide his shame because the film and its sequels are talentless and insipid. The target audiences won't find anything to keep their attention for more than a few seconds and the non-target audiences will be lucky if they just fall asleep. The plot about a psycho who stalks and kills women is hardly unique and the various naughty bits that have all been stolen from far better films or stories are amateurishly performed here. This British film hidden behind Polish names and a false claim of Polish origin is an broadsided insult to all Polish people and they deserve an apology from all Britons if the producer himself doesn't have the dignity to do it. "Fantom Kiler" is not watchable. It's not even barley watchable.

Women are frequent victims of violence in horror films, and therefore it's hardly surprising that horror cinema has had its fair share of criticisms of misogyny. The Europeans, especially, really know how to push the envelope. Graphic, sexualised violence and gore in movies like GIALLO A VENEZIA, THE NEW YORK RIPPER, DELIRIUM and THE KILLER IS AMONG US have been well documented. Some films went even further with their portrayals of violence against women. In movies such as LATE NIGHT TRAINS and HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, women are frequently shown to *enjoy* sexual assault and rape. This outrageous "porno rape" lack of morality is very uncomfortable to watch.FANTOM KILER, a modern giallo from Poland that has made a lot of waves in the horror scene, takes these concepts and goes far further than anyone ever has before. The result is a truly reprehensible, sickeningly misogynistic work that is impossible to defend. If ever there was a piece of celluloid that could be accused of being an incitement to rape, it is this.Thin on story-line, FANTOM KILER is no more than a series of tableux of sexual violence. A man with a bandaged face stalks and murders beautiful women in highly stylised scenes, which utilise a lot of clever editing and modern digital effects. However, the truly shocking aspect of this film is the nature of the killings. Every female victim is beautiful and looks like a glamour model, and the set-ups to each murder scene are very reminiscent of those in porn loops. For example, a woman's car breaks down in the woods, and she gets lost, having her clothes slowly torn away by the trees and fences she has to climb over. The women are dressed and filmed in a worryingly provocative way. When the killings come, they invariably revolve around genital mutilation. Although no gory details are explicitly shown, it is VERY clear what is going on.Despite the lack of gore, the killings are amongst the most shocking I've ever seen in a movie, mainly because it is obliquely suggested that the female victims ENJOY their assault. They act aroused, touch the killer affectionately and sensitively, and in some cases appear to achieve "orgasm" as they die. The dialogue backs this up too.There is no way this film can be defended. It plays like a porn movie for potential killers. I have never seen such a film totally devoid of morality. Even in other highly contentious movies (such as FORCED ENTRY) there is at least criticism or an attempt to create repulsion at the scenes of violence being shown. Not so here. This eroticises misogyny and tries to make pornography out of sexual violence, with the "they all like it really" mentality taken as far as it could possibly go.Literally unbelievable. This is the movie that censors, critics and feminists want to exist, and I hope they never get to see it.