Bullet Points: The Charisma Killers
The latest movie from independent filmmaker Michael Matteo Rossi (Shadows) delves into the familiar world of assassins. Or in the case of The Charisma Killers, a familial world of assassins…
- The Murderous 7: The movie opens by introducing us to our killers. Each of the assassins is spotlighted. There’s the short fused One Hit Hustle (Jason Scott Jenkins)… 1911 (Forest Meadows) and his pair of guns… the dashing Pretty Boy Nordin (Jordan James Smith) and the beautiful Katana (Jackie Moore), who use their looks to lure in their targets… There’s Rope (Marnette Patterson), who uses a rope as a weapon… Then there’s Lone (Daniel O’Reilly), who plays by his own rules… And last but certainly not least is the cannibalistic Psycho played by Paul Logan of The Horde and Ballistica fame. This entire introductory opening is narrated by The Old Man… former cop and mentor of the 7 assassins, who uses his connections and knowledge of the system to keep his killer “kids” out of the gray bar hotel.
- Death Wish: If the voice wasn’t a giveaway, The Old Man is played by Vernon Wells of Commando and The Road Warrior fame. The Old Man gets some horrible news… he has terminal brain cancer. The Old Man invites all seven of his protégées over so he can break the news to them all at once and throw down a challenge at the same time. It seems that The Old Man was partnered with a dirty cop back in the day and now that dirty cop’s son, is following in his father’s dirty cop footsteps AND worse they are about to make him Captain Fowler. The Old Man finds out that the egotistical Fowler is throwing himself a big party to celebrate the promotion. It is at that party that The Old Man wants his “kids” to take out Fowler and all of his dirty and corrupt friends and subordinates. And luckily for The Old Man, this unconventional family will do anything for their father figure…
- Killer Party: After what was a pretty hot start, The Charisma Killers felt like it dragged at times during the build up to the big party. But I do have to take my hat off to Chris Moss, who really played Captain Fowler big and overbearing. After just one scene, I wanted him dead! Business does pick up when we do get to the party scene and I went into not exactly sure what to expect… certainly this plan couldn’t go off without a hitch could it?! That element of unpredictability added to the excitement.
The Charisma Killers, which hits VOD on November 1st, put its own little twist on the assassin genre, delivers plenty of kills and makes good use of its “action movie veterans” to elevate this indie action thriller.
Now allow me to elevate this review with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Bastard Count: I counted one “bastard” in The Charisma Killers.
- Familiar Faces: Vanessa Angel, from the classic USA Network series Weird Science, plays Fowler’s wife who seemed to be the brains of the family… Wrestling fans will recognize Tenille Dashwood (aka Emma in the WWE) as one of Fowler’s underlings, Deputy Harris… Wrestling fans (and Booker T.) will also recognize Brian Pillman Jr. (aka Lexis King from NXT) as a guy who foolishly pisses off Rope.
- The Charisma Killers 2!?!: The ending certainly leaves the door open for more charismatic killing!
