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Review: Killer Friends

Killer Friends PosterIn case you were unaware, horror films have a huge LGBT following. If you take the Logo Channel, for example, they play great titles all the time, had an Alien and Aliens marathon last night and Sharon Needles (winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) even hosted a short lived horror highlight show. I think a part of this relationship is due to a lot of horror fans feeling like outsiders when compared to other movie followers and the LGBT community suffers from the same feeling on a much broader scale. That’s why I’m thrilled that so many filmmakers are beginning to mix horror with gay characters and themes. Bite Marks, Chill: The Killing Game and anything from cult director David DeCoteau come to mind first, but this new film from Zach Noe Towers is going to have a lot of people talking, too.

It was recently announced that Killer Friends is a contender for an Oscar Nomination and will be opening for certain movies at select Laemmle Theatres in California during the first full week of September. That is a huge accomplishment, a fantastic boasting point when examining Killer Friends as an independent short film. And, while I’ve just mentioned the film’s length, I need to say that is generally my only complaint against it. Killer Friends is dirty-minded, hilarious and heart warming while also containing remnants of the classic humor seen in the early years of “The Three Stooges.” I was transfixed and comfortably enjoying my screener until I noticed the total run time was only 11 minutes. I’m going to struggle to keep the quips and puns down because this is such a high class piece of cinema, but I was left feeling like my partner came way too quickly. I was left wanting more and there’s definitely potential here to evolve Killer Friends into a feature at some point.

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Usually, when mixing horror and comedy and LGBT themes, it’s easy to go off the rails and come out with a project or product that is too far in a certain direction, that direction often being a disastrous one. Luckily, Killer Friends succeeds due to its knack for developing realistic characters that you’d know in real life. We all have that one friend who is over the top, vivacious, sassy and you wonder how they’ve made it this far without being punched in the face. Zach Noe Towers (you’re the director and star? you’re a witch!) plays that role to a T and plays a mean girl capable of giving Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams a run for their money. Scott is relentlessly savage in his insults, brutal in his secret reveals and generally not a very good person. Even in his tender moments, I can see why his three best friends would want to murder him. He’s the perfect catalyst for a lot of gut busting moments and blood boiling desires for violence. Well done.

That’s not to say that Dave Racki, Jenna-Lee Carreiro and Peggy Sinnott are slouches either. All three of them were wonderfully talented performers with accurate portrayals and believable performances that rival a lot of other independent actors. Their comedic timing was so spot on that I think they’ll have very plentiful and successful careers in comedy should they decide to make that genre their main focus. And poor Heather (Sinnott), you are not fat! I can’t rave about this short film enough because everything was just so perfect. I can see why Killer Friends is having the success that it is. It’s very minimal on the horror, but its got so much heart. Somehow, it was capable of brightening up my mood today and I’m glad I was able to see it. I guarantee it’s going to make you smile, too, and that’s certainly a reason to watch. Keep an eye out for this baby because it’s about to go places. Hopefully, I’ll get to watch it again on Logo one day. Final Score: 10 out of 10. Easy.

Killer Friends is co-written and co-produced by Tina Carbone and features cinematography from James Sielaff.

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Michael DeFellipo

(Senior Editor)

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