A 2-4-1 Special of Corin Nemec in Horror (PT II)

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A 2-4-1- Special of Corin Nemec in Horror Part II.

By: Brian Cotnoir

The Return of Corin Nemec

     Some of you may remember that in February of 2013 we celebrated “Corin Nemec Appreciation Month” on the blog, where I only reviewed films that featured the acting talents of Mr. Corin Nemec.  However, I realized the irony of “Corin Nemec Appreciation Month” a few months later that I only wrote positive reviews for two of the films.  In fact, in my “2-4-1 Special of Corin Nemec in Horror (Part I)” review I bashed his acting and said that they were both the worst films he was ever featured in.  So, I would like this week to review two more Horror films that I saw that starred Corin Nemec and I will attempt to do him some justice, but first a little background ont the two films I’m reviewing today.                              

He's not a really good screenwriter

Most of the Horror films that I’ve seen Corin Nemec in are Serial Killer Biopics which were all written and directed by the same man; Michael Feifer. Between 2007-2009 Fiefer wrote and directed 6 Horror Films that were based on popular American Serial Killers.  They were all released straight to video/DVD by the same company—Barnholtz Entertainment—and they all pretty much have the same plot:  It starts out with a early look into the life of an American Serial killer and in 10-15 minutes the audience is supposed to get a loose interpretation of the events that led them to commit their crimes.  Everyone at the Police Station is looking for the killer, the Police Chief (Or Police Commissioner) is being a total d!ck because he wants the killer captured and brought to justice.  There is one older male on the police force that takes a special interest, and makes it his mission to find and stop the killer himself.  Out of the 6 Serial Killer Biopic films that Michael Fiefer wrote and directed, three of them feature Corin Nemec.  The first was “Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck”, which I despised entirely, and the other two—which I am reviewing today—“Bundy: An American Icon” and “Boston Strangler: The Untold Story”, both of which were filmed in 2008.

Bundy: An American Icon

Yeah...that doesn't look
anything like Corin Nemec.

So right away from the opening scene of “Bundy” I am immediately reminded of “Chicago Massacre”, and I call that strike one against this film.  Then his opening monologue speech is very reminiscent of Otis B. Driftwoods “I Am the Devil Speech” from “The Devils Rejects” and I counted that as strike two against this film.  Within 5 minutes of watching this film I was prepared to despise it, but much to my surprise it gradually improved.  Corin Nemec’s acting in the film get’s better and better throughout the film.  He really nails down the “charming” aspect of Ted Bundy.  When he’s talking to women in the film he comes off as suave, charming, and like a nice guy, and that’s just how Ted Bundy lured most of his victims into his trap.  Bundy’s real life motivation for committing his horrific murders was being left by his girlfriend—who is named “Stephanie” in the film—and he typically murdered women who looked like or reminded him of his girlfriend.  However, my complaint is that the girlfriend who comes off as loving and caring early on and then flips out and breaks up with him, seemingly, out of nowhere.  We later see Bundy and “Stephanie” reunite only for him to abandon her just as soon as they got back together.  That makes no sense!  I’ve done some research on Ted Bundy and I haven’t been able to find a passage yet that says he got back with his ex at one point.                                                    

There he is that likable psycho

    Another great thing I can say about Corin Nemec’s performance is that the further into the film we get the less and less his character speaks.  His Ted Bundy character is very talkative early on in the film, and then the scenes where he’s in prison and eventually breaks out we see he speaks only seldom implying that he has had a dramatic change to his personality.  Then in the later scenes when he’s committing murders he doesn’t speak at all and instead let’s his facial expressions and body motions do the speaking for him.  I was actually impressed with how much Corin Nemec improved as an actor from the same type of role he played only one year earlier.             

    This film does have a ton of flaws in regards to the accuracy of Ted Bundy’s crimes and there are a lot cliché lines and scenes—especially towards the end—but Corin Nemec does not give a bad acting performance.  The rest of the cast is all pretty bad, but if I wanted to talk more about the bad acting from the rest of the cast and the other flaws throughout the film I’d be here all day.  So Corin Nemec does give a good performance in this film, but that’s still not enough to save it.

