“Killers” Unrated, Director’s Cut on Blu-ray from Synapse!

Odessa and Kyle James paint half their faces with skull imagery, don their Santa hats, and load their pump action shotguns and on Christmas Eve, walk into their parents’ bedroom and unload multiple shells into them where they lay without mercy.  A trial sentences them to death row for their crimes despite their calm efforts to dismiss the State and prosecutor’s case against them.  Years later, the brothers escape from the maximum-security prison and are the loose in the town of Beatty where the Ryan family happily watch television and play board games on a stormy night.  With U.S. Marshalls hot on their tail, Odessa and Kyle invade the Ryan home where their strangely more than warmly welcomed by the mother and two daughters.  It quickly becomes clear their usurpation of the Ryan household is more of a sheep in a wolf’s clothing and the meager, goody-two shoes Mr. Ryan will reestablish dominance and show the James Boys the real man of the house.  

1996 marks the year of Mike Mendez’s debut feather-length film, titled simply “Killers.”  “The Covenant” and “Satanic Hispanic” segment director writes and direct a philosophical and brutal home invasion thriller cowritten by one of the film’s principal actors, the late Dave Larsen (“Vampire Centerfolds”), full of unusual twists that can second guess everything you know about storytelling.  “Killers” cements under his greenhorn feet novel elements of twisted character studies while finding homes for bad boy cool characters, stylized shootouts, and a smoky noir and dark dwelling cinematography to commingle with his anarchic structure and tale.  The U.S. produced film is independent funded by star-producer Dave Larsen under the LLC of The Lost Boys, a reference from the film’s story that labels the escaped convicted brothers as such, with Joseph E. Jones-Marion as coproducer.  Most of the funds were secured by Dave Larsen’s father, S.E. Larsen, after remortgaging the family home.  Eventually, the home was foreclosed upon after Dave’s premature death.

Dave Larsen and David Gunn entrench themselves into the sordid souls of sociopathic brothers Odessa and Kyle James, inspired almost to the exact murder by real-life killers the Menendez Brothers who committed parricide in nearly the exact shotgun-loaded manner in Beverly Hills 1989.  Portraying mindful. ruthless killers with intellectual monologues and a panache that’s very Mickey Rourke pastiche, the solemn faces and confidence carrying Larsen and Gunn go greatly above and beyond the call for the titular types.  Thinking the summit has been reached and there could be nothing more grave than two brothers snuffing their own mom and dad without hesitation, who kill Beatty locals with intent, who steal daughters (Nanette Biachi, “The Killer Eye,” and Renee Cohen) and a wife (Damian Hoffer) for their own carnal pleasures, and who bully and insult a respected husband, father, and man (Burke Morgan, “Bloodsucking Babes from Burbank”) of the Beatty community, the tables suddenly and jarringly turn and viewers will be knocked unbalanced when the police storm the door, lead by U.S. Marshal Lorna McCoy, played by the quick and sarcastic lip of Wendy Latta, and discover just then who that two killers are actually more in this seemingly quiet and small suburban house, rivaling the James boys, if not surpassing their malevolence even if just a little.  The “Killers’” cast doesn’t stop there as Ellis Moore (“Femme Fontaine:  Killer Babe for the C.I.A.”), Ivan Vertigo, Chad Sommers, and Carol Baker becomes a part of the fray.

“Killers” defined is simply a conceptual paradox.  If two unstoppable forces collide, the logical result would be an unfathomable outcome as nothing can stop an unstoppable force.  Instead, what may occur is a massive particle explosion, a rift in dimension time and space, or a vast nightmare so bizarre nothing can compare to it.  “Killer” embodies every quality of the latter in its maniacal melting pot of phantasmagoric potpourri, especially through the Mendez lens of engulfing shadows and mostly Duke blue and poker hot red gel tints.  Following the progression is a guessing game unto itself with welcoming and shocking pivots that parade forth a Hell on Earth turn of events.  You think the story’s going one way then it acutely shifts, and this happens more than once to the point where none of the previous groundwork or what’s instore for the future can be taken for granted in this fluid, subversive, kill-or-be-killed home invasion and cannibal bipartite.  For a first-time independent production, weapon props are extensive, gory moments are effective, makeup has grotesque appeal, and the dialogue indulges in shades of conversation complexity that equally match the complexity of the characters’ MacGuffin backgrounds.  Mike Mendez’s impressive start to his career has provocative monologue and stylish notes of Quentin Tarantino and William Freidkin bathed in primary color gels and a tale zigzagging with zeal.

Available for the first time in high-definition, the director’s vision, restored by the Multicom Entertainment Group, is in the hands of Synapse Films, delivering “Killers” to the cult physical media table with an AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD50 Blu-ray. Presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, “Killers” has a stylistic choice of being tenebrous, whether in shadow, in night, or just to over exuded a sense of gloom and doom in tone and in what’s visually shown. Delineated blue and red gel lighting beam through and glow the necessary bits for effulgence effect to contrast the darkness. Another popping source of lighting and colors are the individualized, punchy Christmas colors because, for all who don’t know, “Killers” is actually a Christmas movie. Because of the cheerless grading, details are not inherently sharp but Synapse and Multicom’s restoration enlightens quite a bit than previous versions, putting rightfully on display the details where once shrouded by lower resolution or otherwise mishandled. Skin tones appear natural as well as the grain with a scintilla of white speckle. The lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo has an organic dual-channel dynamic, catering a central focus on the monologuing, that translate to the dialogue exchanges also, with great enthusiasm and clarity. Not the best in edited sound design that has layer slippage but pulls enough ahead and into the fold to not be an unsynchronous, incongruous mess. “Killers” could have greatly benefited from a surround mix with the varietal exchanges that emits a full-bodied arrangement of resonations, mostly in the interiors and playing to those specific in locations. English subtitles are available. Special features include a feature-paralleling audio commentary with director Mike Mendez and horror journalist Michael Gingold going over backstory, tidbits, and the goals of making “Killers,” an alternate, pared-down ending that’s loses a lot of the original film’s feasting flavor, and the original promotional trailer. The black Amaray case comes with new illustrative cover art without a reversible option. Inside contains a 6-page essay My Brother Death: Mike Mendez’s Killers by cult film enthusiast Heather Drain, a Synapse 2025 product catalogue, and a disc pressed with Odessa’s half-skull covered face. The region free release has a 96-minute runtime and is unrated.

Last Rites: Synapse Films have brought “Killers” from out of the shadows of obscurity. A schismatic, soulless killer of a film, “Killers” has the heart of madmen and madness meshed together in one seriously sideways story.

“Killers” Unrated, Director’s Cut on Blu-ray from Synapse!