Megalomaniac (2022)

Megalomaniac (2022). 1h 58m

“Trying to adjust to everyday life, a woman and her brother who are the children of an infamous serial killer manage to find themselves forced into exploring the same barbarian means of their father when society causes them to revert to his old methods of torture and depravity to deal with their problems.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis was a generally fine if somewhat one-note piece. What works out for this one is purely the filmu0026#39;s excess that comes off far more than simply gore, bloodshed, and depravity for the sake of it. Wallowing openly in the brutal antics dealt to the victims of the rampage including being bashed with hammers, sliced with knives or much worse, the rape of several victims, or even going through her psychological breakdown employed here serves to generate an oppressive feeling of brutality and madness that is all the better due to the squeamish effects-work during these scenes. That has a lot to do with the effectiveness of the story here as well due to the two-pronged setup thatu0026#39;s employed. The first feature, about the lives of the two children living together under the shadow of their father whou0026#39;s an infamous, uncaught serial killer in the community, gives this a distinct relationship thatu0026#39;s explored rather well. Her living under his domineering touch while trying to adjust to normality in the company of others is a nice bent that manages to provide a great insight into her meek and fragile exterior that contrasts loudly with his brutish and maniacal serial killing ways. Moreover, that mindset gets brought into play with the gradual extent of her descent into madness that echoes the same trajectory of their father. Realizing that heu0026#39;s attempting to replicate the same type of vicious killing spree against her desire for normality, the snap and eventual recognition that sheu0026#39;s become something similar through the antics of those around her due to the sexual assaults and torment she receives makes it feel all the more earned which helps to sell it even more. Aided along by the nightmarish visions of past victims running around the house that take on a supernatural bent, this has a lot to like overall. Thereu0026#39;s not much to hold it down as itu0026#39;s mainly hurt by the aforementioned one-note setup. That is how the film spends the middle part of its running time engaging in the same type of stereotypical treatment of most serial killer films by not doing much differently with the idea of the emotional build-up to the killing. Rather than doing something new, going back to the familiar well sexual abuse and fractured family relationships are at the heart of everything and itu0026#39;s not that impressive so it leaves long stretches of time where very little is interesting. Itu0026#39;s not a huge negative but this does bring it down somewhat.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, and Rape.”