Digital Dismemberment: The Orphan Killer DVD Review
Director: Matt Farnsworth
Producers: Matt Farnsworth and Diane Foster
Cast: Diane Foster, David Backus, Matt Farnsworth, James McCaffrey, John Savage, Karen Young, Charlotte Maier, Spencer List, Dana DeVestern, Margot White, Mike Doyle, Ivan Martin, Karen Olivo, Matthew Arkin, Erza Knight, Allison Salvetti, Jon David Casey, Brian Delate, Ramon Villa, Hector Lincoln, Celina Vignaud, Michael Ray Escamilla, Kenya Brome, Lucian Maisel, Ian Colletti, Walter Masterson and Federico Castelluccio.
The Premise: Writer/Director Matt Farnsworth brings you a tour de force bloodbath slasher flick that defies classification. It’s a sickly entertaining and brutal flick that is SO GOOD you can’t NOT look away. Shock Horror Magazine says “ A New Legendary Slasher is born” and Dread Central claims director Farnsworth is “The Future of Horror”. Marcus Miller, inhabited by David Backhaus, is an orphan and psychopath hellbent on finding his estranged sister Audrey, played by sexy scream queen Diane Foster, and teaching her family loyalty. His brutal lessons are taught in pain. Throughout this wild cruelty we learn that Marcus is not the only Miller with Killer in the bloodline as Audrey proves to be a formidable adversary.
As an old school horror fan, my biggest complaint about what the studios force down our throats these days is that they aim for a teenage audience and water the stories down to the point that the characters and the kills become pointless. Thankfully, Matt Farnsworth has found the perfect balance between story and gore with The Orphan Killer. At initial glance and if you believe what the the mainstream horror sites tell you, you may make think that the character of Marcus Miller is a straight ripoff of the classic killers of the genre, namely Myers, Voorhees and Sawyer, but once you start peeling back the layers of the character, you can see how he separates himself from not only them, but the conventional norms of what a serial killer is in the genre…
As children, Audrey and Marcus witness and survive the murder of their parents during a home invasion robbery. Through various flashback sequences placed at pivotal points in the film, we see the back story of how Marcus violently beats another boy to death with a baseball bat after witnessing him tickling his sister one night. The nuns, horrified and enraged at the way Marcus is totally unremorseful about the event and his refusal to repent. What we see in these various cut scenes is nothing short of brutality, with scenes of Marcus having his head held underwater, being viciously whipped on his back and later being forced to wear a stage mask at all times as a reminder to himself and the the other children how dangerous he is. He is also forced to stay by himself secluded away from the other children…
Audrey winds up being adopted while Marcus is locked away at the orphange. One night after a stage production that Audrey oversees, Marcus binds all of the doors with barbwire and begins methodically dispatching the rest of the staff that is still there in assorted ways, including a knife stab to the eye and then decapitation, garroting by barbwire, skull stomping, ax strikes to the neck and head and an arm hacked off with a saw all while in the pursuit of his sister. Marcus uses the same tactics on all of his victims that he intends to use on his sister: suffering before death. But what he has in mind for Audrey is even more of a personal issue and he intends to teach her about family loyalty and what happens when you lose it.
The true grinding point of the film arrives after Marcus catches his sister and strings her up by her wrists by barbwire, binding her feet in the same fashion and even placing a crown of thorn upon her head made of the same gruesome material. After reviving her with a few pipe shots to the face, he slowly begins to mentally and physically torture her. The use of knives, screwdrivers and other assorted tools leave their mark as Marcus looks to take his pound of flesh, but he leaves her to hang for a bit while he settles matters with Audrey’s boyfriend (a cop) who has come to find her. Audrey makes the tough decision to survive, and in the process of her escape, she puts herself through torture that equals what Marcus was doing to her when she nearly degloves the flesh from one of her hands that were bound in barbwire. After removing the screwdriver that Marcus drove into her thigh, she mercy kills the priest that Marcus sawed the arm off of and begins her payback on her brother. The epic fight that ensues will make see that Marcus is not the only killer in the family and sometimes loyalty is not all it is cracked up to be…
Special Features and Extras
The Orphan Killer Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Disc 2)
Track list (Review Here)
1. First Blood — ‘First Blood’
2. Affiance — ‘Nostra Culpa’
3. Asking Alexandria — ‘Someone, Somewhere’
4. Deception of a Ghost — ‘These Voices’
5. Anew Revolution — ‘Head Against the Wall’
6. This or the Apocalypse — ‘Charmer’
7. Most Precious Blood — ‘A Danger to Myself and Others’
8. A Bullet for a Pretty Boy – ‘The Deceiver’
9. Dawn of Ashes — ‘Seething the Flesh in the River of Phlegethon’
10. First Blood – ‘Conflict’
11. Born of Osiris — ‘Follow the Signs’
12. No Bragging Rights — ‘Death of an Era’
13. First Blood — ‘Execution’
14. OGOD — ‘The Orphan Killer Murder Theme’
One of the things to remember is that this film has not been picked up for distribution. Matt and Diane are self distributing the film through iTunes as well as their website where you can purchase the standard edition DVD or the Blu-Ray, having the option to get them autographed as well. All versions of the film come with a copy of the soundtrack, which is something I firmly believe more companies should do, and helps to balance the lack of a ton of specials features. Matt and Diane should be thanked for giving us a film that is not the normal PG-13 rated garbage that Hollywood has been giving us. The story is to the point, the suffering looks legit and there is more gore than you can shake a chainsaw at. If you enjoy your horror bloody and adult oriented, this is the film for you! Marcus is the new Serial Murderer icon of our genre. Accept it or repent at the hands of Marcus…
Disc Information
Year of Production: 2011
Year of release on DVD: 2012
Rating: NR
Running Time: 84 Minutes
Format: Color NTSC
Soundtrack: German, Japanese, French, Spanish and Italian Subtitles
Movie Rating: 5 out of 5
DVD Rating: 7 out of 10
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