It seems the easiest films to make these days are gore filled horror films. Toss in a few naked breasts, some blood soaked bodies, a heap of intestines and a redneck and voile a horror film is born. Many young film makers are up front and tell you that they made a horror film first because these exploitation films are easier to make, finance and to get distributed, this ensuring the fast track in their careers. The only problem is the glut of these films with few achieving any sort of respectable status only leaves viewers with the same old same old more often than not. With the exception of a few nice touches, CRYUS: MIND OF A SERIAL KILLER is just that.
The film opens with Danielle Harris as Maria, a young reporter for a cable show called LAST STEPS that focuses on gruesome criminal cases, and her cameraman off to visit a small town where a number of women were last seen. All proposed victims of a serial killer, the film cuts between their interviews with a couple of psychologists specializing in serial killers and a meeting with a man who says he knows who the killer was.
Emmett (Lance Henriksen) was a friend to Cyrus, a man he says was the killer. But his views on Cyrus are far different than most would think. After offering Harris proof that Cyrus was the killer (a boxful of driver’s licenses from the victims) he offers to tell her the story as long as the video footage is not used and the town not named. He then sits down to tell her the story of Cyrus.
Years back when Cyrus moved to this town his wife berated him, angry that he chose to purchase a farm with their money in the hopes of making a new life for the two of them and their newborn. She had dreams of the big city and this was exactly what she was trying to leave behind. Things between them were never the same and while he tried to make a living and take care of them, she became the town floozy.
The farm fails but Cyrus discovers he has a knack at hunting. He decides to open a small roadside café serving fresh game but on opening day, his wife takes a salesman back to their place for an afternoon rendezvous. Caught in the act, Cyrus murders the two and then the baby as well to prevent him from experiencing the cold cruel world. As a way to dispose of the bodies, Cyrus grinds them up and sells them as burgers he calls “roadkill” at the café. The meat is a hit with the townsfolk and soon people are coming from all over to taste these delicious burgers.
It all comes to an end when a trio of girls shows and become his next victims. The one has just had a fight with her boyfriend over his infidelity and he comes looking for them. When he doesn’t get the answers he expects, he calls in the state police.
The movie doesn’t cover much new ground. We have the stereotypical redneck who loves to hunt, the roadside café serving people on the menu which comes straight out of the TEXAS CHANISAW playbook. Our killer Cyrus is a man of few words, wronged by his wife and given a wide berth by the sympathetic townsfolk, especially Emmett his only friend. It’s a typical fill in the numbers film with an ending that horror fans will see coming minutes into the film.
So what’s good and bad about it? On the bad side there is some poor acting, set design and costumes in the start. The early scenes of Cyrus have him wearing bib overalls (a Hollywood depiction of redneck if there ever was one). That’s not the bad part, the bad part is that these seem just off the rack which seems odd for someone whose been working in them. The actress playing his wife, which takes place some 30 years ago, has a nude scene which displays a large tattoo that covers most of her back. Suggestion for actresses: if you want roles that involve being someone in the past, don’t get the tattoo – most women didn’t have them back then.
For me one of the worst things is the whole horror porn aspect of it. The name came about a few years back when several movies came out featuring victims being slowly tortured in horror films like this one, most notably HOSTEL. I’ve never been fond of the genre and find it more disturbing than anything else. How does anyone find entertainment in watching someone tortured|? Perhaps I am in the minority but to me these aren’t horror films, they’re voyeur films for twisted minds.
The good parts? More than any other is Lance Henriksen. The man has a certain quality about him that makes him believable in almost anything he does. Here he comes off as a quiet man who just wants folks to leave the town alone and let go of the serial killer story that ended and should remain closed. Throughout the film we have his voice over narration of the story we’re watching. He has a great voice and lends a certain amount of honesty in the way he speaks, you believe everything he’s saying.
The film also offers a few touches of something new in the way the story unfolds and in the tale it tells. Not much but enough to make note of it.
On the whole I’ve seen worse horror films, many in this genre, but CYRUS isn’t as bad as some. There are moments of inspiration in it and anything that gives a part this good to Lance Henriksen deserves mention. I wouldn’t say I would recommend it completely but for fans of the genre you won’t be disappointed. Others should step lightly into this twisted world.
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