Name: Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer (2010)
IMDb: link to Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer page
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Crime Country of origin: USA
Cast: Danielle Harris as Maria (TV reporter/journalist), Corey Gibbons as Gary (Maria's cameraman), Brian Krause as Cyrus, Lance Henriksen as Emmett, Kim Rhodes as Dr Ann Albert, Doug Jones as Dr Dan Dallas.
Written and directed by: Mark Vadik.
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux:
Reporter Maria and cameraman Gary travel to Niles, MI to investigate recent disappearances associated with the Cyrus, the County Line Cannibal. Due to a tip, she interviews Emmett, who seems to have layers upon layers of detailed knowledge of Cyrus.
Through the interviews, Cyrus' bad luck is outlined: POW during wartime, berated by his wife for buying a farm, cheated on by his wife on the day he opens a new shop, rotten childhood with prostitute mother. Other interviews detail conventional expert opinions of the mental processes of serial killers.
Delineation of conflicts:
Most local people would like to continue living in peace. Cyrus needs additional human flesh.
Maria would like to nail down the story, then perhaps disclose her findings to the police. Cyrus has other plans for her.
Resolution:
Maria's process during the film informs the viewer. Does she get to publish and become famous?
One line summary: One of the more powerful endings in recent American horror.
Statistics:
Cinematography: 7/10 Usually fine, but sometimes too dark, or out of focus, or nearly mono color. Perhaps this was for artistic effect, but I find that irritating without any sort of recompense.
Sound: 8/10 Usually well done.
Acting: 7/10 Harris, Krause, and Henriksen were credible. The other actors were a full level less skilled. Krause still seems to be trying to break out of typecasting from his long stint on the television series Charmed. I liked his performance here, though, better than in some of his earlier bad guy horror film roles.
Screenplay: 8/10 Mosaic films can be awfully bad, but this one was well written, even if the content is disgusting. The flashbacks (the mother) and four interview streams (with Emmett, with the two medical experts, with the prison interviewees) are well meshed. The harsh ending makes sense once one gets there.
I liked the separate threads of the interviews with Dr. Dan Dallas and Dr. Ann Albert, two experts on serial killers versus mass murderers.
Final Rating: 8/10
At the end of the film, Maria is still pretty and untouched. However, she is restrained and alone, without allies. She knows that she is going to be dismembered over a period of days while still alive, so that her flesh can be made into ground meat for sale, just as was done to the missing young women in her research.
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