Out to Kill (2014) Poster

(2014)

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5/10
The Gay Equivalent of Erik Van Looy's "The Loft."
KirbyKreampuff646 April 2015
To see my review in video format, check it out on youtube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LRwflDGoNk

This gay themed murder mystery that takes place at a Loft in Tampa, Florida, occupied mostly by gay characters, has a lot going on for it. Some of it makes this film a guilty pleasure and the rest of it a hard sit.

The movie focuses on the murder of an unlikable character, Justin Jaymes (Tom Goss), a gold- digging and self-obsessed wannabe singer who is found dead in the Loft pool. His friends and frienemies are all suspects. Former P.I. Jim Noble (Scott Sell) is hired by the only person who seemed to like Justin for...reasons...to try and find out who killed Justin, since this takes place in a movie world where the police are useless.

My problem with this movie was that the murder mystery the movie is focused on is of the murder of an unlikable character that we don't feel sorry for or any intrigue over. If the reason to make him unlikable was to give a motivation for killing him, then why should the audience care? This movie is also really heavy on dialog. My own personal way of looking at entertainment is this: "Movies are about action, Plays are about dialog, and Novels are about inner-thoughts." This movie was all about dialog and would probably work better as a play, I lost interest in what was going on because of this. There was also the problem with the acting and direction. The actors seemed unsure of how to act or play their parts in every scene, so their performances bombed. The screenplay is full of information that goes unexplained or exposition that was only put in to make the film feature length and meets the time requirements to be featured as a feature length movie at whatever film festival this movie was submitted to. Like Erik Van Looy's "The Loft." [2015] (Other than taking place at a Loft) this film features characters that we have no idea why in the hell they would be friends in the first place, and spend a good portion of the movie having constant revelations and constant conversations.

What I did like about this film was the cast was really sexy to look at, the parts of these gay characters are actually played by gay actors, and for a gay movie it did not rely on sex scenes or full frontal male nudity to sell DVDs, it focused more on trying to tell a story.

But overall: This is a guilty pleasure film that may make some audiences laugh at the bad acting, or cringe at the bad directing.
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6/10
a gay who-dunnit in an apartment building.
ksf-27 July 2015
This one starts pretty slow. and a little soft core. Lots of gay guys standing around in bathing suits, lots of eye candy, an occasional butt shot. Intrigue. Catty comments by everyone. Jim is the new guy in an apartment complex, and Justin is either the nicest guy, or the worst, depending on who you believe. Vicker is the uptight dentist, and yet another of the people Justin had invited to his place that night. Almost every line has awkward pauses. The pacing is not quite right. A body is found floating in the pool the morning after the big party; the police aren't too worried about it, so Jim is hired to investigate.

They DO throw in a funny line here and there, but then they wait waaaay too long to say the next line. The first half is pretty rough, but the second half DOES get better. I pretty much guessed the ending, which went on for a while.... was kind of expecting a last minute twist, or some surprise, but it didn't happen. Written and directed by Rob Williams.
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4/10
Small budget gay whodunit
t-dooley-69-38691610 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The plot is pretty basic in that Private eye Jim Noble moves into a 'loft apartment' in Tampa that seems to be a haven for gay men. Then one of his neighbours is found dead in the complex pool – the police think he drowned whilst intoxicated but one of his friends thinks otherwise and hires Jim to find the killer.

This then is a routine whodunit where everyone has a motive and alibis are always shaky. The acting is all pretty much above average but some am dram w3annabees did make the final cut; there are no bedroom scenes but partial nudity. For an independent made on a shoe string effort it actually holds up rather well. The problem is the actual plot and it is waffer then – that is where it falls down.

This is gay themed though and as such will not be what everyone is looking for, but if you want a border line good film with some notable acting or you just want to support independent gay cinema – then give it a go.
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3/10
Whodunnit and Who cares
Suradit27 March 2015
About 10 minutes into this murder mystery you'll begin hoping that it involves a serial killer who quickly knocks off most of the cast. Unfortunately you'll be disappointed. Most of them linger on.

The acting is pretty bad. Most of the characters deliver their lines like this is the first time they read the script and were randomly attempting to be stereotypically bitchy or as if they were (unsuccessfully) delivering sage pronouncements. To be fair they didn't have much to work with nor did they seem to be aware of the context in which they were supposedly acting. Many of them appeared uncomfortably unsure how to stand or move or react in any given situation and often resorted to awkwardly shifting about and making facial expressions reminiscent of the silent film era.

The real mystery is why this was ever released. If you have a high cringe threshold you might find it amusing.
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1/10
Simply put: one of the worst films ever!
jcsugarman29 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Idiotic plotting - the entire thing (mini-spoiler coming here) explained, Agatha Christie-like, in an unbelievable monologue at the end. (End of "spoiler".) And not much fun leading up to that either (but for a few attractive actors showing chest and ass - that's not enough to justify 90 minutes of hokey plotting and leaden acting, except for Sell and Strano who aren't too bad). No one should get away with such mess, not the murderer, and certainly not the filmmaker/scriptwriter, Rob Williams. I've seen other films by him, all rather maudlin & contrived, but this is by far the worst. As for Tampa, where I grew up and thought would make the film entertaining to me, forget it - it barely figures in the film and I even wondered if most (if not all of it) was stock footage inserted digitally. How do films like this get funded, and made?
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8/10
Surprisingly Enjoyable
sugarfreepeppermint6 April 2015
What I like about this film:

It has a great cast playing a variety of modern day gay archetypes. It is mainly set in a Florida condominium, so you get lots of swimming pool and beef cakes (a David Hockney ambiance) - some other exterior scenes give off that Palm Beach vibe. At some point a lurid sex party is being thrown. There is witty dialogue that takes the Mickey with hypocritical morals and values within the gay scene - and the Private Investigator piercing right through them. A complete distrust for the police, shared by all the gays involved, is brought to us as a given (it is also the frame of mind you are required to watch this film with, in order to relish its subversive touch). The conclusion of the movie is very satisfying. Visually it's glossy and I noticed that almost all of the camera angles are very craftily chosen.

The actor Scott Sell (with his pearly white teeth) is a rather sexy and brilliant actor whom makes the film even more of a pleasure to watch.
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