PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The thrilling new crime comedy, 68 Kill, was shown at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 29th and PopHorror had the opportunity to check it out. Ever since its premiere at the SXSW Festival a few months back, people have been talking about this exciting and thrilling experience unlike any other. Did it live up to its hype?
68 Kill is directed by Trent Haaga,who also wrote the screenplay based on the novel of the same name by Brian Smith. The film stars Matthew Gray Gubler, AnnaLynne McCord, Alisha Boe, Sheila Vand, Sam Eidson, and more.
Official Synopsis:
It started with a couple dead bodies and $68,000 in stolen cash. Chip Taylor’s girlfriend Liza had the perfect plan to rip off her rich sugar daddy. It should have been an easy in and out kind of deal. Nobody would get hurt and they would come out of it with enough loot to solve their problems. But things started going wrong as soon as they were inside the rich man’s house, and for Chip it was only the beginning of the longest, most terrifying ride of his life.
Holy fuck! 68 Kill was one hell of a ride that I want to revisit over and over again. An over the top exciting story with eccentric characters popping up everywhere, insane kills, and so much blood and sex. Believe me, if you love horror, you’re going to love this. Trent Haaga has produced a great body of work throughout the years including Deadgirl and Cheap Thrills; however, 68 Kill is his best yet.
The story starts out mellow, building a bit of background for the two main characters and then once that happens all hell loose breaks and it never slows down again. I love everything about this story. You have a great and caring guy like Chip (Gubler) who finds his world turned upside down when the girl of his dreams turns out to be a raging psycho. Yeah, sure, he knew she was a little off before, but not a full blown madhouse. As the bodies piles up and streets are paved with blood, bad things continuously happen, never letting Chip catch a break. There’s not one dull moment throughout the entire film and your heart is always racing.
Every single character (seriously every one of them) was exceptionally amazing and it’s because 68 Kill has a insanely talented cast. AnnaLynne McCord is exactly who I would envision in this role. Ever since I first saw her in the hit series Nip Tuck, I knew she had a wild edge to her and she can pull off almost any role, but especially characters like this. Her character, Liza, is bat shit crazy yet you can’t help but like her because she is fun and drop-dead beautiful. But she’s not the only crazy woman throughout the film. We meet two others including the lovely Violet played by Alisha Boe. I first saw Boe in the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and loved her character in that but she takes her acting skills to a whole different level with Violet. She is fun and wild, but not as cut-throat as Liza and helps Chip along his journey through hell and back.
Then there is good ole’ Chip. Holy hell was it crazy to see Matthew Gray Gubler in this role yet it surprisingly fit him well! I know longer see him as just “Dr. Reed” from Criminal Minds because he really showed off his acting chops and I will never look at him the same way again (in a good way, I loved him before, love him even more now). His character goes through hell and back yet he never backs down and the ending will have the audience applauding him as the credits begin to roll.
I’m not sure how many people died throughout the film, but the kills were INSANE! They showed no mercy when delivering the blood and gore… and the turnout was fucking brilliant. There’s even more to it when you find out what Liza’s brother, Dwayne (Sam Eidson) is up too. Lets just say it involves dismemberment!
The ending was so fun and deliciously revengeful. It had me at the edge of my seat the whole time and I just went along for the ride as all shit broke loose and blood splatter in every corner. You’ll love every second of it.
Overall, the Fantasia International Film Festival definitely introduced me to some of my favorite movies this year thus far and 68 Kill is one of them. I’ve never seen anything like it and the journey from beginning to end was insane yet completely intoxicating. I never wanted it to end. I can’t wait to buy this movie and show it to my friends.
