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After having killed his grandparents (Cassandra Gava, Jerry Irons), Young Ed (Benjamin Philip) was sent to a mental institution - and considered sane and released at age 21 (and now played by Brandon Kirk). Against the advice of everyone, he retuns into care of his alcoholic and abusive mother Clarnell (Susan Priver), and her behaviour towards her son hasn't changed one bit since then, if anything she has grown more abusive and leaves no opportunity unseized to make Ed feel less than a man - which of course doesn't sit well with Ed, who just adores tough guys like John Wayne. And that Ed isn't much of a ladies' man nor the best looker doesn't help much either. Bearing all that in mind, it shouldn't really surprise anyone that Ed's frustration eventually boils over and he invites two young and pretty female hitchhikers into his car to brutally murder, dismember and rape them (in that order), making polaroids of everything as he goes along. Now he might not be a bejius, but he's also not stupid and knows what he did is wrong - but on the other hand, he finds this a perfect way to vent his frustrations and feel master of the world, so soon he makes it his habit to cruise the area around the local college to look for pretty co-eds to take for a ride - to treat them the same way as the two hitchhikers, and he soon becomes known as th co-ed killer. In a bitter ironic twist, he often gets girls to ride with him by warning them of the co-ed killer. Now his mother, insensitive as she might be, notices a change in her son, and not for the better, but she's too caught up in her own frustration about having to keep her lesbian relationship with Sally (Brinke Stevens) a secret to really be able to be the mother to her son he desperately needs, so things get on a downward spiral rather quickly ...

Now this is definitely not a film for the faint of heart, and not so much for its violence - sure, there's plenty of that, too, and it's suitably graphic - but because the film dives deep into the psyche of its .lead, a ruthless and perverted serialkiller, and makes him somewhat relatable ... and I have to stress here, it makes him relatable, not his deeds, one can feel his frustrations, which of course make his reactions to them understandable on one hand, all the more shocking on the other. This is of course thanks to a clever script that doesn't portray its central character as an outright monster, and also to an actually likeable performance by Brandon Kirk, who's of course helped by a very able ensemble. And the result is a film definitely not for everyone, but if you're in the mood for something very dark, then this is definitely worth a watch.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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