Kalifornia (1993)

Director:

Dominic Sena

Writers (WGA):

Stephen Levy (story) &
Tim Metcalfe (story) ...

Release Date:

3 September 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

A state of fear and terror

Plot:

A journalist duo go on a tour of serial killer murder sites with two companions, unaware that one of them is a serial killer himself.

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | White Trash | Murder | Rape | Neo Noir

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Brad Pitt	...	Early Grayce
Kathy Larson	...	Teenage Girl (as Catherine Larson)
David Milford	...	Driver
David Duchovny	...	Brian Kessler
John Zarchen	...	Peter
David Rose	...	Eric
Michelle Forbes	...	Carrie Laughlin
Tommy Chappelle	...	Old Man
Juliette Lewis	...	Adele Corners
Judson Vaughn	...	Parole Officer
James Michael McDougal	...	John Diebold (as J. Michael McDougal)
Patricia Sill	...	Carol
Brett Rice	...	Police Officer
Marisa Raper	...	Little Girl
Bill Crabb	...	Middle Aged Farmer (as Bill Crabbe)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, and for sexuality and language.

Runtime:

117 min | USA:118 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:M18 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | South Korea:18 (cut) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Trivia:

'Michelle Forbes'' photographer character is a reference to the controversial photographer Andres Serrano, specifically his series 'History of Sex' and 'The Klan' (from the early 1990s).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Brian and Carrie are loading their luggage into the car to begin the trip (before they pick up Adele and Early), David Duchovny (Brian) accidentally rips the fabric on the suitcase. He stops and looks back at it, then continues with the dialogue.

Quotes:

[Early has just shot two cops]
Adele Corners: [crying] Ohhhh nooooo, Early.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

Do You Need Some?

Kalifornia with a capital "K"

I just got done watching "Kalifornia" on Showtime for the fourth time since I first saw it back in July of 2001. You would think that with the recent wave of serial killer films, that "Kalifornia" would be amongst some of the earlier films worthy of mention but hasn't. Perhaps if this film had been released sometime between like 1996-1999, maybe it might have been more successful. In my opinion, "Kalifornia" is much different from most serial killer films released during the late 1990s. It has an almost completely different atmosphere from most of today's serial killer films like "Seven" or "The Bone Collector". Many serial killer films have shown a killer but that person is always behind a mask or we never see enough of them to actually learn anything about them. "Kalifornia" is a film that actually tries to break through that barrier and actually understand the criminal mind. It tries to answer questions like "why do they do the things they do? Is it because of something that happened in their past? Does it make them feel superior or powerful? Or do they do it because they like the thrill of the kill?" These are some of the things that "Kalifornia" tries to answer but also leaves room for us to try and figure things out for ourselves. Brad Pitt makes an everlasting impression as Early Grayce. When we first meet Early in the beginning of the film, we see that he is obviously one disturbed individual. When we first see him, it's late at night. Early is possibly drunk. We then see him pick up a rock, throw it off a bridge, and it later lands on the windshield of a passing car. Pitt is fierce in this film. It is always good to see him when he plays psychos or really bad people. It's funny that this would later lead him play a true loon like in "12 Monkeys" and that he would be on the other end of the spectrum in David Fincher's "Seven".