KILLER PICKTON was made in summer 2005 in the Northeast USA, with additional scenes shot in Los Angeles and Heidelheim (Germany). It fits into director Ulli Lommel's production schedule shortly after he made GREEN RIVER KILLER and BTK KILLER. Unlike GRK, KILLER PICKTON plays out in the mode of one of Lommel's earlier "rustic" films, such as DEVONSVILLE TERROR, which similarly unraveled a loose plot around extraordinary forested green scenery and crusty Americana horror.
KILLER PICKTON was made, also, shortly after Lommel completed DANIEL - DER ZAUBERER, a movie that one reviewer called a "grotesque experimental" film. KILLER PICKTON's attempted subjective portrait of the killer and vivid flashbacks are dressed up in editing "shock cuts" to accompany barely visible atrocities or perversions happening in the mind of "Billy Pickton," the main character study here. A barely-in-name-only reference to Robert Pickton, the Canadian pig farmer who killed many prostitutes in Vancouver, Billy is shown to be pretty mellow for a psychopath. The "monstrousness" of the killer is paralleled in the oft-repeated image of the woodchipper spewing some kind of colorless grue that Pickton fondles -- on his knees -- sticking his entire face into some of it.
The film does little to capture the real Pickton's murderous rampage, and many facts about the case are ignored. The occasionally experimental style of KILLER PICKTON suggests that Lommel wanted to do for PSYCHO-styled horror movies what he tried to do for musicals in DANIEL. Unfortunately, both attempts don't work well for the same reasons -- in KILLER PICKTON, the talent in front of the camera is lacklustre (and Curtis Graan makes a zombie-like Pickton) and behind the camera technical credits are poor -- including Lommel as "Bianco Pacelli" photographing on a digital video format).
Ex-Cinefantastique magazine editor Jeff Frentzen joined Lommel's production circus as of KILLER PICKTON, and appears to have been central to the film's conception and execution (no pun intended) -- he not only co-wrote and co-produced with Lommel, he plays the lead role (under the Graan pseudonym) and I think it's his house that forms the central location in the movie.
Lommel diverts us away from the horrible realities of the real Pickton. The death sequences are practically bloodless and bland. Lommel puts more effort into conveying the fantasies and dreams of Pickton, with a torturously labored voice-over of Pickton ranting about women as demons; and the recounting of the bizarre deaths of both parents. Viewers looking for an A&E-type police procedural are going to wonder what sort of backwood horror they done dropped in on. Some have objected to KILLER PICKTON on legal grounds, claiming the Canadian law of banning media publicity on an ongoing capital murder trial should be obeyed. Well, the movie *was* successfully banned in North America based on that law.
I was struck by how pathetic the Pickton character is and that he does not convey much range of emotion until one of the victims -- played by pixie-ish Heidi Rhodes, all fingers on her face and grinning gums -- decides to hold a conversation with him and gains his sympathy. He stills kills her, but as one of the 3 or 4 narrators in the film remarks, she was "the only woman he ever cared for."
Throughout, the hints at the character's redemption hint at deeper meanings that surface once or twice in the narrative. These types of subtleties noticeably escaped Lommel when he made his subsequent serial-killer direct-to-DVD thrillers. KILLER PICKTON stands slightly apart for its mysterious back-story as a so-called "banned movie"; its visual design and atmospherics, which as I said before resonate with the DANIEL film, which like KP is also virtually unseen. Finally, KILLER PICKTON adds slightly to the filmic lexicon of "abused-as-child-guy-turns-psycho" flicks, attempting to elaborate on the killer's motivations via voice-over narration. If you ever wanted to know what goes on in the head of a notorious near-cannibal mass murderer, KILLER PICKTON is for you.
KILLER PICKTON was made, also, shortly after Lommel completed DANIEL - DER ZAUBERER, a movie that one reviewer called a "grotesque experimental" film. KILLER PICKTON's attempted subjective portrait of the killer and vivid flashbacks are dressed up in editing "shock cuts" to accompany barely visible atrocities or perversions happening in the mind of "Billy Pickton," the main character study here. A barely-in-name-only reference to Robert Pickton, the Canadian pig farmer who killed many prostitutes in Vancouver, Billy is shown to be pretty mellow for a psychopath. The "monstrousness" of the killer is paralleled in the oft-repeated image of the woodchipper spewing some kind of colorless grue that Pickton fondles -- on his knees -- sticking his entire face into some of it.
The film does little to capture the real Pickton's murderous rampage, and many facts about the case are ignored. The occasionally experimental style of KILLER PICKTON suggests that Lommel wanted to do for PSYCHO-styled horror movies what he tried to do for musicals in DANIEL. Unfortunately, both attempts don't work well for the same reasons -- in KILLER PICKTON, the talent in front of the camera is lacklustre (and Curtis Graan makes a zombie-like Pickton) and behind the camera technical credits are poor -- including Lommel as "Bianco Pacelli" photographing on a digital video format).
Ex-Cinefantastique magazine editor Jeff Frentzen joined Lommel's production circus as of KILLER PICKTON, and appears to have been central to the film's conception and execution (no pun intended) -- he not only co-wrote and co-produced with Lommel, he plays the lead role (under the Graan pseudonym) and I think it's his house that forms the central location in the movie.
Lommel diverts us away from the horrible realities of the real Pickton. The death sequences are practically bloodless and bland. Lommel puts more effort into conveying the fantasies and dreams of Pickton, with a torturously labored voice-over of Pickton ranting about women as demons; and the recounting of the bizarre deaths of both parents. Viewers looking for an A&E-type police procedural are going to wonder what sort of backwood horror they done dropped in on. Some have objected to KILLER PICKTON on legal grounds, claiming the Canadian law of banning media publicity on an ongoing capital murder trial should be obeyed. Well, the movie *was* successfully banned in North America based on that law.
I was struck by how pathetic the Pickton character is and that he does not convey much range of emotion until one of the victims -- played by pixie-ish Heidi Rhodes, all fingers on her face and grinning gums -- decides to hold a conversation with him and gains his sympathy. He stills kills her, but as one of the 3 or 4 narrators in the film remarks, she was "the only woman he ever cared for."
Throughout, the hints at the character's redemption hint at deeper meanings that surface once or twice in the narrative. These types of subtleties noticeably escaped Lommel when he made his subsequent serial-killer direct-to-DVD thrillers. KILLER PICKTON stands slightly apart for its mysterious back-story as a so-called "banned movie"; its visual design and atmospherics, which as I said before resonate with the DANIEL film, which like KP is also virtually unseen. Finally, KILLER PICKTON adds slightly to the filmic lexicon of "abused-as-child-guy-turns-psycho" flicks, attempting to elaborate on the killer's motivations via voice-over narration. If you ever wanted to know what goes on in the head of a notorious near-cannibal mass murderer, KILLER PICKTON is for you.