I Am Not a Serial Killer is so many things at once. Pitched somewhere between The Thing, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Fargo, and American Psycho, with a thematic hint of Blue Velvet. The idea of all this stuffed into a YA novel adaptation should maybe tell you something about what’s so exciting about I Am Not A Serial Killer.

It follows a clinically sociopathic teenager and his fascination with a spate of killings in his local, isolated suburban town. Which is where it has that Blue Velvet sense of untold evils infesting the sweet suburbia. The film IANASK starts out looking a tad cliche, it has your typical bullies and kids riding along on bikes, but it very quickly changes gears into something much more impressive and fresh. It’s not big and shouty and world saving like the big YA franchises, it’s a small story with real drama and believable and interesting characters.

It’s not big and shouty and world saving like the big YA franchises, it’s a small story with real drama and believable and interesting characters. 

There is so much to like about this film, it has so many moments that are incredibly striking, with a surprising amount of drama and tension. It is a character study of a young sociopath, and treats him in a way that doesn’t wholly demonise him. The central performance by Max Records is incredible. The more eye catching performance goes to Christopher Lloyd, but Records is still a more than capable lead. However the emotional heart to the film lies in Laura Frasier’s character.

I’m trying to really hard not to give everything away about this film which is really hard, and it’s preventing me from expressing how exciting this film is.

James Selway

Image courtesy of IFC Midnight