Otis 2008

It is Last House on the Left for the Juno set and though I usually despise such descriptions, in this case it is appropriately applicable. It is all at once disturbing, funny and hip, but unlike Juno, the dialogue does not grate on your nerves (not that I disliked Juno, but the teen slang seemed desperate and contrived). How does one make an inherently anti-violence movie? By putting it all out in front with every gorey detail present. Last House on the Left implemented this ethos with disturbingly real results and brought the true price of violence and revenge to levels never before seen.
In Otis we do get that to be sure, but this time it is tongue-in-cheek and guiltily hilarious. Dennis Paoli, the screenwriter for Re-Animator, once said that there is a fine line between violence and comedy, pointing specifically to slapstick which is at it's very core incredibly violent. And so here we have a movie about a fat, anti-social man, abducting young women and forcing them to enact the strange, perverted high school fantasy that exists in his head. His desire is that it will all culminate in them going to the "prom" but things never quite go well and the girls end up being killed. There is nothing that should be funny about that. But director Tony Krantz does that and much more. As the title character lives out said fantasy with his next victim, Riley, a violent, funny and at times touching series of events occurs that is far more compelling than what seems to be at the surface.
One scene in particular has the bulbous Otis decked out in full football gear asking Riley, done up as a cheerleader, if she saw the great plays he was making in practice. It is awkwardly touching, implying he is more than just a monster and there is a deep seeded need within him to simply fit in. Scenes such as this and the pathetically funny prom scene propose that is is as if his evil and heinous deeds stem from a dream scenario he has elaborately constructed in his head. He merely wants it to go according to plan and no one has yet to simply follow along leading the all to their necessary end in his eyes. In no way dies that justify his actions, but it does give the character layers that most films do not dare to supply. So much so that you begin to feel for Otis, almost as much a you want Riley to escape his subterranean dungeon.

While the tale of horror is happening, on the other end we have the comical desperation of her family trying to track her down only to have an insufferable and somewhat inept FBI agent in charge of the case. Illeana Douglas and Daniel Stern are downright perfect as the parents and their frustration at the pompous imbecile who is supposed to be saving their daughter fills some of the funniest scenes of the film. You can truly feel the desperate hilarity of the situation: that they cannot believe the things this man is saying. Things like telling them not to worry as he has an 80% recovery rate only to be corrected by his colleague that in the case of one particular girl, they only recovered 60%. It is only a matter of time before they realize that they will have to take matters into their own hands and when Riley, through one part luck and one part ingenuity, escapes, they make certain that revenge will be theirs and theirs alone. But things do not go as planned.
To spoil is would be a crime but I will say that the transformation from pushing themselves to commit the most heinous of acts, to reveling in it completely and utterly, and then to understanding the gravity of what they have just done was executed with the perfect amount of wit, horror and humor.
Some have said complained of the pacing of the film, stating that it did not blend its parts together into a viable sum. While it is true that some scenes can fall into the realm of straightforward comedy, the moments when it does meld perfectly far out weigh the ones that may fall short. And more importantly, this really is more than anything else a sad story about a realistic social outcast. And not only does it warn of the high price the price of violence but also of the casting aside of those we deems unworthy, where they can brood hate and rage and destructive fantasy within them. If anything, you are compelled to believe while watching Otis subjected to verbal abuse by his brother, played by Kevin Pollack, that he had never really known love and that there was no where for him to go but to descend into the violent path that he did. You are compelled to believe that love could have steered him another way. Wes Craven, when asked about the legacy of Last House on the Left on said "The story, about the painful side effects of revenge, is an evergreen. The headlines are full of people and nations taking revenge and getting caught up in endless cycles of violence." That holds true in this film. A film that is both hilarious and shocking. A film that shows that sometimes the best way to protect yourself is with a laugh.