Deep Murder is a 2019 comedy about a deranged killer as he slashes his way across a soft core porno.
They say it takes a really good actor to play a very bad actor on screen. That may be true but no good actor can play bad if the bit they’re in isn’t equally good, er, bad. That’s where we find ourselves in director Nick Corirossi‘s odd parody Deep Murder, a modest jab at both soft core porn and murder mysteries. It’s a peculiar mix to be sure, tossing in some graphic gore and the occasional good joke, making it purposefully weird yet strangely uninteresting. There’s a whole host of commitment here with the cast jumping well into the deep end yet despite its potential, can’t find the laughs.
In a huge mansion, upstairs, Doug (Jerry O’Connell) is about to have dirty sex with Babs (Katie Aselton), the wife of big time deal maker Richard (Christopher McDonald), who is on the phone making, well, big deals. He’s also Doug’s brother and oblivious to what’s going on. Meanwhile, in another room, nerdy Hugh (Quinn Beswick) is playing video games with sports jock Jace (Chris Redd) when the hot babysitter (Jessica Parker Kennedy) arrives to offer them sex. Not long after, a scientist named Dr. Bunny VanClit (Stephanie Drake) comes with a warning. That just when Doug ends up dead, a letter opener jammed into his heart. But who did it? A detective named Cross (Josh Margolin) shows up to investigate but soon enough, more bodies pile up and it’s clear they’re all trapped in a house with a serial killer.
A quick glance at the cast is all one needs in thinking this really should be funny. And yes, there are some moments that tick, like the fact that they can’t leave the house because a terrible hurricane is about to strike and it’s too late to evacuate (even though it’s always sunny and clear outside). In fact, there are a ton of good setups with a number of them right on the edge of feeling razor sharp (a Bechdel Test joke lands right on point) but so many more swing and miss, most because they run right out of steam, the feature length format forcing this to pad out gags (and bodies) for too long.
I suppose one doesn’t need to be all that familiar with softcore porn to understand what’s going on, the story set in an alternative universe where actors in this kind of movie are not in fact actors but real people and the lives they lead not fantasy (remember Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s Last Action Hero?). Obviously, these movies feature some notoriously bad acting and that’s what Deep Murder clings too, the cast the best thing going in this with McDonald the most ‘bad.’ He’s genuinely funny no matter what he’s doing.
There is one clever twist of sorts at the start of the third act but at 95 minutes is still far too long, which might not even be the filmmaker’s fault. As the best who do this know, it’s all about timing and even as it has a good hook, would have worked better as a skit. Not nearly dry enough, lacking a better sense of self awareness, and minus any joy in delivering jokes, this is an earnest but mediocre effort.