Though it got a low rating online, the 2010 indie horror film Kill Katie Malone is definitely worth checking out. With similarities to the 2012 movie The Possession, the plot revolves around an antique box with a ghostly spirit living inside of it that threatens its new owners. Writer/Director Carlos Ramos Jr. did an excellent job. Some of the dialogue is cheesy, but otherwise, much of it sounds very natural to be coming out of college students’ mouths. However, although the theme of the movie is family, the amount of times that the characters call each other “brother” and “the fam” is a bit overdone and unnecessary. The main actors do a great job, including Masiela Lusha, whom you may recognize as Carmen from George Lopez. Also, the structure and pacing of the film is perfectly timed.
The cinematography in this film is done very well. There are a lot of smooth camera pans, nice angles, and rack focus shots throughout the film. There are also several continuous mise-en-scene shots that are executed very nicely, with one being almost two minutes long. There aren’t many special effects going on in this movie, but the effects that are done, are done well and look pretty real. Definitely one of the best is when one of the characters gets “blown away”, in a sense, turning into a skeleton and then disappearing into thin air, and another when a character gets blown to bits.
Many horror movies include gory scenes just to show the gore, but sometimes less is more, especially in this case. Almost all of the incidents that happen to the characters of the film are not shown on screen, but are implied instead. This seems to be a better choice for this film because gore just doesn’t seem necessary, and it is done in a way that the lack of it doesn’t take away from the film at all.
Except for the lack of gore, if that’s something that you are into, this movie has almost everything you want in a horror film. Though it is about a murderous ghostly entity, which has been done many times, it definitely has very original and creative elements to it. It is suspenseful, which is always something you want in a good horror flick. It also includes a ghostly little girl at one point, which, in my opinion, always adds to the creepiness of a film. There are only a few moments that may make you jump, however. But all in all, this is a fairly good horror film and should be watched at least once.
