Fantom Kiler (1998)Please note that I did not misspell FANTOM KILER. That is the actual spelling.
When watching FANTOM KILER, several thoughts come to mind: intelligent, edgy scripting; strong performances that elevate the script that much more; direction that truly captures the spirit of Mario Bava; and especially how none of these thoughts apply to this movie.
FANTOM KILER can be described in one statement: sleaze in the guise of giallo. Although it is giallo, FANTOM KILER makes no pretense about being anything other than one aspect of giallo, and that is the erotic.
FANTOM KILER is the story of a mysterious masked serial killer who eludes the police while stalking and killing beautiful women in Warsaw while they are fully unclothed. To punctuate the phallic aspect of the killings, shots of a butcher knife, drill, and mop, among other weapons, are accentuated by their introduction in an upward position. Of course the suggestion that the killer is not human is used to effect.
FANTOM KILER can certainly be offensive to someone sensitive to this material, as the movie just simply gets off on violence toward women. Lines like, " She certainly left this world with more holes in her than when she arrived.", does not endear it well.
FANTOM KILER works on one level: as pure erotic sleaze (and that's not a complaint). It does of course offer the opportunity to learn about King Arthur, as one lady tells of the story of the sword in the stone, and demonstrates with a wooden spoon (I will not go any further).
FANTOM KILER is a Polish movie that appears to have been shot on digital video. It oddly alternates between fullscreen and widescreen. It was directed by Roman Nowicki and has a runtime of 90 minutes. It is in Polish with English subtitles. Although not porn, it is definitely X-Rated.
FANTOM KILER is available on import DVD in NTSC region 0 (It can be played on any North American DVD player). There are two sequels: FANTOM KILER 2 and FANTOM KILER 3, which introduce even more methods of killing including electrocution.
This is a link to FANTOM KILER at Xploited Cinema (be patient with the link).
Xploited Cinema/Fantom KilerIf you really want to get an idea of what FANTOM KILER is about, this is a link to a gallery with images from all three movies (adult only content).
Fantom Kiler Image GalleryPost Edited (01-14-05 01:59)
