‘Deadly Famous’ Review
Stars: Daniel O’Meara, Tiffany Adams, Juliette Beavan, Talulah Brown, Joelle Georgeff, Stephanie Girard, Ella Herman, Ria Huang, Stephanie Jones, Talita Maia, Brett R. Miller, Jackie Moore, Eric Roberts | Written by Eric Troop | Directed by Jim Lane, Eric Troop
Hiding under a mask of collected sanity, Alan is an aging actor with a serious serial killing hobby. His dark, reclusive world is blown open when a young, bubbly blonde moves in as a roommate. Her presence soon begins to further shake Alan’s already twisted psyche.
Deadly Famous is a story mainly told through Alan’s camera, which is ‘always rolling’. What it captures is Alan’s twisted life as he falls deeper and deeper into darkness (a darkness he is already pretty deep in, I might add) with the arrival of his new housemate. A little note to people looking for cheap housing: if the person posts the advert on the internet and doesn’t really care for contracts, they’re probably a serial killer. That’s a pro-tip for you.
I found Deadly Famous very uncomfortable. It’s not the type of film I usually watch and therefore I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as someone who does like this sort of film (by that I mean ones which involve graphic murder/ torture, and the like). However, having watched it in its entirety, I can now try to give you an unbiased opinion on what I saw.
The good points: Deadly Famous sets out to make you squirm and manages to do just that. Daniel O’ Meara, who plays the film’s lead part, Alan Miller, throws himself right into it, showing every depraved and twisted act that Miller gets up to with absolute believability. If I were to meet him on the street right now, I would run away screaming (politely, of course). As a film lead, he manages to sustain it all the way through, even in the middle section when the film gets a little bogged down.
Spliced throughout the film, between the darker moments, are little splashes of comedy which poke fun at the acting industry. I thought they were really well done, squeezing a giggle or two out of me, even while I was still recovering from the previous disturbing scenes.
The less good points: There is such a thing as too crazy. A lot of the characters around Alan lose plausibility because sometimes you can’t help but look at Alan and just see a serial killer. Sometimes it feels like the film goes too far to show the ‘twisted psyche’ of Alan, and as a result, the story suffers. This is especially true in the middle of the film, where Alan has yet another dark evil scary moment, and you might find yourself rolling your eyes.
Overall, Deadly Famous is a dark, occasionally comedic horror which will give you the creeps for a while.
*** 3/5
Deadly Famous is out now on VOD from Indican Pictures
