Horror Imitating Horror: "Random Acts of Violence" brutal but has more going on underneath the welder's mask

Random Acts of Violence (2020)

81 min.

Release Date: August 20, 2020 (Shudder)

For Jay Baruchel’s sophomore directorial effort, one would expect “Random Acts of Violence” to dip into Canadian comedy a little bit, but that is not the case at all here. Adapted from the one-shot graphic novel by writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artists Giancarlo Caracuzzo and Paul Mounts, the film works on a couple different levels. For one, it is a gruesome, nihilistic slasher film—a huge compliment—and two, it does have something to say about real-life violence becoming sensationalized as fodder for art and entertainment. As life imitates art, and vice versa, and violence begets violence, “Random Acts of Violence” is unforgivingly brutal yet indisputably effective.

Writer’s block is keeping Toronto comic book creator Todd Walkley (Jesse Williams) from ending the final issue of “Slasherman,” inspired by the “I-90 Killer” who committed vicious murders on a stretch of highway from 1987 to 1991. As soon as he embarks on a road trip through America full of promotional pit stops with girlfriend Kathy (Jordana Brewster), business partner and friend Ezra (Jay Baruchel), and assistant and artist Aurora (Niamh Wilson), someone seems to get inspired by Todd’s work. The bodies start piling up—and being mutilated into grisly tableaus that reflect the panels of “Slasherman”—and Todd might be getting closer to finding his ending as he receives phone calls from a mysterious voice uttering random numbers. Is the murderer a sick fan, or is the original “I-90 Killer” back from a hiatus?

Cleverly written by director Jay Baruchel and co-writer Jesse Chabot, “Random Acts of Violence” doesn’t legitimize true crime but surely makes a critical debate for how it can be fetishized or glorified in art. The film isn’t hypocritical, either, in wagging its finger at promoting violence and then doing just that. It puts all sides on the table, and Todd and the three other characters seem to represent different voices on art. Likably played by Jesse Williams (who got to be a part of the meta-horror world already with “The Cabin in the Woods”), Todd is profiting off tragedy and making the killer the central figure (he says “protagonist” is just a writer’s term to a radio host) but doesn’t see it that way. Played by Jordana Brewster who looks to be turning into Demi Moore, Kathy happens to be writing her book on the forgotten victims of the “I-90 Killer” rather than the monster himself. It’s not until one of them in their road-trip circle is killed that Kathy feels the personal loss the friends and family of the killer’s victims felt. She goes so far to scold Todd: “You fetishize violence. You legitimize evil.”

Jay Baruchel directs himself to be along for the ride, and it’s just as well because he directs the hell out of his first horror film. Like a kid in a candy store, Baruchel plays around with tracking shots, wide angles, evocative Christmas-set flashbacks, comic-book animation, and he uses a strikingly creepy greenish filter during night scenes. In one terrifyingly savage set piece that reminds of David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” three teens get a flat tire at night in the rain, only to run into the killer wearing a welding mask. Before they even meet their demise, some of the dialogue involving car trouble has a self-reflexive wit that could only be written by a horror fan. “Random Acts of Violence” could have easily patronized or preached to the viewers, but it does neither. Thematically, it opens up a conversation without having all of the answers. This might be a cruelly violent sucker punch of a film, but it’s decidedly not glamorizing carnage. Baruchel just never turns away from the explicitness or the ideas surrounding it.

Grade: B