Charismatic killers have been a staple of horror movies for ages.  Men who are handsome and charming as well as homicidal like Hannibal Lector, Patrick Bateman, and even the real-life example of Ted Bundy combine sex appeal and serial killer into a chilling combination that is fascinating and entertaining to watch.

Most of the time.

In Dead West, writer/director Jeff Ferrell attempts to create such a character, a sexy ladykiller (and, yeah, that’s exactly how he’s billed in the credits: The Ladykiller) who charms and flirts his way through murder after murder while the brother of one of his victims goes from town to town, hot on his trail.

It sounds great when you first consider it: a cat-and-mouse thriller where the murderer is just one step ahead of justice, taunting his pursuer all the way.

Unfortunately, Dead West is not the thriller it wants to be.

A movie can have a low budget, and still be effective. A great, smart script can save it. Imaginative directing can, too. Heck, even gory, brutal make up effects can make interesting a movie that doesn’t have much else to recommend it.

Dead West has none of these, and much much less.  Brian Sutherland as The Ladykiller is a good enough actor, but just isn’t the charming, sexy, wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing that the story demands.  This is a guy who, according to the script, is charming enough to get just about any woman he meets to go home with him, or to go to her home, almost immediately.  Flirt with a girl at the bar, go outside, kiss. He kills her. Go to breakfast, flirt with waitress who almost immediately tells him to pick her up after work. Goes home with her. Kills her.  Drive-in theater, meet a girl at the snack bar, go back to her car, flirt, hop in back seat with her, kill her (the fact that the movie on the screen is 1980’s Maniac, an arguably more interesting and successful serial killer movie, sadly makes Dead West pale in comparison) (by the way, the only gore we’ve seen onscreen so far is the actual shotgun scene clip from Maniac that the director thought would be an interesting choice as counterpoint. Bad choice, Mr. Ferrell).

The hook is supposed to be that he’s trying to find his perfect woman, and that every girl he meets falls short in some way–but he also has a moral code, since he also kills or threatens to kill a few guys who mistreat their women. Heh, ironic.

The dialogue is clunky, forced, and unnaturally delivered. The directing is tepid and competent, at best. There is zero tension, zero suspense, zero horror, and zero interest. Dead West commits the one unforgivable sin of movies: it’s just boring.  At nearly two hours long, it overstays its welcome by about a hundred and fifty-four minutes. 

Uncle Mike sez: go watch Maniac again. You’ll feel better.