Have an appreciation for horror and the concept was kind of interesting. So although expectations were far from high, considering the general standard of low budget films seen recently, part of me was hoping that 'Killer Ink' would be at least tolerable.
There are definitely worse films than 'Killer Ink', of the horror genre and overall, and it is not even close to being one of the worst, let alone the worst, low budget films seen recently. That on the other hand doesn't make it good, it does far too little with the potential it had in the concept and it is little more than mediocre. There is little engaging and it is cheesy as sin.
'Killer Ink's' best component was Robert LaSardo, who is frighteningly intimidating. There was something somewhat ominous about the music and it does occasionally give a suspenseful touch.
Some nice shots here and there too that have some stylishness and atmosphere, though they're too far and between. Sara Fabel is also credible and gives a lot to her performance, despite having a less than realistic character.
Sadly, that is pretty much the only praise to give. The pace very badly lumbers, which really makes the film dull, and it is not always easy to figure out what is going on because the story is just so thin, predictable and tonally weird.
The lack of any atmosphere, let alone tension and suspense, is a hindrance as is the over-stretched length with such a thinly plotted story. Then there is the incredibly bad writing. Very stilted and induces too often some unintentional laughs. It just sounded silly and clumsy, on top of that too repetitive.
Even worse is the acting, with beyond description terrible performances from especially an excruciatingly irritating Claire Garvey. The cliched characters are incredibly annoying and far from interesting or worth caring about, there is no development and the way they behave too often is stupid and illogical.
The production values generally look cheap, especially the haphazard editing. The story has nothing engaging, suspenseful or scary, it's just far-fetched to an intelligence insulting degree, incredibly dull due to trying to stretch things out to pad the too long length and just too bland. Anything done to try and spice up the supposedly scary moments came over as overdone and gratuitous. The gore and torture don't shock and is either extreme of sadistic or too soft.
Concluding, mediocre but not unwatchable. 4/10 Bethany Cox