iMurders

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Independent writer/director Robbie Bryan makes his feature filmmaking debut with this thriller about a series of gruesome murders that all tie in to a popular social networking website. In the aftermath of a tragic shooting involving a jilted lover, eight members of the FaceSpace chat-room are being methodically slaughtered in their own homes. Perhaps Sandra Wilson (Terri Colombino), a thirty-something professional with a decidedly mysterious past, holds the key to solving this bloody mystery. But she's not the only suspect, because unstable Bostonian Janet King (Miranda Kwok), ambitious Professor Uberoth (William Forsythe), haunted model Lindsay Jefferies (Gabrielle Anwar), phone sex operator "Meltnurmouth" (Jane Dashow), and special effects artist Mark Sanders (Wilson Jermaine Heredia) all seem to have a motivation for murder. Meanwhile, as FBI Agents Otis Washington (Tony Todd) and Lori Romano (Brooke Lewis) race to capture the killer, Lori's brother Joe (Frank Grillo) realizes that he may hold the clue that will crack the case wide open. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Color
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Terri Colombino
       William Forsythe
       Tony Todd
       Charles Durning
       Margaret Colin
       Joanne Baron
       Brooke Lewis
       Miranda Kwok
       Christie Botelho
       Justin Deas
       Dan Grimaldi
       Jack Mulcahy
       Frank Grillo
       Wilson Jermaine Heredia
       Gabrielle Anwar
       Billy Dee Williams

• Director:

  Robbie Bryan

• Producer:

  Kenneth DelVecchio

• Screenwriter:

  Kenneth DelVecchio

• Screen Story:

  Robbie Bryan

• Screenwriter:

  Robbie Bryan

• Cinematographer:

  Hiroo Takaoka

• Composer (Music Score):

  Harry Manfredini

• Editor:

  Yasu Inoue

• Production Designer:

  Jana Mattoli

• Executive Producer:

  Brooke Lewis, Jeff Quinlan, Robbie Bryan, Daniel Wulkan

REVIEW:

• The horror-thriller iMurders tries to capitalize on a panoply of props and concepts from the modern techno thriller, primarily, a killer's use of chat rooms and social networking sites to stalk his victims. The problem is, iMurders isn't really about what it's supposed to be about. The film does indeed present an online game in which members of a chat group are supposed to figure out which among them is the killer, and this game is supposed to beget actually killings by one of its twisted players, leading to a bunch of "is it a game or is it real?" confusion. But writer-director Robbie Bryan seems to have offered this only as a high-concept hook to reel in his financial backers. The script doesn't have the cleverness to conjure a plausible way for one psycho to kill off a number of victims linked only by their participation in a certain video chat, so it doesn't even try. Instead, a series of unrelated storylines involving hastily introduced characters play themselves out over the course of the narrative, returning only perfunctorily to the central spine that's supposed to connect them. If it weren't for a cast full of recognizable names, from Gabrielle Anwar to Tony Todd to William Forsythe to Charles Durning, iMurders would be much more instantly recognizable as D-grade straight-to-video fodder, made by the inexperienced and untalented. The great Durning looks particularly confused about what he's doing here, which could be the result either of his advancing age or Bryan's unskillful direction. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi