Essential Films, 1997

starring: Paolo Rotondo, Rebecca Hobbs, Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Vanessa Byrnes

written and directed by: Scott Reynolds

the plot: Simon Cartwright (Rotondo) is a notorious serial killer who has spent the last five years locked up in an asylum while awaiting trial. Simon isn’t like most serial murderers, however. There’s no rhyme or reason to his choice of victims, no pattern to his crimes. That mystery draws psychiatrist Karen Schumaker (Hobbs) to take on Simon’s case. In a series of tense interviews, Simon tells the doctor of his past—the abuse he suffered at the hands of his controlling, alcoholic mother (Ward-Lealand) and the indignities he faced from bullies at school and, later, in the workplace. Through it all, Simon maintains that beings he calls the Visitors, apparitions of his victims, drive him to murder, even though he fights against them. As Simon relives his past, Schumaker is drawn deeper into his psyche and  begins to see visions of Simon’s victims and glimpses of the Ugly. When Simon tells the doctor of how he reconnected with a childhood friend (Byrnes), Schumaker learns that Simon’s fantasies about the Ugly might just be terrifyingly real.

why it’s good: “The Ugly” has a little more bite than the standard serial-killer flick, thanks to its surrealist take and interesting direction. Writer/director Scott Reynolds keeps the film interesting by constantly merging fantasy, reality and flashbacks into one dream-like narrative. One scene featuring a pre-teen Simon running after a friend morphs into an adult Simon chasing, and eventually killing, a victim. It keeps you off-balance and on edge, enough so that when Simon’s Visitors show up randomly throughout the film, they’re super creepy. Reynolds even works some “Exorcist”-style subliminal images into the movie, inserting shots of the Visitors, with their pale skin, bared teeth and mouths dripping black blood, into scenes. Rotondo turns Simon into a fairly layered character, portraying him first as a psychopath, but transforming him into a sympathetic (though still scary) victim of some outside force. Also of note is Jennifer Ward-Lealand as Simon’s battle axe of a mother. She commands the few scenes she’s in, and while it is fun and sort of off-putting to see her wreak havoc, it’s also a relief when Simon finally offs her. “The Ugly” has plenty of cheese to it, though. The asylum Simon lives in is staffed only by a doctor who looks like he was kicked out of a Kraftwerk cover band and a pair of security guards who could have just stepped out of a professional wrestling ring. One guard is clad in ripped jeans and an unbuttoned denim vest (the better to show off the tattoo of the word “intensity” across his stomach), while the other wears a shooting-target T-shirt and pantomimes a lot. The cheesiness is a welcome distraction from all the darkness, though, and helps keep “The Ugly” from getting too pretty for its own good.

why you should own it: “The Ugly” is one of those movies that, after renting and watching it once, you may want to add permanently to your library. Lions Gate’s DVD is without extras, though, so pick up a cheap copy when you can.