Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer (2010)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

Absolutely Brilliant!

Yes, apparently people in Hollywood think that "flyover country" is entirely inhabited by redneck cannibals. I think they've been milking that meme since "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and it was tired then. So the plot is a dumber than dirt film crew interviews a guy who knows the identity of a notorious serial killer. And he relates in disjointed narrative about how this guy became a serial killer who kills people and then serves them up at a roadside butcher shop. The film treats you to about two hours of misogynistic violence and really, nothing to redeem it. Should have retitled this "Lance Henrickson needs Booze Money", because it's the only explanation for his participation I can understand. I think Rae Dawn Chong was in this, but I couldn't see where. (I think she played one of the interview subjects.)

Cinematography: 7/10 Usually fine, but sometimes too dark, or out of focus, or nearly mono color. Perhaps this was for artistic effect, but I find that irritating without any sort of recompense.Sound: 8/10 Usually well done.Acting: 7/10 Harris, Krause, and Henriksen were credible. The other actors were a full level less skilled. Krause still seems to be trying to break out of typecasting from his long stint on the television series Charmed. I liked his performance here, though, better than in some of his earlier bad guy horror film roles.Screenplay: 8/10 Mosaic films can be awfully bad, but this one was well written, even if the content is disgusting. The flashbacks (the mother) and four interview streams (with Emmett, with the two medical experts, with the prison interviewees) are well meshed. The harsh ending makes sense once one gets there.

...no matter how many genre names are attached to it, but especially when they're helmed by an unknown auteur. "Cyrus..." is uninspired and uninspiring, derivative junk, plain and simple. Presented as the tale of a documentary in the making, it offers nothing in the way of surprises or trenchant commentary on either its ostensible subject or anything else.The participation of genre actors like Brian "Charmed" Krause, Danielle "Halloween" Harris, and most pointedly, Lance "Pumpkinhead" Henriksen (never mind bit parts from the likes of Doug "Pan's Labyrinth" Jones, Rae Dawn "Tales From the Darkside: The Movie" Chong, and Tiffany "Night of the Demons" Shepis) is no guarantee of genuine appeal to fandom; in fact, it seems almost as crass as the blatant cribbing of the title from the far, far better "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." The making-of feature on the DVD is revealing, as the auteur and various actors prattle on about the film as if it were something out of the unextraordinary. I couldn't help but snicker as I observed that theater prowess does not a filmmaker make.Really, the less said about this one the better. It's make-work and paycheck-taking, nothing more. That it went straight to video is telling enough. I'm glad I lost nothing more than a smidgen of time watching it, even if those are brain cells I'll never recover.

A small independent news crew investigates a series of unexplained disappearances in a small Midwestern county.This film will be a treat for those who love horror icons. Brian Krause ("Sleepwalkers") stars as Cyrus, with plenty of screen time for Danielle Harris as Maria and Lance Henriksen as Emmett. Even Doug Jones and Tiffany Shepis show up for a while.This film has received some criticism for not being very original and following old horror movie, especially slasher, clichés. And yes, it does have some. But I think this was sort of the point... clearly the writer-director is a horror fan based on his casting, so he must have been paying homage to his favorites. This is no different than what Rob Zombie did with "House of 1000 Corpses" (though that one was a little too blatant in my opinion).The film claims to be based on true events, which I strongly suspected was completely false. I called out director Mark Vadik on this, and he set the record straight: it is, in fact, based very loosely on the life of serial killer Fritz Haarmann, with some background details of other serial killers thrown in. So, I suppose, we have to let this slide. (I strongly urge you to look into Haarmann's story -- it is pretty graphic, and a closer telling would be an amazingly demented film.)Vadik also informed me that the claim of the film being banned in six countries is true. They are ones you might expect -- United Arab Emirates and the Middle Eastern countries -- but this is still a cool claim. While any number of reasons could be behind the ban, there is one sequence involving breast feeding that likely got some people's heckles raised.Check this one out. This is a breakout role for Brian Krause, who was already a big star from "Charmed". He spent much time researching killers -- particularly BTK and the Green River Killer -- for this role, and even did much of the second unit directing, picking up important shots of death scenes. His work is subtle, but the reason the film is good rather than forgettable.