Rachel (Crisann Smith) is lookin’ forward to a lil’ girl time with her gal pal Tammy (Arlette Yousif), but R-dawgs other pal, Sandy (Tommie Vegas), has some other plans…
Arriving on Rachel’s doorstep, bloodied and decidedly a bit “off”, Sandy spins a wild yarn about her eerie evening spent up to her armpits in the murder biz… biz that she willfully committed, and now she wants to turn her ghoulish gaze upon Rachel for further mayhem!
Comprised of an all female cast, muted (almost ’70s style) color palette, and some great twists; Can I Kill You is a testament to what you can do in a single location, with limited budget and effects, as long as you are locked and loaded with a strong cast and script.
Writer/director Nicholas Grant is not one to shy away from slasher flick tropes, or standing said tropes on their head, and this sinister short is all the better for it. Just when you are sure you have guessed how this story is going to play out, ol’ Grant throws a monstrous monkey-wrench in the works that changes the putrid paradigm of the piece with the quickness.
And the reason all of that works so well is the strong cast with Smith doing a convincing take on the whole victim bag, and Vegas knockin’ shit out of the park with a convincing performance both charismatic and unhinged!
If there is a negative to be had here, it’s that the sound could use a bump of the good ol’ sweetening as the performances appear to have been recorded “live” and contain a good bit of echo.
Bottom line; Can I Kill You is a rock-solid sinister short that has some real freaky fun with the genre conventions on hand, and it truly entertains! Set your putrid peepers on this one when you can cats n’ creeps!
- “Yes”, Tommie Vegas was in my short film, and “no” that had no influence over this review, but you can use that info as you wish…
