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Film: I Am Going to Kill Someone This Friday
Year: 2018
Director: Durden Godfrey
Writer: Durden Godfrey, Taurean Royal and Jared Rush
Starring: Faneal Godbold, David E. McMahon and Traci L. Newman
Review:
This was a film that I got the pleasure of checking out when director and writer Durden Godfrey reached out for me to view it for review. The official synopsis is Robert Partridge lives a normal life with his normal family in a normal neighborhood, working a normal job. But Robert is not normal.
We first get a couple of police detectives in a car arrive to a house. A man answers the door, getting the newspaper as they walk up.
As stated in the synopsis, this film follows Robert Partridge (Tom Siedle). He is married to Georgette (Traci L. Newman) and they have a son, Bobby (Camson Alevy). Georgette seems to be a stay home mother while Robert works in an advertising firm. They are doing pretty well for themselves and they look to be a normal family. Robert might be a little bit strict, but he is making sure that Bobby grows up the correct way. We start this journey on Monday.
Early on we learn that something might not be quite right with Robert, he keeps seeing people just staring at him. Are they really there or is he just seeing them? Robert is also harboring some things that happened to him when he was younger and how he reacted to them. There is also an interesting interaction at the coffee shop where Robert reveals that he is going to kill someone this Friday to the barista. He doesn’t believe him and this early in the film, I wasn’t necessarily sure if I did either.
As the film progresses though, we get a great look at Robert descending into madness. He zones out when people are talking to him. His temper is also something that is very close to snapping quite a few times. The film has a great sense of dread that just continued to grow throughout.
Going with this dread, the tension of the film builds the more we see things happen. With each passing day as we see Robert slipping deeper into madness. It becomes more and more of is he going to kill someone to whom is he going to kill. Now if you think that is going to spoil this, there are quite a few different people that are possible targets.
There is even more to this though. Robert also affects those around him to make different choices than what they would before their encounter. This just doesn’t apply to his wife, son or other family members, but those around him as well; including one that will change the course of many other lives as well.
I can’t talk about the acting in this film without talking about Siedle. He kills this role. From the first scene with him, I was hooked. Watching him as he descends deeper into madness had me locked in and made me feel quite uncomfortable in such a great way. I thought Newman and Alevy did really good as well. You can see them walking on eggshells not knowing which version of Siedle they will get. When he is doing good, everything seems great, but he can snap at any time. I thought the rest of the cast round the film very well for what they needed as well.
There’s not really a lot in the way of effects for the film, but it also didn’t really need it. The effects we do get seemed to be practical and I thought they were well done. The color and look of the blood in the film was good. Even more importantly though would be how the film is shot, which was beautiful. Some creative angles were used which helps to build the surreal feel that this film has at times. Going on from there, I really like the montage sequences that are used when Robert is losing his grip on reality. The images we see make sense in the end and tie back into a few different things as well.
Something else I that I thought was really good was the score of the film. It is used quite masterfully in my opinion. There are times it stands out and helps to make it feel even creepier. It is even used in scenes where it might not be something scary going on, but it gives it that feel. We also get times where the audio disappears and this helps set the tone. It also has its more subtle moments when we need the interactions on the screen to take precedence.
Now with that said, I am definitely glad I got a chance to see this film. It has an interesting story that has some depth to it. Not knowing what someone is harboring inside is a scary and real thing, something we see a lot of today. Knowing what is coming doesn’t ruin the film, but trying to figure out why and to who definitely sparks your interest early. The editing of the film helps to build tension to a satisfying conclusion. The acting in the film, especially from Siedle was great. The rest of the cast round out the film well. There aren’t a lot in the way of effects, but the ones used looked good. It is also shot beautifully. The soundtrack does a great job in helping build what the film is going for while also knowing when it should be more subtle. I definitely recommend seeing this haunting film if you get a chance. I think overall I’d say this is one is really good.
My Rating: 9 out of 10