Killer Advice opens with a traumatic event that takes place in an abandoned parking garage. With Beth still reeling from the attack, she follows her best friends’ advice to visit a therapist. While wait to see the recommended doctor, she runs into Marsha, a therapist in the same suite. We then learn early on that Marsha isn’t who she claims to be. What follows is a decent enough thriller that tends to lack any actual thrills.

Killer Advice is framed as a thriller through and through. The problem lies in the fact that the story beats have been used in the past so much that nothing really comes at a shock which in turn takes away from the suspense that the film is trying to build. From the get go, we’ve seen this all before. We know who the villain is from the beginning, we know who is going to survive and who doesn’t, and we know how it’s all going to end.

Kate Watson as Beth does well to convey a mother trying her best in a challenging situation. Meredith Thomas as Marsha is great as the antagonist. She is able to show the right amount of malice without being over the top. The rest of the cast is serviceable at best. They tend to fall more in line with the standard troupes that we’ve seen countless times before.

The writing itself does have moments where it shines. It never falls into worn ideas of Beth being treated like she is overreacting or that seeing a therapist is a bad thing. These may seem like small things but watching a movie where the lead woman isn’t being treated like some over emotional wreak goes a long way. Its moments like this that make you see that there is something meaningful under that the bland points.

The editing and sound design can help elevate a movie but that’s not the case here. The editing is serviceable at best, with a majority of it being okay. There are moments that can leave you confused about timing and whats going on exactly. Adding rough cuts that are meant to be flashbacks does not really help the situation. The sound is passable. With scenes mostly being mixed evenly, though there are moments where that isn’t the case.

With the bland story, okay overall acting and sometimes above average writing, Killer Advice tends to be a rather boring affair. And that’s the biggest issue with Killer Advice, it’s just boring. The idea of a thriller about a therapist that actively wants to hurt you could have been a tense experience since this does play into some people’s misgivings and fears of therapy as a whole. But instead of exploring and expanding on that foundation, it just falls into the usual trappings of every other meh thriller we’ve seen.

Could Killer Advice have been worse? Absolutely. There are moments though, that just make you with it was better. The best advice I can give if you decide to give it a shot is try not to fall asleep.

4 out of 10