Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Office Killer (2002) |
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Review of Office Killer
- Favorite screen stars Jeanne Tripplehorn (MICKEY BLUE EYES, SLIDING DOORS), Carol Kane (THE PALLBEARER, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES), and Molly Ringwald (TEACHING MRS. TINGLE, BETSY'S WEDDING) head a great cast in this campy and darkly hilarious thriller! Dorine (Kane) is a quiet and hardworking social outcast who has endured years of abuse as the office doormat. Then one day, this mild-mannered paper pusher accidentally electrocutes one particularly obnoxious coworker ... and in the process, completely short-circuits her already unstable sanity! From that moment on, Dorine comes to believe that any office mate can be her best friend -- once they're dead! An outrageous display of the creepier side of office politics -- Dimension Home Video is pleased to bring you an unusually entertaining motion picture that's destined to kill you with comedy!
Description
- Photographer and director Cindy Sherman has obviously always been interested in film. Her well-known Untitled Film Stills, from movies that don't exist--pregnant scenes that seem as though they are in medias res but are really staged--feature diverse characters who, upon closer examination, prove to be Sherman herself, every time. Her 1998 film debut, Office Killer, takes her postmodern playfulness with such narrative frames out of the equation--and leaves us with something more flatly macabre and less subtle than Sherman's other work.
Here, Carol Kane plays Dorine, a mousy, lonely, and introverted copyeditor for a consumer publication. Think for a moment what kind of person a copyeditor must be: this is the person whose job, whose passion, it is to know exactly where the apostrophe goes and to know the difference between effect and affect. The pressure can get to you.
Tyrannized at home by a domineering mother and tyrannized at work by backstabbing coworkers, downsizing, and newfangled computers, Dorine finds that the copy she cleans up is her only pleasure in life. As pressure builds and builds--Kane's performance exhibits amazing mastery of body language--Dorine finally caves and steps into an insanity that, in a horrifying, animalian fashion, has its own pleasantness and reason. Despite Kane's strong acting here, she is supported by flattish performances from Molly Ringwald, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Barbara Sukowa.
It is unclear if Sherman means to serve or redefine the concept of narrative through this emotional detachment she brings to the screen. Certainly, this isn't a conventional film, and its cinematography and innovative story are indeed attention-keeping, even entertaining, on a horror-flick level at least. If her goal is to serve narrative canonically, then she fails almost miserably. If her goal is to redefine narrative, then she may have achieved something here that most critics aren't clueing into. It's just unclear what this achievement is. --Erik J. Macki
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Comments for Office Killer
- Posted on 2006-03-19
Dorine Douglas
I enjoyed this film so much. And the key to enjoying it is to get rid of any preconceived ideas of what a horror film should be like. It keeps a sarcastic tone from beginning to end, and to tell you the truth, I spent a considerable part of the movie laughing when I was supposed to be scared. Carol Kane is fantastic as Dorine, and her performance alone is worth the price of the DVD. The soundtrack is also great and very fitting to the atmosphere. Just watch the opening credits and you'll know what I'm talking about!
Score: 5
- Posted on 2004-09-06
Citizen Kane
Photographer and director Cindy Sherman has been watching too many horror movies. This one is definitely the classic formula First an accident, then maybe another, then the trigger. Freud would be proud of this one.
No matter how fun this movie looks do not try this at home. And no, this is not what is meant by downsizing.
Dorine (Carol Kane) is working for a publisher that is about to downsize the office. The office is sort of dysfunctional anyway. Her character is more in line with Milton Waddams `Office Space' (1999). There may be a sub plot to this. Mean while it seems that everyone involved with making Dorine uncomfortable is invited to stay at her place. FOREVER.
So get out the sticky tape and popcorn to watch this one.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2004-03-13
KILLER KANE
THE MAIN REASON to see this off-kilter black comedy is Carol Kane. Kane, once nominated for an Oscar for her role in HESTER STREET, went on to play the dispatcher on TAXI, but we've never really seen that much of her. In her role as Dorine Douglas, the titled murderer, she gives a performance that is totally awesome. Kane uses her put upon persona, her deeply infested hate and hurt to bring Dorine to vicious life. Her scene when she finds her mother dead is brilliant in its intensity and the way Kane is able to jump back and forth. It's not easy playing a wacko and getting away with it. Here, Kane shines in a performance that should not have been overlooked at Oscar time.
Only Molly Ringwald as the bitchy coworker gives more than a passing performance; Jeanne Tripplehorn almost makes it, but the rest of the cast, well...
Anyway, this is NOT a pleasant movie, and along with CHRISTINA'S HOUSE gives further credence to the ban on door to door selling.
Worth a rent just to see Kane's killer performance!
Score: 4 - Posted on 2004-01-04
Art at it's horrific core!!
A real gem from Cindy Sherman's creepier side.
Stellar casting! Molly Ringwald is stunning! Carol Kane is classic!The clear packing tape scene still gives me the willies. PURE GENIUS!!!
=^..^=
Score: 5 - Posted on 2003-08-29
An artsy horror flick!!
I think this is a fabulous independent film. People are acting shocked and disgusted by this movie, but what did they expect?The movie, after all, is called office killer!! It's campy and over the top, like most great horror films. Watch this movie with an open mind and enjoy!!
Score: 5