Horror Movie Review: Kill Theory

Kill Theory

Starring: Agnes Bruckner, Patrick John Fleuger, Taryn Manning, Teddy Dunn, Ryanne Duzich, Daniel Franzese, and Kevin Gage

Directed by: Chris Moore

Written by: Kelly C. Palmer

Production Companies: BenderSpink, Cross River Pictures, Element Films, Last Resort Productions, and Lift Films

Release Date: May 14, 2008

When a group of college almost graduates take a trip to one of their vacation houses, a last celebratory party before graduation turns into the last celebration...of their lives. A psychopath targets them with a challenge: Kill each other and the one survivor can leave, or everyone dies.

This is one of those great "What If..." concepts where part of the enjoyment is thinking. "What would I do? Which character would I most likely be?"

But the execution of the film is solid as well. The acting is pretty decent, the tension strong, and while there's not a whole lot of jumps, it is still filled with dramatic horror.

Some of the characters are annoying, but then that's true about any group of college kids. One problem was there were too many characters and it was difficult for me to keep track of who was whom, including the pairings because there were 3 couples plus a couple of extras. 4 guys and 4 girls total.

The killer is one worthy of a sequel, though a bit reminiscent of Jigsaw from The Saw Series. He communicates via tape and sets traps, although not in a confined room like Jigsaw, but traps preventing the college victims from escaping.

Some of the film is shocking, going against your expectations, and the gore is pretty decent, especially as the kids hope gets strained and they start turning on one another. It's almost impossible to tell who is going to get killed and when. And the ending, tying everything together with the big reveal puts the cherry on top.

A solid straight to video horror which, if they created a sequel, I wouldn't roll my eyes at it. It's definitely worth a watch.

Related Trailers

Vacancy 2: The First Cut - Agnes Bruckner, who plays Jennifer, also stars in Vacancy 2: The First Cut. Three young people check into the Meadow View Inn for a night's rest, fully unaware of the inn's sick-minded employees and their nefarious intentions.

The Devil's Tomb - Taryn Manning, who plays Alex, also stars in The Devil's Tomb. An elite group of soldiers on a covert mission to retrieve a scientist from an underground lab encounter an ancient evil in the facility.

I Spit on Your Grave - Daniel Franzese, who played Freddy, also appears in I Spit on Your Grave. A writer who is brutalized during her cabin retreat seeks revenge on her attackers, who left her for dead.

Laid to Rest - Kevin Gage, the Killer, also stars in Laid to Rest . A terrifying story of a young girl who wakes up in a casket with a traumatic head injury and no memory of her identity. She quickly realizes she was abducted by a Deranged Serial Murderer and in an isolated rural town she must survive the night and outsmart the technologically inclined killer who is hellbent on finishing what he started.