“Random Acts of Violence,” a gory slasher based on a graphic novel published by Image Comics in 2010, is the latest high-profile exclusive to premiere on Shudder, the all-horror streaming service.
On paper, the adaptation seems like a no-brainer grand slam.
Jay Baruchel (“This Is the End,” “Goon”) co-wrote and directed. Karim Hussain, an early programmer at the Fantasia International Film Festival, served as cinematographer. And Jesse Williams (“The Cabin in the Woods,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) and Jordana Brewster (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,” “The Fast and the Furious”) lead the cast.
Yet, surprisingly, “Random Acts of Violence” comes off like a well-intentioned, but ultimately uneven attempt to craft a 21st-century slasher that resonates beyond its gory visuals.
Random Acts of Violence
2.5 out of 5 stars.
Run Time: 80 minutes
Now available on Shudder
Williams plays Todd, the creator of "Slasherman", a wildly popular, adults-only comic book that draws inspiration from the true story of a serial killer and details savage slayings with visceral four-panel imagery.
Assailed for glorifying violence and doing a disservice to the real victims of violent crimes, Todd has decided to conclude "Slasherman" with an epic finale. Only he can’t think of an ending to do it justice.
Todd, his girlfriend Kathy (Brewster), his publisher Ezra (Baruchel) and his assistant Aurora (Niamh Wilson) road trip from Canada into the U.S. so Todd can attend a fan convention and hopefully find inspiration by visiting creepy locales along the way.
The deeper into the trip they get, the more it becomes clear that someone has brought Slasherman to life.
The stuff that works, namely the graphic kill shrines and Baruchel’s use of creative camera work and lighting, works really well.
But that alone is not enough to carry an 80-minute movie.
Baruchel and his co-writer Jesse Chabot make an effort to infuse “Random Acts of Violence” with some timely, relevant context. One sequence involving a radio interview between Todd and an on-air personality whose family member was slaughtered by the same sociopath that inspired "Slasherman" dips its toe into the whole "art versus social responsibility" argument, but it doesn’t go nearly far or deep enough.
In particular, Baruchel said he and Chabot purposefully expanded Brewster’s character, Kathy, from the original source material. During a recent Zoom roundtable with film critics from across the country, Baruchel explained why.
“We wanted her to have as much to do as she could, and then we kind of realized, we’re on Todd’s journey but she’s the one who faces all of the consequences. The cost is in large part hers. We kind of realized we could say something about people in close proximity to artists,” he said. “If you’ve ever watched or read any rock documentary, you have these artists who are tremendously important to the world, and to history, and yet almost to a person seem to be crappy dads or boyfriends or husbands, and there’s something about being close to that and having thrown your lot in and given your heart to somebody who, whom you will never be the number one priority so long as he is prey to his creativity.”
It’s an admirable and important acknowledgement, but unfortunately the bulk of “Random Acts of Violence” belongs to Todd and his flashback sequences, which aren’t fully explained until the third act, and his relationship to the original killer.
Before the blood can even coagulate, the film ends with a climax that feels rushed and not nearly as satisfying as it should.
During the same roundtable, BVB: Blood Violence and Babes asked Baruchel how much time he and his team spent trying to understand the genre so they could avoid the pitfalls that have stymied many directors who set out to make the perfect retro-slasher.
“We didn’t have to any actual deliberate research because this movie was made by a bunch of fucking nerds,” Baruchel said, almost too confidently. “We know all that shit anyway.”
What he and his creative cohorts clearly know how to do is how to craft some slick, sick kill sequences, which honestly is what many fans care about.
“Random Acts of Violence” excels at those moments, none better than the horrifying “triptych sculpture,” which recreates a panel from Slasherman where three victims are basically attached together, bound by their intestines.
It’s the actual people that feel less fully formed, and not just the victims and their surviving loved ones, but Todd himself and his entire crew.
John W. Allman has spent more than 25 years as a professional journalist and writer, but he’s loved movies his entire life. Good movies, awful movies, movies that are so gloriously bad you can’t help but champion them. Since 2009, he has cultivated a review column and now a website dedicated to the genre films that often get overlooked and interviews with cult cinema favorites like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell and Dee Wallace. Contact him at Blood Violence and Babes.com, on Facebook @BloodViolenceBabes or on Twitter @BVB_reviews.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2020.