“Yes, But Is It Anamorph-ic?” (my tagline)

Yes, we all know that serial killers have entirely way too much time on their hands. It’s scary, really. But you know what type of people have even more time on their hands and are, by and far, a lot scarier than serial killers? Artists. Go to your local state penitentiary and talk to a serial killer (or go to a library for once and read a book about them). Now, go talk to an artist at your local coffee shop. Later, after deadbolting your doors and boarding up your windows, take a nice, hot, relaxing bath and then compare and contrast the two individuals. Finally, after weighing out the options, decide which of the two people you would like to be stranded on a desert island with for the rest of your life. Granted, the duration of the rest of your life while on a deserted island with either one of these figures would be substantially less than if you were stranded on a deserted island with someone like, say, Burt Ward or that chick from Matt Houston, but, in the end, chances are, you’d live longer with a serial killer around.

Anamorph is a feature from writer/director H.S. Miller, an aspiring filmmaker who has managed to make his serial killer even creepier by having the murderer be an artist as well… and honey, lemmetell ya’: this psychopath is all sorts of fucked-up.

One victim is hacked into bits, his various extremities suspended in the air by wires and assembled in such a way that it resembles a bird when viewed through an eyepiece. Another is torn open and used as a human inkwell in order to paint a gigantic three-panel painting.

There’s quite a bit of carnage in Anamorph, folks -- and yet, somehow, Miller doesn’t make it an overly bloody picture: these are art pieces, after all!

The magnificent Willem Dafoe delivers another great performance as Detective Stan Aubray, the tortured police inspector who failed to prevent the death of Crystal, a young female acquaintance of his who was murdered some six years ago, while the city of New York was being terrorized by a spontaneously-artistic serial killer known only as “Uncle Eddie” (which, for some reason, conjures up an image of the dog from Frasier in my mind). Following the death of Crystal, Stan successfully profiled the homicidal artisan and the suspect was subsequently executed by his fellow police officers.

Still working for the force, and, in addition to his struggling with his recently-developed obsessive-compulsive nature and alcoholism, Stan occupies his spare time (and personal demons) by teaching police academy cadets. But when a new victim is discovered -- his body turned into a bizarre work of “art” -- Stan begins to wonder if he fingered the right person all those years back.

While Anamorph (no relation to the Animorphs TV show -- this movie has nothing to do with people turning into animals, so just nip that thought in the bud right here and now, alright?) may not be the most structurally-sound offering the folks at IFC Films can finance and contains its fair share of plotholes (not to mention a lot of unanswered questions -- exactly how does the killer bring up several large sheets of drywall and plywood in order to construct an entire wall in an apartment complex without anyone saying “Wow, would you look at that, Mr. Calderón must be redoing his pad -- the management won’t let me do that to my apartment!”?), Anamorph ultimately succeeds in being a winner in my book thanks to the unique visionary style of director H.S. Miller and the truer-than-life acting of Willem Dafoe (although the ending was a bit of a letdown).

Co-starring in Anamorph are Scott Speedman (Hugh Jackman meets Dane Cook), Clea DuVall, and Peter Stormare as Dafoe’s art-dealing friend. There’s a brief cameo by Blondie singer Deborah Harry (who worked with director Miller on his short film, I Remember You Now… ), and Edward Hibbert as the snobbish owner of an art gallery (go figure)… which gives the movie two Frasier references (for me, at least)… jeez, what would Kelsey Grammer do?

Presentation
Genius Entertainment and IFC have done a great job with the anamorphic transfer of Anamorph: the 2.40:1 picture is a joy to behold, even though the film has an overly dark tone to it (duh, it’s about serial killer!). The darkly-lighted scenes show little to no signs of grain or debris, and when the movie occasionally opts to use colors, they look very vibrant and rich.

Anamorph comes complete with a kung-fu action grip and a stunning English 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, which brings out the best of the moody score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek (the boys that gave Tom Tykwer’s Run, Lola, Run its fab-a-roo sound).

Subtitles are provided in English (SDH) and Spanish.

Extras
Unfortunately, whenever one really needs a commentary for a film, there isn’t one to be found! The “main” Bonus item here is “The Making Of Anamorph” (5:58), which, despite the title, is not a Making-Of at all, and is more of a mini Behind-The-Scenes featurette (in truth, the short was a promo piece produced for its co-financier, the Independent Film Channel, and has been shamelessly recycled here). The feature Interviews actors Dafoe and Speedman, along with writer/director H.S. Miller, writer Tom Phelan, and babe-a-licious producer Marissa McMahon.

The other Special Features include a Deleted Scene (1:50) and a Trailer (1:15). Additional Previews for Paranoid Park (oh, the pain), Savage Grace, and How To Rob A Bank (wow, they must be trying to sell the shit out of that movie since I’ve seen it on about 50 different DVDs!) are included at the beginning of the DVD.

The Bottom Line
An aesthetically-pleasing thriller that makes up for its shortcomings with a fresh style.