An unsettling study of small-town pathology in the 1950s leaves a deep impression...

Diverse director Michael Winterbottom's latest controversial offering, The Killer Inside Me, gives Casey Affleck the opportunity to showcase his often doubted talents away from franchise blockbusters, bringing him full circle back to the uncompromising indie flicks that began his career.

Based upon the book by pulp novelist, Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me combines elements of crime, psychological thriller and even comic noir in this character study of a sadomasochistic small town Sheriff Deputy set in 1950s America. Lou Ford has spent his whole life in a small western frontier town building up a reputation as a trusted and valued member of the community - until a job he is given opens up the floodgates of his violent and abused past.

In Lou's small home town, everyone knows each other's name and although bad things happen, life goes on. When prostitute Joyce sets up camp out of town, her involvement with the local construction tycoon's son brings with it unwanted attention and Lou must do whatever he can to “run her out of town”. Meeting her acts as a trigger, surfacing repressed childhood memories of his father's abusive behaviour towards his mother, his own involvement with his mother's resulting sadomasochistic desires and his shocking childhood crimes. With Joyce “it was like a wind had been turned on a dying fire” - Lou's thirst for blood and need to avenge the death of his adopted brother return.

"Affleck's performance is unnerving and entrancing from start to finish"

Affleck's performance is unnerving and entrancing from start to finish in his ability to present a seemingly outward calm until something inside suddenly snaps and he becomes a brutal merciless killer. Having grown-up in the area, those around mistakenly see a transparent personality: “I know what you are backward and forward – you ain’t never done nothing wrong.”

In actuality, sexual asphyxiation abruptly transforms into a ferocious beating while Lou gently reassures his victim: “I’m sorry baby, I love you.” He launches her across the room like a paper plane and repeatedly punches her until she’s a swollen pulp with a “face [that] looked like a stewed meat hamburger,” stopping in the midst to calmly wipe his brow. He later stops in the street to cigar burn a man’s hand while civilly talking to him and beats another victim to death, sitting down to read a magazine half-way through.

A dark haired Kate Hudson looks flushed and red-faced playing the girl-next-door and Lou's childhood sweet-heart, Amy. Jessica Alba stars as the glassy-eyed Joyce, the unobtainable love of Lou's life. United Lou and Joyce are a bizarre twisted rendition of Romeo and Juliet's self-destructive heroes.

The Killer Inside Me isn't all blood and psychosis with banjo music running alongside some of Lou's disturbingly composed acts of violence and Lou delivering comically ironic lines like, “Somebody’s got to keep their head around here,” there is a generous dollop of dark humour. A fantastic farcical Benny Hill style sketch stands out as Lou chases his blackmailer brandishing a knife along the main streets in broad daylight.

"Dark lighting and shadowy shots mixed with interesting camera angles create and sustain tension, suggesting Lou's actions are appreciated by a peeping tom concealed in the bushes"

Its opening credits are the beginning of slick direction throughout with psychedelic patterns encasing realistic 50s scenes. Dark lighting and shadowy shots mixed with interesting camera angles create and sustain tension, suggesting Lou's actions are appreciated by a peeping tom concealed in the bushes. The feeling of sheer amazement at Lou's audacity and outer calm linger as the appropriately understated closing track “Shame on You” plays out.

Full of blackmail, intrigue, deceit, sexual tension, shocking violence, arson and murderous intent, the protagonist of The Killer Inside Me is a highly intelligent calculated cold-blooded killing machine. He's both fascinating and captivating to watch, leaving viewers almost as strangely apathetic to his bloody trail as his mesmerisingly calm executions.

Directors: Michael Winterbottom
Writer: John Curran
Running Time: 109 mins
Certificate: 18
Starring: Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas, Tom Bower, Simon Baker, Bill Pullman, Brent Briscoe

The Killer Inside Me opens June 4th, 2010

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