Director
Mark Savage
Cast
Paul Moder Paul Morris
Carolyn Bock Matty McKlean
Kevin Hopkins George Hartley
Helen Hopkins Helen Morris
Frank Bren Colin “The Snake” Adder
DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007
Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 84 Minutes
The Movie
Paul Morris is a family man with a decent job who is both a good father and a good husband. But in reality, he leads a double life earning his living as a hired hitman. It’s a skill he learned and grew to love as a little boy from seeing it done by the master, Colin “The Snake” Adder. The Snake took it into his own hands to kill a bunch of guys who were abusing a prostitute named Lucy. Paul liked the justice he saw and knew that was what he wanted to do.
The thing with Paul is that he is one of the worst hitmen to ever enter the profession. He doesn’t have the guts to kill people just because others want them dead. Paul takes contracts only on those that deserve to be killed. Jump ahead in time from his being witness to the Snake’s deeds, and Paul has just killed a crooked cop who also happens to be the boyfriend of another officer named Matty. Instead of simply arresting Paul, she blackmails him to have sex with her. During her “relationship” with Paul, Matty learns of a huge drug dealer named Cheung coming to town, and if Paul can bump him off then they can split a lot of money.
Well, things never quite go so smoothly for Paul as his long-time best friend George who is pretty much the reason everything goes wrong for Paul. While George makes Paul think he is helping him by finding him new contracts and trying to carry them out – in reality he is sabotaging Paul at every turn. George sometimes calls Paul’s marks ahead of time to warn them of his arrival. Or he’ll give Paul guns that are rigged to jam when he tries to fire them. And in a not so shocking turn of events, George is also blackmailing Paul’s wife to have sex with him because she reminds George so much of his mother.
This leads to the price put on the head of Cheung and Paul learns he is not the only one after the contract. His lifelong idol the Snake is back in town and wants to kill Cheung himself. Once Paul learns of this fact, he makes his way to the Snake and explains how much this hit would mean for his life and begs him to let him have it. It is then that Paul learns the difference between him and the Snake. Paul kills those who deserve it, but the Snake kills anyone he can simply because he enjoys it.
If things seem like they are out of order, that’s because they really are. Sensitive New Age Killer or SNAK as it seems to want to be called from the DVD cover art, jumps around so much that a lot can easily be missed. And you’re not missing out on anything because it’s confusing or because of subtlety. It’s because SNAK skips over so much information that the filmmakers expect the audience to catch up by small conversations on screen and a lot of imagination.
The Video
The film is shown in 1.77:1 Widescreen Format and looks like it was filmed on a reel camera from 1926 but some color was thrown in. It’s fuzzy, jumpy, and dark and just doesn’t look good at all. There’s also some really bad editing work as the “r” in the word “Killer” in the opening title is cut off on the side of the screen.
The Audio
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is less then flattering. SNAK is a case of gunshots and booming music being way too loud at whatever reasonable volume you have the sound at. Only to have to turn it up again seconds later to hear the dialogue being said. Quite annoying because throughout the entire film you can never quite find a level setting.
Special Features
Audio Commentary – Director Mark Savage sits down and watches the film with you if you’re actually willing to watch it again. Savage explains how limited his budget was for the film and that he did all he could to fit in everything he was looking for, but with the amount of money he had. The commentary is quite informative but not really worth a second viewing.
SNAK: A Post Mortem – Basic stuff here as this “making of” featurette showcases the cast and crew actually not just talking about their roles in the film, but what they were doing in their own lives before getting involved with it. Quite interesting at times, but nothing too exciting overall.
Cast And Crew Bios – A couple of paragraphs about everyone involved letting you know who they are and what else they’ve done. Informative, yet I don’t usually feel like reading when I bought a DVD to watch unless there are subtitles.
Still Gallery – Thirteen still frames from the film that look no better then they did in motion.
Trailers – SNAK, Defenceless, Marauders, Metal Skin, and Blue Murder
The Inside Pulse
This is the second film I’ve seen by Mark Savage and he’s not impressing me at all. SNAK is a film with a learning curve. As you watch it, you actually have to imagine certain things to catch up with what is happening on screen. No film should require that much thinking unless it’s an old-fashioned whodunit. The promise is there, but the budget simply wasn’t. The special features are plentiful except that they also aren’t worth watching. I wouldn’t bother with even a rental if I were you. That is unless you want to witness a sex scene where a woman is riding a man at about his chest and still somehow getting pleasure.
Sensitive New Age Killer |
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