By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 0 cats
Director: HKimo Stamboel | Timo Tjahja
Country: indonesia, japan
Year: 2015
Running time: 127
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2409300
Kyle says: “KILLERS is available in a censored 126-minute version, but this is the full monty. Even the helpless negligee-clad young Japanese female, being chased through the woods by a killer with a pillow case over his head, is subtitled, with capital letters — such as (WHIMPERING), (SCREAMING) and (CONTINUES SOBBING). The young woman is seen bound to a chair with duct tape, being filmed, as the killer bashes her head multiple times with a mallet (BLOOD DRIPPING). She dies, and he takes off the pillow case. He is observed naked viewing the video of the killing on his computer. The corpse is disposed of by pouring acid over it in the bathtub (SIZZLING), and removing to a bucket chunks of bone and fat that do not go into solution. The killer, by the way, is a handsome charismatic Tokyo businessman who plays golf and drives an expensive automobile (HORN HONKING).
“I write this with both revulsion and embarrassment, because I detest movies like this. But it’s a Japanese/Indonesian co-production, and I wondered if perhaps there was a particular stylistic wrinkle that might make sitting through it worthwhile, since it is after all on the Chlotrudis eligible list. The wrinkle, if you want to call it that, is the fact of Japanese killer Nomura (Kazuki Kitamura) posting videos of his killings online, one of which is seen by an Indonesian journalist Bayu (Oka Antara), who has been ruined by corrupt politician Dharma (Ray Sahetapy), divorced by his wife, and mocked by his family.
“In a botched taxi mugging, Bayu goes crazy (GUN FIRING) and kills the two miscreants (GURGLING), filming the carnage on his smartphone, thereby not only getting in touch with his ‘dark side’ (SOBBING), but also establishing a connection with Nomura and his snuff videos. Nomura meanwhile has picked up a lovely young florist whom he takes home and beats to death with a bat, which he then stuffs down her throat, and unless my concentration really did lapse, dines on her tongue while listening to Bach. Later Bayu posts his video online, even though he is disgusted (VOMITING). The two men commence exchanging emails, (COMPUTER CHIMES) and (TYPING), and then talking online: Bayu — ‘Why do this?’ Nomura — ‘Why? Because we can. When they say no, we say yes. We are in control.’
“Anyone still reading this undoubtedly knows where we are heading — a gruesome folie à deux about the age of Internet Inquisition, the illusion of control through online image exploitation, and the increasing devaluation of human lives and emotions. Nomura and Bayu share images from which most of us flee in horror. Yet increasingly we find promulgation of such images banal, as ISIS barbarians post polished productions of hostage decapitations. Our media carefully observe first that authenticity cannot be confirmed, followed shortly thereafter by protestations of horror and inhumanity, and finally by statements that these images cannot be broadcast. Except they are of course, just not by us. I think KILLERS fits into the genre classification of torture porn. 0 cats
Sunday, August 16, 2015, on Netflix, New York.”