‘I’m tired of living like this, Chip…’
Trent Haaga is a lowkey triple threat having starred in and written several low-budget horror films (many of them for legendary production company Troma), before moving into directing himself with 2011’s Chop. 68 Kill, his third film behind the camera, was my first encounter with Haaga and his work, and I’m suitably intrigued by it to ensure that I’ll be checking out the rest of his oeuvre in due course…
Utterly dominated by his bombshell prostitute girlfriend, Liza (AnnaLynne McCord), Chip (Matthew Gray Gubler), our hapless protagonist, is reluctantly persuaded by Liza to steal $68,000 from one of her clients. In true After Hours style, things escalate from there, eventually taking in a psychotic emo gas station attendant (Sheila Vand), Liza’s murderous and perverted brother, Dwayne (Sam Eidson), and a whole Tarantino movie’s worth of violence.
68 Kill is the kind of film that is perfectly enjoyable in the moment but leaves no lasting impression whatsoever, despite it’s salacious content. If someone asks me if I’ve seen 68 Kill in two years time, I will no doubt innocently answer in the negative, because it will have almost certainly have slipped my mind. Haaga keeps the action moving along nicely, there is a comedic set piece, an act of violence, or a sex scene roughly every ten minutes (a trick he probably picked up from working with Troma), and the game cast ensure that things never stray too far from reality, but I can’t in good conscience say that I cared too much about the fate of any of the characters despite a winning performance from Gubler in the lead role.
If you’re looking for something to occupy your mind and provide a few cheap thrills and spills for 95 minutes, this is the film for you. Just don’t expect it to change your life.
