The Killer Inside Me - Film Review

The Killer inside Me, based on Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel of the same name, is about Lou Ford, a Deputy Sheriff, of a small Texas town. He’s young, good looking, has a slightly slow and laconic manner that some people take for him being ‘slow’. What they do not realise is that he is also a psychopath.

Director Michael Winterbottom’s film is beautifully shot. Full of wide open spaces and deep blue skies. The people and look of the 1950s town are right out of a book for ‘apple pie’ America. Mixed in with some terrific and surprisingly upbeat music, this creates a very real and well realised world. At the heart of this is Casey Affleck’s powerful central performance as Lou Ford. A psychopath hiding being the mask of normality. He has a beautiful girlfriend played by a dark haired Kate Hudson and he is also having a sexual relationship with a local prostitute played by Jessica Alba which at times is quite sadomasochistic.

Infact this is the starting point for the story, although not the beginning of Lou Ford’s ‘sickness’. The first glimpse we see of the monster that hides behind the Deputy Sheriff manifests itself within the opening scenes of the film. We can see the change coming on through Affleck’s face and eyes which has a very strong impact. Removing his mask if you will. It is a very tense scene as we are just not quite sure at this stage what he is going to do. What he is capable of. As we see later in the film Affleck’s character is capable of some horrendously vicious and brutal violence, in particular towards women. His violence towards women is infact a major part of both his character and the story.

Two particularly strong scenes of male on female violence have become major talking points around the Festival circuit for this film, not due a UK release until 4th June, and although the scenes, especially the first, are very strong and deeply unpleasant it is a shame that it is becoming a de rigueur for people to comment only on these scenes at the detriment to the rest of this very well made film. It should also be noted that in the case of the first scene of male on female violence the filmmakers have very cleverly made us think we have seen more than we actually have, although we still see a hell of a lot and it is certainly one of the most uncomfortable scenes I’ve had to sit through, probably since the film Irreversible. There are also some scenes of child abuse which are more implied than graphic but they are still quite unpleasant to watch.

The slow pacing of the film suits the story very well as Affleck’s character gradually finds his world falling apart as more and more people come to look at him in a different way, but he always seems to have words that shoot down his accusers to the point that we are never sure whether he is going to get away with his crimes or if he has a comeuppance due to him. This is another part of the tension building that filters through the film building into a convincing character study of a psychopathic serial killer. Anyone expecting a fast and pacy thriller will be very disappointed as things develop at a very gentle and steady pace over the length of the film.

This is not a film for everyone, it is certainly not what you would call a ‘date movie’, but anyone who likes their films dark and grim, loves 50s noir novels, of which this is a very faithful adaptation and wants to see a terrific performance by a lead actor then as long as you can stomach some of the violence then I thoroughly recommend it.