The Killing Floor is reminiscent of the old thrillers that used to populate HBO and Showtime in the early 1990s before being dumped onto VHS in bargain rental bins. It's cheaply made, with enough suspicious characters, not-too-explicit sex, and the occasional dead body to keep things mildly interesting as a mystery.

In this movie, Marc Blucas plays a young, solipsistic literary agent, David Lamont, who specializes in horror writers. Apparently, business is good for horror literary agents (who knew?) as he's extremely in demand and has a doting personal assistant, played by Shiri Appleby of Swimf@n and Roswell fame, who takes his verbal abusiveness with a mousiness that's almost unbelievable. He's rich and successful enough to be able to rent an enormous luxury penthouse apartment in New York City and catch the eye of a pretty tenant named Audrey Levine (Reiko Aylesworth, who's currently kicking alien and predator butt on the big screen in AVP: Requiem ). But, we learn that this apartment has a nasty history, and soon Lamont begins to receive anonymous photographs and video of murder victims lying in what appears to be his apartment. A suspicious police investigator becomes involved, and Lamont begins to fear for his safety, especially after receiving a video of himself someone taped in his apartment while he slept.

I won't go further into the plot, as there's a number of inevitable plot twists that occur throughout that I don't want to spoil. The first half of the film seemed rather boring, actually. Although New York City is used rather nicely as the setting, the characters and situations never ring true. David Lamont, for example, is not a likeable character; he's rude and crass. For a thriller to really work, I've always thought you need to have at least some investment or interest in the main character and his/her safety. That doesn't really happen here. Plus, the premise of the film seems flimsy. While Lamont is supposed to be living in a wonderful upscale apartment, for instance, he can't have been happy about its security arrangements: I think every character in the film ambles in to the apartment at some point to surprise him.

The film improves, however, during its second half, especially when it enters Tales from the Crypt territory in some laughably gruesome ways. While I had a pretty good handle on who the killer was, the movie's resolution was handled in a satisfying way, and I found the last 30 minutes of the film to be engaging - albeit completely implausible. The acting was mediocre, with the best performances coming from the two female leads, Aylesworth and Appleby. Neither gets enough screen time, though. It's not the best thriller in recent memory, but if you're patient, it's worth a look.

The DVD

Video:

This DVD release has a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen presentation 1.85:1 that looks fine, though not outstanding. City scenes show nice detail and are the visual highlights of the film.

Sound:

The Killing Floor has two audio track versions: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and Dolby Stereo 2.0. I listened to the 5.1 track and found its mix to be distractingly inconsistent. Dialogue-only scenes were very light while the top-heavy, overbearing score was loud. At several points while watching the film, I turned up the volume for dialogue only to turn it back down again when the music subsequently thundered in.

Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

Extras:

The only extras on the disc are trailers for Ron Howard Presents In the Shadow of the Moon, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Poor Boy's Game, Bordertown, and Deceit. They automatically play when the disc is put in your player, and they're also accessible through a "Trailer Gallery" option in the menu. The trailer for The Killing Floor itself is available separately in the disc's special features.

Final Thoughts:

The Killing Floor is an implausible murder mystery thriller that improves in its final act when it embraces a more Tales from the Crypt-style storytelling mode. Ultimately, it ends up being merely okay, but worth checking out if you're in the mood for this type of film.

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