Killers Anonymous [Blu-Ray]

Director: Martin Owen

Cast: Tommy Flanagan, Rhyon Nicole Brown, Gary Oldman

Release Date: August 27, 2019

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

Tensions mount at Killers Anonymous, a support group for killers, as the members of the group try to unravel a mystery: Which one of them is responsible for the assassination attempt on a U.S. senator that has the police in the city on high alert?

‘Killers Anonymous’ joins a support group for killers on the eve of an assassination attempt that one of them just may be responsible for. As these various murdering individuals gather and begin to share stories and recount previous killings from their lives, each begins to offer a glimpse into their own world, even amidst the plethora of lies. But as more secrets and motives continue to reveal themselves and things become increasingly tense between these familiar strangers, each of these killers will have to attempt to uncover the true intentions of everyone else in the room and decide who they can trust and where they stand before it costs them their lives.

Directed by Martin Owen (Let’s Be Evil) from a screenplay he additionally co-wrote with Elizabeth Morris (Let’s Be Evil) and Seth Johnson (TV’s SoCal Now), Owen does a great job at the helm of ‘Killers Anonymous’ guiding along the thriller with some dark humor and plenty of style. The film also features a capable cast that includes Tommy Flanagan (TV’s Sons of Anarchy), Rhyon Nicole Brown (TV’s Empire), Jessica Alba (Machete), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), MyAnna Buring (Kill List), Michael Socha (Papillon) and more, with the majority delivering solid overall performances in each of their respective roles and helping tremendously to keep things moving along smoothly.

‘Killers Anonymous’ is a fairly engaging thriller with a decent mystery at its core, along with plenty of bright overpowering colors contributing to a visually welcoming style and tone that often makes for a nice contradiction to the film’s dark nature. The occasionally excessive and almost cringe-worthy CGI gore effects can be somewhat distracting in a few of the more violent sequences and it does have some trouble finding itself early on, stumbling a bit out of the door. But the various positive elements such as its originality, generally smart story and its visual style and tone complimented by those bright and vivid colors prominently featured throughout certainly help tremendously. As does the capable guidance of director Martin Owen and an altogether talented cast that includes Tommy Flanagan, Gary Oldman and a number more which allow it to become a unique and enjoyable thriller for the most part populated with dangerous, yet relatable characters that shouldn’t take terribly long to grab your attention and pull you in for a darkly comedic and occasionally quite bloody little ride. Folks who enjoy a slow burn thriller with gorgeous visuals and a solid enough mystery at its center may want to try and check this one out when convenient. It takes a bit to get moving and has a few other hiccups along the way, but altogether makes for a quite competent and beautifully shot thriller with a capable cast that’s probably worth a watch.

Overall, ‘Killers Anonymous’ is a visually breathtaking and fairly clever thriller with its share of questionable characters and various twists and turns along the way. It may struggle to find itself at the beginning and suffers from a few overly goofy moments and some cringe-worthy CGI blood but as a whole ends up delivering a quite fun and engaging film. ‘Killers Anonymous’ is recommended for fans of stylish thrillers with a unique visual style, capable cast and a fun (not to mention fairly original) premise that takes a moment to get its wheels rolling but finds itself delivering in most regards overall, making for a relatively smart ride that should be worth a couple hours of your time if you happen to come across it and should also justify the price of a rental for anyone already looking forward to it.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Killers Anonymous’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks spectacular as a whole and offers a clean, smooth and detailed presentation from start to finish, with the film’s warm, vivid colors looking gorgeous and rich throughout. It holds up quite well even during the few fast moving and occasionally dark action sequences, never resulting in anything onscreen becoming negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a wonderful high definition video presentation that should have no trouble satisfying both fans of the movie and casual viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack provides a crisp, clean and at times fairly active audio presentation throughout. Taking advantage of all five available channels primarily for bits of nature and city activity, as well as music and ambience, while sending a few bullets and other effects throughout the various speakers on occasion as well, and never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a more than capable 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack that’s consistently smooth and sharp; delivering in every way required of it.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Killers Anonymous’ includes a few solid extras. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Director Martin Owen and Cinematographer Havard Helle’, in addition to an ‘Alternate Ending’ (running approximately 8 minutes in length) and a collection of ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 12 minutes altogether). The film’s ‘Trailer’ (approximately 2 minutes) is also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘Killers Anonymous’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Grindstone Entertainment Group & Lionsgate Home Entertainment

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You can purchase your copy of ‘Killers Anonymous’ by clicking on the Amazon cart icon below!