PopHorror Let's Get Scared
All the way from Germany comes Scars of Xavier, a rather amazing indie offering which displays as much style, beauty and atmosphere as as it does gruesome and ghastly material. The film was directed by Kai E. Bogatzki, who was responsible for editing some pretty gory films, including Marcel Walz’s recent revision of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ gore classic Bloodfeast and La Petite Mort II: Nasty Tapes, a sadistic torture/gore film featuring make up effects by Canadian maestro Ryan Nicholson. Finally, Bogatzki also took care of editing duties on legendary director Timo Rose’s Reeperbahn.
Fortunately, Bogatzki has the chance to let his own personal tortured vision of modern horror shine with Scars Of Xavier, a film that has been scooping up awards left and right as it travels from festival to festival, including Best Director at 13horror.com, Best Thriller at Nightmares Horror Film Festival, Best Editing at FEARnyc, Best Feature Film at Dark Veins Horror Fest and Best Special Effects at Dark Veins Horror Fest. The movie is still playing the festival circuit as I write this and will no doubt bring home even more well earned awards. As I write this review, Scars Of Xavier is showing at The Optical Theater Festival in Italy, where it has been nominated for Best Feature Film and Best Actor for Marc Engel in the lead role.
Scars Of Xavier plays out over several days in the life of serial killer Xavier (Marc Engel), who works a dead end job polishing cars during the day, while at night, he stalks and kills female prey. Engel plays this role in such an excellent and believable fashion that it’s hard to deny his performance is anything short of brilliant. Xavier is charming and intelligent, yet his tortured past and thoughts dictate his murderous lifestyle and consume him.
Xavier suffered through a childhood filled with self-doubt and humiliation brought on by his mother’s upbringing. These scars turn into wounds which are re-opened time and time again throughout Xavier’s every day life, sending him into violent and savage outbursts. Xavier has flashbacks of his mom on a regular basis and this sets his murderous gears in motion as these horrible memories flood back, causing much pain and anxiety. Xavier spends his time killing women and, due to charismatic his nature, he usually has no problem finding victims who are oblivious as to what is in store for them. They are willing participants, freely entering his labyrinth of torture and pain.
Scars Of Xavier is filmed brilliantly and is one of the best looking indie features I’ve had the pleasure of checking out this year. The camera work is simply breathtaking. The movie emits a genuine style and approach. The film is pristine and polished in execution regarding its technical merit, yet it is still able to dwell in the graphic, gory violence that the memoir of a serial killer would surely have.
A number of set ups for different murder scenes are extremely inventive, such as a women getting repeatedly gouged in the back with a shard of glass during a rave as Xavier stabs in tune with the music. There is also a scene of another victim getting dispatched which is played in slow reverse motion, and then again in real time forward motion. Xavier’s mask, which he wears during some of his kills, reminds me of the white mask in the jarring conclusion of A Serbian Film. More illogical scenes have Xavier taking out a whole SWAT team single handedly in the intro, which was cool was but pretty unrealistic.
Scars Of Xavier is an accomplished indie genre film, but my one main beef with it is how it ends. It’s not a big issue, but I was just hoping for a little more, and it just stops. I did enjoy how the film also showed a more peaceful, caring side of Xavier. It gives the audience something likable about the character in the middle of an otherwise continuous bloodstained trail of killing. I highly recommend Scars Of Xavier and it’s easy to see why the film is racking up so many wins in the festival circuit. Scars of Xavier is a bold and accomplished work. It would make a nice companion piece to Jason Koch’s 7th Day, a film that also ventures into the mind of a twisted serial killer. This movie is yet another one to add to my top list of 2017.
