Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer

Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer is an appropriately dark and gory excursion into the crazy redneck serial killer subgenre. Cyrus (Brian Krause) is a God-fearing country boy whose momma abused him and whose wife has become the town whore. After catching his wife in a compromising position with a travelling salesman, Cyrus sees red and kills them both, which touches off a murderous rampage, as Cyrus uses his victims for the meat in his novelty "road kill" burgers. All this is explained in a framing device by a reticent man named Emmett (Lance Henriksen) to Maria (Danielle Harris), a reporter from a sensationalistic tabloid television show called Last Steps. Somehow, Emmett knows a lot about Cyrus, heretofore known only as "the County Line Cannibal," and Maria smells a career-making story. Like a lot of horror movies, Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer is predicated on the notion that its characters will act irrationally, or get themselves into dangerous situations, for the sake of their, and the audience's, curiosity. Bad things happen that might not have otherwise in order to move things along. The film is filled with expository lines like, "we came all the way from the college," which allow the viewer to keep pace with the killer, but one step ahead of his not-so-swift victims. While briskly paced, and full of plenty of over-the-top, yet realistic gore, Cyrus is rudimentary when it comes to the most crucial element of horror: psychological. Cyrus is a fairly one-dimensional killer who kills fairly one-dimensional people. Reminiscent of films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Deranged, Cyrus unfortunately concerns itself with gore and torture, rather than digging deeper into repressed fear. Henriksen is a saving grace, although he's not given much to do except sit in a chair, tell stories and look grim. Included in the DVD extras are a making-of documentary featuring interviews with the actors and director Mark Vadik, and a trailer.