Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Lechuguilla Violence is the theme of "The Killing Of America", a visually graphic compendium of murder in the U.S.A. "Guns and more guns" intones the narrator, as shots are fired, victims fall, chaos ensues, and the killer's face appears on screen ... over and over and over, one crime after another. Watching this film you'd think that there's a killer hiding behind every bush.Beginning with the JFK assassination and progressing to the early eighties, the film compresses some twenty years of violence into ninety minutes, giving a somewhat distorted cultural impression. How does the murder rate during those twenty years compare to prior decades? The film doesn't tell us. How does that period compare to more recent times? The film can't tell us. So that one problem with "The Killing Of America" is that it is time-bound, stuck in a particular era, without reference to the past or future.One might also ask ... how does American gun violence compare to other countries? The film compares the U.S. to Japan and England, which have ultra-low murder rates. Beyond that, the film doesn't say. Recent statistics show that in comparison to other industrialized nations, the U.S. has a higher murder rate than any country except Russia. But when compared to non-industrial countries, like Honduras, Venezuela, and the Ivory Coast, violence in America is quite low. So a second problem with the film's message is lack of adequate geographic perspective.There's also a problem with the film's structure. Although there's a general chronological progression of events, I cannot justify the film's sequential positioning of different types of gun violence, for example, a political assassination followed by some local neighborhood murder, followed by an expose on a highly publicized serial killer. Such sequencing is haphazard and arbitrary. Apart from the obvious violence, what is the unifying theme in this jumble of cases?The visuals in the copy I watched are poor with lots of out-of-focus scenes, though that can partly be explained by impromptu photography. Overall images trend a little too dark. Sound quality also is poor in spots. Most background music is a bit too frenzied and too loud. John Lennon's song "Imagine" provides a welcome reprieve at the end.There is no question that the level of violence in the U.S. was then, and still is, too high. "The Killing Of America" does indeed provide factual information, with very good video footage of local murders and highly publicized national cases. But the political bias toward gun control is blatant. And the overall production suffers from morbid exploitative visuals at the expense of calm, rational analysis.

punishmentpark Even though 'The Killing of America' wants to state a peaceful message, it has a dubious way of getting its point across, lacking logic and thoroughness. Of course, a lot of the statistics may be real, but more than anything else they show (partly) how a 'new' society, after two world wars, is beginning to face its limitations and problems concerning its enormous growth, high speed development and radical cultural changes... and several serial killers portrayed here never even used a gun! But beyond that, restrictions on American gun laws would certainly have mý blessing...Back to 'T.K.o.A.', because beyond its failing as a documentary, it offers an intriguing series of archival footage pertaining to all kinds of 'modern' violence in America, from about the early sixties up to the early eighties. It starts right off the bat with the brutal street killing of a black suspect by some cops, and does not flinch at showing gore or seedy images that many will find offensive - some ninety minutes of assassinations, snipers, riots, war, mass-suicide and serial killers are then still to come...As a documentary: 3 out of 10. As a historic document: 9 out of 10. Which brings it to an average of 6 out of 10, since I find it hard to prioritize in this case...

CULTEGUY Okay, I have watched a box set of 'Mondo' movies, pretty much every 'Faces Of Death' movies and 'Shocking Asia' movies. This film is not in the same genre, as it is an accurate view of events-- not set up, nor really exploitive in any other sense that the nightly new is exploitive (actually, these days, it's probably tame as an exploitation document.) The film was never released, outside of New York, in America. People in America saw it. Some of the garbage in the beginning and the middle may have been a little set up (I just don't know.) Also, the scene that was supposedly captured by a security cam with decent sound may have been reenacted. Most of the film is straight forward American news coverage.We can see some of the footage shown here (and then some) on a documentary about a serial killer or crazed gun man or psycho every weekend on some documentary on MSNBC. But, I try to go on the mind frame of the release date. In that, it's powerful stuff, material that we sat through in the 70s on the boob tube. It's not fabricated, and some of it could benefit for students-- especially the Kennedy brothers coverage-- for students for reports.Note my screen name, I'm a little jaded and wasn't offended cause I've see a lot worst. But, the critics and the people here shouldn't lump this in with 'Faces Of Death' because it is mostly full of real footage-- and the footage that may not be real is of no concern to us now. The footage that is important is historically important to our country.It is true the film shows horrific acts of violence (nothing edited from news casts covering them though,) and offer no narrative. The film maker wasn't Michael Moore, and they weren't exactly Errol Morris either (but, in Morris's case, people don't hammer his 'reenactments' as exploitive.) I pretty much think the audience gets it with out an announce of what the film maker thinks.This was the Uncut version of the movie, and like I've said, it's probably footage Americans have seen before, for the most part, Uncut. It's no more a 'snuff film' than seeing a bunch of Iraquis getting whacked out for holding cameras that I saw on the news the other day is.The movie's dated, so I'll give it a 8. Yet, if I'd seen the movie when it came out I would have gave it a 3.5 because it's a real horror movie. Check it out if you can find it though.

Jason Scherer I saw The Killing Of America quite a few years ago now, & it was very cold to the bone chilling viewing. The last time i watched it, i thought, never again could i watch this. The scene i used to turn away from was the scene where the 2 accomplices took several neighborhood boys to their home, raped & murdered them. The killer Wayne, who shot his accomplice, was sitting in the police car, there was a picture taken of the left side of his face inside the car, while his right side of his face was staring right at the camera. That picture spooked the living hell out of me for so long, before i finally had the courage to view it. Now i feel i have faced one of my fears. To summarize, very creepy viewing, very sad, that so many people who could've turned out successful in life, turned to a life of crime and horrible murders. About anyone wanting a copy of this to watch, if you want to see this, Australia has just released The Killing Of America (Uncut) on DVD. (go to www.ezydvd.com.au to purchase it, it is $19.95 Aust. R.R.P.)