Thoughts on the premiere

The movie wasn’t bad. I didn’t know what to expect, but it didn’t send me running for the exit.

I was on screen for a total of three seconds. The one line I had wasn’t cut.

My name was even in the credits, and in keeping with the quality of some of the acting and camera work in the movie, my last name was misspelled. Bryce Percia.

The movie definitely would receive an R rating. There is plenty of nasty, descriptive language and a flash of nudity, if I am not mistaken. The lighting was bad, but I believe one scene was shot in a strip club, or what was supposed to be one.

There was a post-premiere party where the beer was free.

I didn’t know what to expect for an official movie premiere in Wisconsin and felt awkwardly out of place when Kate and I walked into the theater. After seeing how some of the main actors and crew had dressed up for the occasion it was hard not to be cynical about the whole movie. From the dialogue, the soundtrack, the acting, and to the editing, there was a lot I wanted to pick apart. I had this overwhelming desire to degrade the movie because I was probably not going to think it was good, and I was still sort of embarrassed about being a part (an extremely small part) of it.

Before the movie started I was watching people stream into the theater. I spotted the director and he recognized me and approached me to shake my hand and he thanked me for coming out tonight. It was a nice gesture, certainly one I wasn’t really expecting considering the role I played in this whole thing. After a while I just toned down the cynicism. I knew this was the director’s first crack at filmmaking. Obviously, the movie isn’t going to be amazing. Plus, the first time most of us do anything it is really, really bad.

With that said, we stayed to watch the entire movie. I think that says enough. I was prepared to jet if it proved to be really bad, but it wasn’t. The whole movie centers on a serial killer who has already been imprisoned. He is serving a life sentence for five murders, but much of the information about why he killed these five people and where they are now remains a mystery. He says he will only reveal important information regarding his motives and the resting place of his victims to one man, an old criminal psychology professor and a handful of his students. The majority of the movie is shot in a warehouse where the serial killer speaks to the professor and five students. Essentially, the movie is a prolonged discussion amongst these six people about the serial killer’s motives. His motives? He takes justice into his own hands by providing much crueler punishment than our justice system allows. It reminded me of The Punisher if there were no action scenes and the Punisher just sat everyone down and told them why and how he did it. Toward the end there are a few flashback scenes and some nice twists to wrap up the story.