Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38301 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Running time: 82 minutes

From Amazon.com
Photographer and director Cindy Sherman has obviously always been interested in film. Her well-known Untitled Film Stills, from movies that don't exist--pregnant scenes that seem as though they are in medias res but are really staged--feature diverse characters who, upon closer examination, prove to be Sherman herself, every time. Her 1998 film debut, Office Killer, takes her postmodern playfulness with such narrative frames out of the equation--and leaves us with something more flatly macabre and less subtle than Sherman's other work.

Here, Carol Kane plays Dorine, a mousy, lonely, and introverted copyeditor for a consumer publication. Think for a moment what kind of person a copyeditor must be: this is the person whose job, whose passion, it is to know exactly where the apostrophe goes and to know the difference between effect and affect. The pressure can get to you.

Tyrannized at home by a domineering mother and tyrannized at work by backstabbing coworkers, downsizing, and newfangled computers, Dorine finds that the copy she cleans up is her only pleasure in life. As pressure builds and builds--Kane's performance exhibits amazing mastery of body language--Dorine finally caves and steps into an insanity that, in a horrifying, animalian fashion, has its own pleasantness and reason. Despite Kane's strong acting here, she is supported by flattish performances from Molly Ringwald, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Barbara Sukowa.

It is unclear if Sherman means to serve or redefine the concept of narrative through this emotional detachment she brings to the screen. Certainly, this isn't a conventional film, and its cinematography and innovative story are indeed attention-keeping, even entertaining, on a horror-flick level at least. If her goal is to serve narrative canonically, then she fails almost miserably. If her goal is to redefine narrative, then she may have achieved something here that most critics aren't clueing into. It's just unclear what this achievement is. --Erik J. Macki

Review
Carol Kane has often played cutesy in her career, from Taxi to Scrooged to The Princess Bride. But in this deliciously tongue-in-cheek horror romp, photographer-turned-director Cindy Sherman guides her star into a deeply weird place where amusing tics and cartoon gore go hand-in-hand with rich psychological shadings. Kane, clad in drab officewear and thick glasses, plays put-upon worker bee Dorine like a cross between Sally Field's bespectacled schizophrenic from Sybil and her own primate-clubbing nutter from The Mafu Cage. Of course, Office Killer isn't simply a vivid portrait; it's also a queasily gripping story, conceptualized by Sherman and Elise MacAdam and co-written by director Tom Kalin, whose own Swoon displayed a similar knack for stylized violence. From her 1970s Untitled Film Stills to more recent photos riffing on the paintings of the old masters and playing with grotesque dolls and medical refuse, Sherman has leveraged B-movie archetypes into emotional insight and cultural comment, a feat she repeats here through the use of over-the-top horror tropes. Where Wes Craven's Scream ridiculed slasher flick clich�s in a way that appealed to hip, seen-it-all youngsters, Sherman's angle is more subversive as she seeks to uncover the serial killer lurking inside the meek, the dispirited, and the neglected amongst us. In that undertaking, she couldn't have gathered a better supporting cast; everyone from '80s survivor Molly Ringwald to almost-superstar Jeanne Tripplehorn to frequent mobster Michael Imperioli plays the material with the perfect mixture of irreverent cheek and colorful terror. Kevin Thompson's vivid production design and Sherman's gift for framing comically vile tableaux guarantee that Office Killer is never less than visually arresting. That it's also such an entertaining embrace/critique of genre trappings is a testament to the narrative skills the first-time director has brought to the fore ever since she began her career as a conceptual photographer. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
Dolby Digital Surround Sound
Widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions

Customer Reviews

very effective black comedy/suspense/horror/hybrid
this movie is obviously about someone who kills people in the
office.and we learn very quickly who the killer is,so i don't think
it's possible to give too much away.Said killer is knebbish office
worker Dorine Douglas(Carol Kane).Douglas is a very lonely,insecure
waif who lives with her overbearing mother.Douglas decides to begin
killing people in her office,after witnessing one of her co-workers
accidentally get killed.Douglas realizing she feels something akin to
joy at his death.and she covers his death up.i should mention that most
of her fellow workers treat her with disdain,or worse,even to the point
of cruelty and hurtful remarks.so she feel justification for her
feelings.soon,she dispatches another co-worker and then another.thing
is,once she starts,she just keeps going and going and going.(like the
Energizer Bunny)as the bodies mount up,Douglas also starts killing
co-workers who are actually not that mean to her.and then,just about
anyone she comes in contact with,she kills(i mean anyone).I have to say
that Cane does a very good job in the role.her character becomes quite
gleeful of her work,treating it something akin to getting an A plus on
a report card.(you can tell Cane had a lot of fun with this role).she
is a true sociopath,to be sure.and she engages in some very amusing
rituals which i won't go into here.let's just say,you have to see it to
believe it.so,what genre does this movie fall into?well,horror,to be
sure and suspense,and most prevalent,black comedy,very black.there are
also a lot of intentional campy moments.some of the situations are so
absurd and over the top,you have to laugh.this movie works on all
levels and it proves you don't need a ginormous(gigantic/enormous)
budget to make a very effective movie.truly a unique piece of art. 4.5/5

Citizen Kane
Photographer and director Cindy Sherman has been watching too many horror movies. This one is definitely the classic formula First an accident, then maybe another, then the trigger. Freud would be proud of this one.

No matter how fun this movie looks do not try this at home. And no, this is not what is meant by downsizing.

Dorine (Carol Kane) is working for a publisher that is about to downsize the office. The office is sort of dysfunctional anyway. Her character is more in line with Milton Waddams `Office Space' (1999). There may be a sub plot to this. Mean while it seems that everyone involved with making Dorine uncomfortable is invited to stay at her place. FOREVER.

So get out the sticky tape and popcorn to watch this one.

KILLER KANE
THE MAIN REASON to see this off-kilter black comedy is Carol Kane. Kane, once nominated for an Oscar for her role in HESTER STREET, went on to play the dispatcher on TAXI, but we've never really seen that much of her. In her role as Dorine Douglas, the titled murderer, she gives a performance that is totally awesome. Kane uses her put upon persona, her deeply infested hate and hurt to bring Dorine to vicious life. Her scene when she finds her mother dead is brilliant in its intensity and the way Kane is able to jump back and forth. It's not easy playing a wacko and getting away with it. Here, Kane shines in a performance that should not have been overlooked at Oscar time.
Only Molly Ringwald as the bitchy coworker gives more than a passing performance; Jeanne Tripplehorn almost makes it, but the rest of the cast, well...
Anyway, this is NOT a pleasant movie, and along with CHRISTINA'S HOUSE gives further credence to the ban on door to door selling.
Worth a rent just to see Kane's killer performance!