Monster Killer (aka Mark’s Secret to Eternal Life)
Edgar Michael Bravo’s “Monster Killer” is a very original take on the monster hunter genre. On the surface, it looks like a curious drama, but there’s something just a bit different about it, and the way it tells it’s story, that makes the film stand apart from most genre fair. Of course, having seen a couple of other films from the director, “One Hour Fantasy Girl” and “Mother’s Red Dress,” that took left turns when a lot of movies would have gone right, I can’t say I’m surprised at this point.
The catch with “Monster Killer,” however, is that the monsters Mark (Marc Maynon) and Andrew (Phillip Gay) are killing are people. Serial killers, specifically. This isn’t Dexter Morgan we’re talking about, though. There’s a supernatural twist to it all. Andrew, in fact, was born during slave times in the deep South; it was during the Civil War when a monster killer revealed himself to Andrew. Andrew could hear the man’s thoughts in his head– he thought he was going crazy –but that is the mark of a person born for this purpose. Mark has been having the same issue, hearing Andrew’s voice in his head. His girlfriend, Katherine (Katelynn Dubow) is concerned, but that night, he is transported by Andrew into an alternate reality of sorts. The people Mark knew in life are still there, and still the same people, but Mark is a man with no name, if you will. Here, he will learn the trade from Andrew, who tells Mark that absorbing the blood of these killers will keep him alive. How has Andrew lived for so long, though? Andrew’s mentor told him one way, though hinted that, perhaps, there was another.
This is a very original take on a lot of different material from the sci-fi, horror, and thriller genres, all combined into a film that draws us in with a compelling central story, and keeps us guessing even if, like me, we think we might have it figured out. (Believe me, you probably don’t.) A big part of that comes from Bravo’s boldness of storytelling, mixing elements into a unique package, but what really sells the story is the terrific lead performance by Phillip Gay. This is only Gay’s third film, but he anchors the movie with a gravity and sincerity that is essential to accepting the film’s somewhat loopy story. There’s not really a lot of humor in the story, which is both good and bad, but there is a lot of heart, especially when we see what the price is for Andrew to be able to live as long as he has. In a way, he’s a monster, as well, in that he’s so committed to his mission, the way he learned it, that he refuses to accept an alternative way of doing things that might lead to a happier existence. That’s where Mark comes in, and although he begins by following very much in Andrew’s footsteps, after their time together has ended, Mark has his own ideas on how to accomplish his mission, and it’s definitely a break from how Andrew taught him. I can definitely see this becoming a franchise for Bravo, who has shown a knack for understanding that the best drama comes from within the characters, not from what happens to them, and the best possible compliment I can give him is that I really want to see where he could take this set of ideas with further films.
