In the world of dark comedy, it’s often difficult to get the balance between hilarity and depravity correct. In order to nail the genre, you’ve sometimes got to exploit both to large degrees, so that the payoff feels right with the audience and they aren’t left feeling confused. In writer/director Kenneth Lui’s mockumentary Artists in Agony: Hitmen at the Coda Teahouse, that balance is applied, taken up a few thousand notches, and slapped around to create a raucous, hilarious, debauched tale about famous hitmen. 

The crux of the documentary featured in the film is covering the events that led up to a massacre of several hitmen at the Coda Teahouse. In this world, hitmen are essentially celebrities, with some of them attaining rockstar status amongst themselves. They prefer to call themselves “Artists,” though, and make no qualms about being emotionless in fulfilling their obligations. 

Artists in Agony takes its time profiling the group of “artists” and their eccentricities, giving each one a scorecard with stats on how many kills they have, their astrological sign, and other random, oddball facts about them. It goes back and forth between interviews with each one of them and scenes of the documentary crew following them around, sometimes capturing their kills, which include a substantial amount that happen in broad daylight, with many witnesses. 

There is a LARGE cast of assassins here, and the introductory period of meeting them all goes lightning fast, making it difficult to stay on pace and keep track of who is who. Included in this ragtag group are Frosty (Jason Frost), sisters Lucien (Ariadne Shaffer) and Angel (Melanee Nelson), Musical Red Rick (Paul Byrne) and his girlfriend Jewel (Kate Huffman), Lady Faith (Liz Fenning), and more. Part of the fun is getting to meet each one and discover just how absolutely bats*t crazy all of them are.

Every “Artist” has their own take on the death of Rockstar, an assassin who achieved godlike status, and the mysteries surrounding his demise. At first, it feels like an unnecessary subplot, but as the film progresses, it all gets tied together neatly and unexpectedly. The progression of Artists in Agony: Hitmen at the Coda Teahouse as a story is as chaotic as the characters are: all over the place, erratic, and at times long winded. Towards the middle, it does suffer under the weight of its own pacing issues, partly due to the fact that as a viewer, you’re still trying to keep up with who is who, and what their personalities are.

Despite this, there are true laugh out loud moments in this movie. The sheer absurdity of their actions, as deplorable and shocking as they may be, can’t help but be viewed as hilarity. Let’s not be mistaken: this isn’t for the faint of heart. Thankfully, Lui and company know exactly what kind of film they wanted to make, and include comical warnings and disclaimers at the beginning. 

You’ve got to have the right sense of humor to truly enjoy Artists in Agony: Hitmen at the Coda Teahouse, but that’s part of what makes it work. This is a what you see, is what you get production, fraught with over the top violence and certifiably insane, scandalous characters. The world that both cast and crew have created is one that’s both original and outlandish. Despite the pacing issues, this is something that could easily be a 6-8 episode series, if for nothing more than to further delve into this society that reveres and idolizes hired hitmen.

If dark, dark comedy is your cup of tea, buckle up and get on this ride. It’s a wild one.