I Was a Teenage Serial Killer (1993) User Reviews

Not the kind of emancipation you wanna be going for

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 4 December 2018]

"I Was a Teenage Serial Killer" is a black-and-white short film from 1993, so this one has its 25th anniversary this year and it was written and directed by Sarah Jacobsen, who died tragically early from cancer. This is one of the few works she left us, probably her most known short movie at under half an hour and the lead actress is Kristin Calabrese and for her this was the only acting credit (so far) before appearing recently as a script supervisor on the likes of New Girl, oif that is her and not just somebody with the same name. But yeah back to this movie here. it looks very indie, probably a bit older than it is and very underground. We have a woman at the center of the story who gets disappointed by men again and again and at some point she snaps and starts brutally murdering these men. The violence is not too graphic though, so this shows also that it is about the randomness and comedy of it all. From that perspective it was an okay watch, but yeah I agree with another reviewer that acting sure wasn't good here and neither was the script. And the ending is just cringeworthy when they were trying to get in a pro-women message. Sure it is an importnat topic, also was back in the 1990s already, but here it felt just rushed in for the sake of it and without much depth or evaluation and that is really not an approach that should be given a subject like this because it just changes things in the other direction and fuels the mean-spirited ideas of actual women haters and misogynists. So overall, 4 out of 10 is still on the relatively generous side. Watch something else instead.

Good movie.

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 5/10 · 29 April 2019]

This is very scary. It has great acting. It also has a great story line. 6 out of 10 is overrating it. I give it 5 out of 10. It is a good movie. It is a lot better then The Silence of the lambs or the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on elm street.

A must-see for fans of radical underground cinema

[aschepler2 · 27 January 2004]

I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER (1993) **** Kristin Calabrese. Sarah Jacobson (Mary Jane's Not A Virgin Anymore) directs this extraordinary example of feminist underground filmmaking. Shot in gritty black and white, I Was a Teenage Serial Killer is the story of Mary, a young woman who gets fed up with being mistreated by men and decides to take matters into her own hands. The result: an angry, estrogen-fueled bloodbath! Don't believe the superficial reviews you read on this site. Film Threat Video Guide voted this groundbreaking film one of the "Top 25 Underground Films of All Time." I bought this video in college and must've watched it 50 times. I was blown away by it every time I saw it. Trust me, this film is worth seeing (if you can find it). If you're into Hollywood big-budget crap, this might not be for you, but for fans of radical underground cinema, it's a must-see.

This film is a frank, direct expression of . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 6 December 2018]

. . . Hollywood's current hateful PURGE to expunge--in its own words--"straight White men." An opening salvo in this on-going war of extermination, I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER features a 19-year-old "heroine" going by the name of "Mary" continually bragging about slaying one guy for each year that she's been alive: that is, 19 slaughtered corpses and counting. A few of these patsies are shown here, such as her own brother, a couple of her lovers, and a sidewalk admirer. Like the space alien chick in LIQUID SKY who kills with her "rhythm box," Mary's only motivating force seems to be "Venus Envy" (if you substitute a "P" for the first letter of that initial word). As a wise man once said, "So you were born a girl; get over it!" However, I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER refuses to "get over" Mary's birth defect. About 25 years after Mary's fictional (but based on "C. Theron's" True Story) killing spree, Real Life Tinsel Town took her message of murder and mayhem to heart, purging most of America's beloved entertainers from Oscar Voting Eligibility, resulting in the recent MOONLIGHT fiasco. Now that females are breaching the last bulwarks of Male Responsibility, the Dow Jones average is dropping about 1,000 points daily. Meanwhile, U.S. movie channels continue to squeeze I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER in between Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart, to make sure that Hollywood's subversive Crusade against the men who Made America Great triumphs over Common Sense.

I feel bad for the person who made this

[ghcheese · 1/10 · 27 April 2019]

You have to really have a lot of hate in you to make trash this bad. I don't know how anyone could sit through this and think it was good in any manner. Acting, horrible. Story, horrible. Writing, horrible.

I Suppose This Must Please Someone

[boblipton · 1/10 · 4 December 2018]

I suppose Sarah Jackson's movie about a female serial killer is emancipating and empowering and all that good stuff for women, because after all, most serial killers are men, and they are the heroes of boys everywhere. So it's good that women get to have a serial killer for them to admire, just like the boys.

What most interests me is the claim that this movie was made for $1600, working with volunteers and amateur actors. Given the awful quality of all technical aspects, as well as poor acting, I would estimate this cost about $130 in the early 1990s, for developing the film and printing a few copies for festival circuit. So someone stole almost $1500. Nice going!

More Stars, Best No-Budget Film

[simmexholdingsvnus · 10/10 · 28 October 2020]

I Will Give You 10/10, But We Need To Make Animated-Films For Good

Missed the mark

[loudave14 · 1/10 · 30 December 2020]

If I am missing a satirical point of view, then I apologize. If this is not meant to be a satire, then it is an insult to any strong woman. It doesn't quiet poke fun at any struggle a woman has over a man's dominance but it definitely creates an unrealistic and Petty way a strong woman would deal with the mildest or even the strongest misogyny. Unfortunate!

Who comes up with this stuff?

[scsu1975 · 2/10 · 21 November 2022]

The moral of this story (for guys) is don't remove your "protection" during sex or else your partner will beat the snot out of you, kill you, and stuff a banana in your mouth. I guess these is something symbolic there.

Mary, our "heroine" then meets a male serial killer who is a straight white male who believes all the problems in the world are due to straight white males. The two hit it off well, until he brings home a bound and gagged woman and says he killed the woman's boyfriend. "Without me?" screams Mary. She then does him in with a dustbuster.

Kristin Calabrese as Mary shows a modicum of talent, but the same cannot be said for anyone else. The photography is very poor, either intentionally or unintentionally. F-bombs are dropped constantly. The closing credits are interesting, my favorite being the guy billed as the "A-hole Drug Dealer."

You're right... bad acting.

[Sassy323 · 24 June 2002]

But this movie is not 'sexist against men' (whatever that means in a patriarchy). It's satirical and sardonic. The humor is right on, even if the acting isn't. I recommend it! Sarah Jacobson is a wonderful film maker.