One of these upcoming films follows the making of a psycho killer, the other the making of…well…a dino priest. So which should you be looking forward to more? That depends on your tastes. Here’s a hint of what you can expect from each.
AMERICAN KILLING (aka: Wichita) (2016)
While films with the killer as the protagonist are not my kind of horror, American Killing may very well appeal to those who like the “portrait of a serial killer” genre, as it follows a TV show creator as he quickly unravels and goes on a murdering spree.
To me his transition period felt hasty and disjointed, while the film feeds us information that is sort of irrelevant…namely, the minor backstories of a bunch of television creatives he is forced to go on a country retreat with and secretly records in their private moments.
There’s nothing very compelling or suspenseful about any of it. Then just when it seems things are about to finally go somewhere, he’s booted from the house.
We finally get a glimpse at why he’s a bit of a weirdo when he returns home to mommy. Things are as bad as you can imagine for this mama’s boy, kicking off the massacre as he at last snaps and takes care of killing business.
However, it’s not scary or suspenseful, and this isn’t a fun slasher situation. The final act is more like a mean-spirited home invasion film.
American Killing comes to DVD and digital in August from High Octane Pictures.
THE VELOCIPASTOR (2018)
Story goes that this was a faux movie trailer that went viral and was therefore made into a full-length feature. The good news is that it only runs 75 minutes long, which is also the bad news. 45 minutes at most would have sufficed.
Thanks to SyFy and movies like the Sharknado franchise, movies so unintentionally bad they’re good are a thing of the past. Now it’s all about manufactured so bad they’re good movies that are mostly just bad.
So if the title didn’t clue you in to what you should expect, the tone of the very first scene should. It’s clear right away that this is bad, indie farce, so how much you like it depends on how much you can handle student film quality movies.
The Velocipastor sees his parents die, goes to China for about two seconds to get over his grief, gets scratched by a mystical tooth, and then comes back home and turns raptor whenever he gets mad.
A prostitute he saves convinces him to use his power for good.
But he doesn’t get to do much of that because he has to take on a bunch of ninjas that are after him.
The leading man is sizzling hot and plenty of reason to stick with it. I just wish he’d been wearing tighter whities during his fight scene with ninjas—although they do look pretty nice in still shots.
His full raptor form isn’t shown until the final fight, and although it’s just a guy in a terribly cheesy costume, the slapstick fight scene is actually pretty funny.
However, for me personally, the flashes of Velocipastor earlier in the film are much more entertaining in a more subtle, campy way.
Obviously all the hot man action makes this the one for me if I had to choose between these two films.
The Velocipastor hits digital in August and Blu-ray in September from Wild Eye Releasing.
