Murderous Intentions

A filmmaker follows a serial killer around in order to get a behind the scenes insight into the murderous lifestyle.

Jason (Claffey) is a journalist who has had an idea for a documentary. He has managed to befriend local serial killer, Richard (Landells) and the two of them think that they could even get to Cannes if they filmed their exploits in serial killing and constructed a hard-hitting documentary from the results.

Marketed as a found-footage film, Murderous Intentions supposedly takes us through the evidence left on Jason’s camera as he was following Richard around and putting his film together. The footage flits between colour and black-and-white scenes, where Jason and Richard interview certain individuals about police procedure and crime investigation, as well as following women about on the streets of London before killing them.

There’s a lot of talk throughout the film about killing and the method of killing but at the same time there’s also a lot of incidental chat about the camera and about the making of the so-called documentary. In-between all of the talking we watch as Jason and Richard inveigle themselves into women’s lives and homes and eventually kill them.

For a film that is supposedly trying to be hard-hitting and revolutionary in its content, the killing is all done off camera and the struggle of the victims is lacklustre and short-lived in all cases. Every time a woman dies, all it takes is a quick twenty seconds of choking and then a few bops on the head with a hammer and it’s all over. Then Richard smiles into the camera, laughs, and the two of them pop off for a cup of coffee.

The number of women that are approached and interviewed on camera also gives us an indication of just how prolific a serial killer Richard really is. It seems like every girl on the street is just another victim waiting to be suffocated, as they answer questions about their personal life and give away details of their routine and security measures without a second thought. If serial killing really was this easy on the streets of London then it would be a really large indictment of the Metropolitan Police Force.

Fortunately though, Murderous Intentions is a failed attempt at a new take on the found-footage thriller, and it’s easy to see through the limited scope of the film, with its genuinely bad acting, poor scripting, repeated scenes and phrases, and usage of a hand held camera to cover up the fact that there’s no expertise or production going on behind the scenes.

Despite all the talking and the interviews, nothing is gained from watching Murderous Intentions, and there’s a feeling that all we’re seeing is a perverse fantasy where women get choked out and beaten to death repeatedly. There’s no real explanation as to why this film was made and there’s no real investigation into the motivations or the personality of the killer. So, if it’s not a character study, nor a procedural insight, nor a testament to uncovering a sick mind, then what is Murderous Intentions really about? The thing is that in all of its seventy-eight minute runtime we never really find out, and even then you’d have had to stay interested all the way along, which is no mean feat in itself.