Every so often, usually just as I begin losing faith in the modern horror film genre, a film pops up along the DVD racks that gives me hope for my own indie aspirations as a storyteller.
2008's Otis, I am happy to say, is one of those films.
While it’s base plot line is nothing new, it’s the nuances and the way things unfold is where this film stands out among the B-horror film crowd.
The story begins by introducing us to Otis Broth, a forty something year old, stuttering, Pizza delivering man child who has a thing for kidnapping young girls and keeping them in his garage/dungeon. His ultimate goal of getting them to attend the “prom” with him seems to never be reached, always ending with fatal results for the first five girls he has “acquired”.
He insists on renaming them Kim, thus his media given moniker “the Kim Killer”.
Then we are introduced to the Lawson family and they’re daughter Riley (played by Ashley Johnson) whom Otis becomes enamored with one night while delivering a pizza to the family.
The next day, he abducts her and brings her to his lair.
The family, played by Daniel Stern (Home Alone), Ileana Douglas (Cape fear) and Jared Kusnitz (Dance of the dead), is played well by this cast of very capable B-list actors.
We see they’re struggle and torment while dealing with a very irritating FBI profiler who is heading the hunt for Otis.
Douglas especially does a very impressive job in conveying the animalistic maternal rage that one has to imagine flows through the blood of any parent in this situation worth they’re salt.
Her rage is what brings this plot to it’s most unique and intriguing point.
I won’t spoil what happens n the late second and entire third act, simply because it’s just too worthwhile to ruin for any potential viewer.
This film is a gem of horror underlined with black comedy all along the way.
Directed by Tony Krantz (Sublime) and written by Eric Jendresen (sublime) and Thomas Schnauz (mainly of X-files writing fame).
Also I would be remissed if I did not mention the performance of Bostin Christopher as the pathetic and utterly delusional Otis. I would never dare say the character was sympathetic or likable, but he certainly made the character easier to tolerate and have a laugh about as we go along in the story.
The movie flows along very well and is executed with darkly comic touches of brilliance.
Stern adds a very amusing fatherly character and Kevin Pollack even plays a minor role as Otis’s cantankerous older brother, adding a veteran comedic presence that aids the film greatly in reaching it’s cinematic goals. Johnson even does a nice job in plying, really the only innocent character in the film. Her scenes with Otis were some of the most amusing and at times, laugh out loud funny moments of the story.
If you enjoy a good little horror film in the vein of Behind the mask: The rise of Leslie Vernon or Slither, you would be cheating your own viewing tastes not to give this one a look.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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