Monday Movie Review: Killer Book Club

 

KILLER BOOK CLUB

A Spanish film, Horror, Movie Based on an book; El club de los lectores criminales

 Eight horror-loving friends fight for their lives when a killer clown who seems to know the grim secret they share begins to pick them off, one by one.

In preparation for the Halloween Season, I kicked off my scary movie watching with a Spain-made English dubbed movie called Killer Book Club on Netflix. I came across the trailer a few weeks ago and got a very I Know What You Did Last Summer vibe from it. Since I really enjoyed that movie, I decided to give this a try. The opening scene is a teenage girl dousing a room filled with books with gas while a woman in a nightgown frantically places the books back on the shelf before the girl covers her with gas and lights a copy of Don Quixote on fire before the room goes up in flames along with the woman. Time jump, six years and we are introduced to a group of college students in a book club together, plus Nando, a bartender who is dating Angela, the main character of the movie. They meet up at the beginning of the movie to decide on their next book to read. Koldo, an online influencer, suggests a book about a Killer Clown that he says he got from the book's publisher for free. They get into a quick discussion about coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. There is some clear tension between Nando and Sebas, the leader of the book club, as it's clear that Sebas likes Angela. We find out that Angela wrote and published a book six years ago but is now experiencing writer's block and has been since writing the first book as she didn't feel really connected to the story. She's about to write her professor for help on the first few chapters of her new story when she changes her mind to look up more about coulrophobia. We clearly see her delete the email. The next day, her professor says he wants to discuss the email he received from her. She thinks that maybe she accidentally sent her email after all. However, when inside the professor's office alone, it becomes clear that they are not talking about the same email as he tries to force himself on her since the email he got stated that she was interested in him. 

After all her friends find out about the attempted assault, they decide it would be a good idea to pull a prank on the professor while dressing up as Killer Clowns. However, this prank turns deathly when one of the members bludgeons the professor before he falls off the third-floor balcony, straight on a Don Quixote statue. I think, there's a theme.  They all agree never to talk about what happened to the professor and their involvement. However, soon the members begin to receive links to this online web novel about a Killer Clown, and the first chapter is all about what happened to the professor and declares that each member of the club will be killed one by one in each chapter to come. The first to die, the youngest member of the group, The Brat, Virginia. 

Overall, I did enjoy this movie for what it was. It was very similar to, as mentioned above I Know What You Did Last Summer as well as Scream. This movie was heavily influenced by Scream. From there being, spoiler, two killers, the red herring of Nando being the Killer Clown and the trope dropping as if lampshading what will occur. I did like the killers reveal, though, it was mostly obvious, and I was hoping it would come more out of left field. Like we are very, very briefly introduced to the Professor's aide early in the movie, I would have liked that she was the killer or at least one of them because you only saw her that one time and you would never, ever expect it. The killers make sense within the story, as does their motivation.

The downside is that Angela, the protagonist isn't the most likable person. I like that she has her flaws but there's nothing redeeming about her which is why I'm giving this a four out of five O's. 

Side note for anyone who saw the movie or will be watching: Did anyone else notice how Sebas looks eerily like a young Christian Bale? Don't believe us? Look at this comparison of them side by side?

Watch it now on Netflix

Based off this book, haven’t seen it any translated version but if you can read Spanish here you go!

(Picture linked to Amazon)