LITERAL REMAINS

I’m going to try to explain this properly; be patient with me.  Two masked murderers do a home invasion on a man and woman.  They kill the man, and chase the woman down the road, kidnapping her.  The serial killer duo are causing all kinds of mayhem on the Midwest, and two FBI agents are called in on the case, Elizabeth Anderson and Sam Hallaway.  The local law enforcement is not happy to have the feds in their territory, but mildly comply.

Agents Anderson and Hallaway set up their video equipment to interrogate the surviving witnesses.  There was a mishap on the highway involving the serial killers, resulting in several deaths, including the death of one cop, Officer Jim Conrad.  The surviving witnesses are Conrad’s partner, Officer Jack Bennett, pretty coke addict Bobbi, and a little girl, Stephanie.  The serial killers killed Stephanie’s parents and older brother, Bobbi’s boyfriend, and Officer Conrad.  Stephanie’s family and Bobbi and her boyfriend were pulled over by Bennett and Conrad, because the two police officers are rather demented and like to shoot out people’s tires and torment them.  They were just sitting ducks for the serial killers.

So enter the feds, because this is a messy case, and the killers are on the loose still freakin’ killing.  While Agent Anderson and other officers conduct the interviews, Agent Hallaway watches through the cameras, asking pertinent questions here and there.  The story is pieced together bit by bit as Stephanie, Bobbi, and Bennet recount what happened.  It’s a twisted little tale, and the police seem nearly as crazy as the serial killers.  Anderson and, especially, Hallaway are odd too.  Hallaway especially, he seems to be trying to act normal, hinting at some past trauma or incident.  When Hallaway smiles, it is kind of unnerving; luckily, Anderson is able to keep him in check.  The two feds have a relationship beyond the professional.

Surveillance  is difficult to describe.  It’s structured differently, but it’s the characters that nearly defy description.  The movie borders on the absurd, which is not surprising since it was directed and co-written by Jennifer Lynch (Boxing Helena), daughter of David Lynch, who acts as an executive producer on this movie.  The movie pushes those weird for weird’s sake buttons, then backs off.  Does it want to be serious?  Does it want to be more than a slasheresque mind screw?  It does very little, and says even less.

The movie does have a good premise and a great cast, but a weak script squanders it all.  Bill Pullman and Michael Ironside are terrific actors who deserve better (they deserve more work, too).  Surveillance falls apart in the final act, actually before then because it’s too easy to see the final plot twist.  It’s one of those turns you see coming, but you spend the remaining running time trying to will the movie into a different direction.  Once you have it figured out, there is no point in continuing.  If hindsight is, indeed, 20/20, then there was no point in making the movie.

2 out of 5
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