[Fall Down Dead]
Plot:Involves a serial killer nicknamed "The Picasso Killer" who uses human victims as his canvas for his artwork. He begins his hunt for new "prospects" during a citywide blackout.

Cast:Udo Kier, David Carradine, Mehmet Gunsur, Keith Harris, Monica Dean, Jennifer Alden, Austin James, Burgess Jenkins, Dominique Swain.

My Thoughts:Beware "The Picasso Killer".

Review:"Fall Down Dead", for Director Jon Keeyes...presents a very intriguing scenario for a modern-day slasher movie. The grunge and bright lights of New York City, a blackout, and a serial killer being on the loose in the midst of the outage. In the film, a single mother (Swain) on her way home from work runs across a dying woman in an alley, and at the center of her death is a man named "The Picasso Killer" (Kier), who we see at the start of the film strike against a woman in an underground parking lot. He kills his victims by slashing them skillfully, and leaving a signature marking on their bodies.

The Picasso Killer has designs on Swain's character as his first "new prospect"...but she has other ideas...like getting the hell out of dodge. Which she does, and manages to escape into a nearby office building where she is safe for the time being. Once two detectives are called to take her statement of what she saw in the alley, the blackout hits the building and ends up locking everyone inside. With no way out, the plan is for everyone to stay in the residence until the blackout passes...but the Picasso Killer has other ideas, and when he manages to gain access into the building, he begins picking off the occupants one by one...all leading up to Swain's character, who he wants as his main prize. Keeyes is no stranger to this genre.

He brought us another exciting indie slasher back in 2002-2003, "American Nightmare". A film which starred Debbie Rochon as a psycho-killer who stalked and murdered a group of friends on Halloween night, using their fears which she overhears during a radio broadcast by a DJ named Caligari...as a catalyst to dispose of them. He once again strikes gold with "Fall Down Dead". Although the film is not as chilling or as realistic as "AN"...it still captures the thrills and twisted nature of that film.

Of course it's helped by the performance aspect of it all, with Keeyes having the gender roles reversed in this film with a strictly male antagonist and a strictly female victim. Udo Kier, who always plays a good villain, and Dominique Swain, one of Hollywood's underrated and underused...both play off of each other very well in their scenes together and play their roles very good also. Swain, who usually plays the bad girl or the random hot girl, in this picture does an excellent job of transitioning into the seemingly helpless victim, who's character wants to leave New York for this very reason, wanting to move to the country so she can have a safe place to raise her daughter.

And who has to rely heavily on others around her to save her life. In this film, she certainly is not playing the empowered female character that we've all come to see ehr portraying most of the time. While she's not always at the mercy of the killer, she certainly is no Laurie Strode or Sidney Prescott either. Kier's character the Picasso Killer is also an interesting character study. He's a slasher who sometimes slashes his victims like an artist creating a painting...while those who he has no interest in using as a canvas, he takes the more direct approach of shooting them dead so they can't be in his way when he pursues those who he is interested in using.

A demented villain indeed, and a scary character to have lurking around a large New York City office building when there's a blackout in play. There's not alot of blood and gore however in "Fall Down Dead"...and you would think there would be considering who the villain is, and his backstory...but instead Keeyes decides to use suspense, thrills, and chills to push his film forward. Which is similar to what he did in "American Nightmare".

Not using gallons of blood but at the same time, creating a scenario where you know what has happeend to a victim and can even relate to how painful the demise may have been. He's one of the few directors who's good at doing this. The fact that the setting offers a perfect opportunity and fertile ground for using style over gross out factor makes all of that work, instead of falling flat on it's face. There's also alot of strong character development in the film, especially with Swain's character who goes from calm to terrified when she realizes that not only is the Picasso Killer close by, but that he also has her belongings and therefore knows where her daughter is.

This throws a whole new element of terror into the film, and makes the Picasso Killer a more methodical villain who as the films antagonist has alot of options when it comes to his main target. The movies finale offers up some great moments, including a pretty simple yet effective rooftop confrontation...which eventually leads to a chilling conclusion. "Fall Down Dead" is a very good horror/thriller that has all of the proper elements an indie slasher should.

Positives:Good performances by Kier and Swain, good setting for the story to unfold in, good directing, and great suspense as well as a chilling ending.

Negatives:Not much blood and gore and a pretty low body count...if you wanna get picky.

Overall:Three and ahalf out of four stars.





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