There is a universe that runs parallel to our own. It is a universe where life changes and people change and history changes and lives alter courses.

It is real.

Andrew James (Phillip Gay) knows this place. Andrew is a 155-year-old slave from the Civil War who goes to great lengths to save himself from the effects of pain and aging. He saves the life of 18-year-old Mark Roberts (Marc Maynon) from sure death by pulling him into a different reality and teaching him how to survive. Since the age of 17, Andrew has fueled his life by living off the energy of serial killers but now this action, this sacrifice, begins a journey where both men will have to discover if they are free to continue living self-centered lives or if their lives will become devoted to something greater themselves.

Written and directed by Edgar Michael Bravo, Monster Killer is one of those films that you would never see come out of the Hollywood circuit because it's bold and complex and layered and would likely get completely smashed to bits by the Hollywood machinery that would insist on storybook endings and paint-by-numbers emotions. Within the sure and steady directorial hands of Edgar Michael Bravo, however, Monster Killer is one of those films that you talk about long after its closing credits have rolled. It's the kind of film where the characters matter, the dialogue matters, the layers matter and, despite easily being labeled a sci-fi/supernatural thriller, the lower budgeted special effects don't really matter all that much.

The special effects serve the story and not the other way around.

The performances are strong across the board, especially those of the compelling Phillip Gay and supporting player Tammie Smalls, the latter whom you may have a fleeting memory of from her appearance in the 2003 Emmy nominated Penn & Teller: Bullshit. While these two are the strongest, there isn't a weak performance as Marc Mayron nicely captures the bewilderment of a young man brought into a strange new world and Katelynn Dubow shines in too little time.

It is difficult to describe Monster Killer without giving it all away, but if you're familiar with past films from No Restrictions Entertainment like Mother's Red Dress and the ultra-involving One-Hour Fantasy Girl then you already know that you're going to get a film that makes you think and feel and that makes you contemplate your own value system.

If you're not asking yourself questions by the end of Monster Killer, then you might want to check your pulse and see what universe you're living in.

You never know.

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic