This film seems to be trying hard to grip the imagination of the viewer but my tolerance for its knowing tricksiness and didactic attitude could only have lasted as long as I found it compelling, which was no time at all. The idea of a serial killer making his own personal film or having one made about him was executed to far better effect, both more entertaining and more chilling, in the Belgian film Man Bites Dog. In The Last Horror Movie the film-makers try to challenge our moral position vis a vis violence as entertainment, but this is done in such an unsubtle and hectoring tone that interest wanes very quickly. In Man Bites Dog, this was genuinely achieved through skillful and subtle film-making rather than preaching pseudo-philosophical student claptrap at the audience. It thinks that through its "post-modern" trickery that it includes and involves the viewer directly, just as the killer attempts to "include" his victims in the "project" but the end result for me was bored, irritated alienation. The performances are acceptable but nothing special and Kevin Howarth as Max has his work cut out delivering leaden text to us in tedious video-diary-style scenes, of which there are too many. If you want to see a film with this kind of theme, rent Man Bites Dog and let your conscience lecture you, not some self-regarding film student.
Review of The Last Horror Movie