Boston Strangler: The Untold Story

     If I can be perfectly honest with you this film should not have been made.  Now, with that being said you should also know that Corin Nemec doesn’t play the Boston Strangler in the film—he actually plays the Strangler’s attorney—but I still felt that since it was a Michael Feifer film distributed by Barnholtz Entertainment that it would tie in perfectly.   

Not the best choice for the role, but okay.

The role of Albert De Salvo (The alleged “Boston Strangler”) is played by Corin Nemec’s good friend and “Killer Bud” costar David Faustino.  That is the films first problem.  Now, I like David Faustino as an actor, I am a fan of “Married...With Children”, but come on, there is no way I’m finding Bud Bundy to be the least bit scary in anything.  No surprise to anyone who’s seen Faustino, he’s really short, so right away he doesn’t have the tall menacing looking figure to use to frighten or intimidate.  I just wanted to laugh at him because everything else I’ve seen him in because he’s so funny in everything else I’ve seen him in; sorry, Mr. Faustino, but you don’t belong in any Horror film you belong in comedies.           

    Second problem with the film is it’s a really difficult case to tackle.  Yes, Albert De Salvo did confess to being the “Boston Strangler”, but many other people speculate that he confessed for publicity or reward money, and don’t think he really was the “Boston Strangler”.  The film does try to address that fact, by always showing the “Strangler” character wearing a mask to imply that maybe De Salvo was the killer, but maybe he wasn’t, or maybe there were possibility of a “copy cat” strangler.  So, if you don’t know for sure if your main character was the killer then you’re casting too much doubt and leaving way too much of the films plot to various interpretations and speculations, and you’re going to end up confusing more people then entertaining them.                    

aaaannnnd that doesnt look anything
like David Faustino, now does it?????

The third problem with this film, none of the supporting cast can freaking act!  Oh my God, I hated the supporting cast of this film almost as much as I hated the supporting cast in “Chicago Massacre”.  All the female victims in the film come off as dumb and moronic instead of kind-hearted and naïve, so thanks to their poor acting I didn’t feel the least bit sad when their characters got killed off in the film.  Just about everyone in the film tries to speak with a Boston accent.  I lived in Boston for 4-years, and yes, some people in the city do sound like that, but not every single person in the city talks with a Boston Accent.  No one in this film did could even do a decent Boston Accent.  Faustino’s accent keeps going in-and-out between a Boston Accent and a New York Accent.  Corin Nemec, was one of the few cast members who had the commonsense to not use a Boston Accent in the film.  He’s really the only positive thing I have to say about this film, because it has a ton of plot points that go nowhere and it just wasn’t a well made film.  They half-a$$ed way too many things, and the makers of this film should be embarrassed.  There are just too many questions and too much doubt in regards to the case that it is near impossible to make an “accurate” film about a real life crime.

Good thing Corin Nemec was in the film.

     My ultimate advice to you, my audience, is that if you want to see a decent Serial Killer biopic see something like “Dahmer” or “Dear, Mr. Gacy”, but whatever you do avoid any films made by Michael Fiefer or distributed by Barnholtz Entertainment.  If you’ve seen one Michael Fiefer/Barnholtz Entertainment film collaboration then you’ve seen them all, so don’t even bother!  They’re not that good for a number of reasons; they are very loose interpretations of what actually happened, the films try to cram way too much information and events into 90+ minutes, not to mention they jump around a lot; such as starting at one scene in present day of the killer and then flashing back to their childhood, and jumping back five minutes later to the present day.  In regards to Mr. Nemec in both films, his acting was the only thing liked in both, he was not a bad actor in either film, and if I had to pick just one out of the three Serial Killer Horror Films he’s been in to recommend to you I’d say see “Bundy”, but don’t keep your expectations for it to high.  And one last thought before I go: I think David Faustino and Corin Nemec should have switched leads in their films, because that way we all could’ve made the joke that David Faustino/“Bud Bundy” was playing Ted Bundy. 

2-4-1 Special of Corin Nemec in Horror PT I

*IMAGES COURTSEY OF HOTFLICK.NET*