Natural Selection (1999) User Reviews

interesting...

[catchingthe22 · 5/10 · 22 March 2005]

When I first finished Natural Selection, or Monster Hunter, I didn't know what to think. The movie comes at you like a breeze, quick and without much of an impression.

The movie itself was not that interesting. A plot about serial killers and a couple of jokes.

What really bothered me was its side-plot, the one that involves David Carridine. I can't tell you much about it, but it's "interesting" The movie obviously had some vision, which I liked. It tried something new. But it just fell short. Way too many problems with me, which I can't tell you much about.

This movie is obviously one of those "you love it or hate it" kind of movies. So I hope you get the chance to see it to make up your mind.

Ah, grasshopper....

[Mason-4 · 9 October 1999]

David Carradine (yes, the Kung Fu Carradine) plays a major role in this film, and, while he brings considerable talent to the cast -- perhaps the only talent -- much of the time he looks like an actor desperately seeking direction. I feel a little sorry for him. Carradine plays a maverick FBI agent who has gone a little haywire from brushing up against the madness of his serial killer quarry. He stays in a motel room lined with pages torn from a Bible -- a reference to The Omen in which a priest, driven mad by his quest for to confront and battle the Ultimate Evil, lives in a Bible page-lined cell. Carradine's delusional special agent sees his quarry going into a horrifically fast seizures, much like the terrifying spasms of the figures haunting the protagonist in Jacob's Ladder. There are, perhaps, hints of Pulp Fiction here and there as well. Yet these allusions are not enough to save the film -- if anything, they seem to be adolescent expressions of adulation rather than homage to the filmmaker's influences.

Not sure what they were trying to say

[dog_fc · 3/10 · 7 February 2005]

I'll avoid the obvious critique of "this movie poo poos our society's tendency to glamorize serial killers while simultaneously glamorizing serial killers." A little hypocrisy now and again never hurt anyone and certainly never stopped a movie from being made. It does make a valid point: we do like to make our worst killers into celebrities.

What does bother me is that this movie is not funny or suspenseful or scary. The only emotion this movie will make you feel is bored. The makers of this movie made it by formula, pulling every trick from every movie that everyone has seen and trying to pass it off as their own, as if a convenient bit of repackaging will make us forget where we saw that before. David Carradine: we saw The Omen. The whole movie: we saw Natural Born Killers.

Bob Balaban gives this movie its only bright spot, playing a funny, overly earnest psychoanalytical goof who feels the pain of the killers.

The movie doesn't suck, since there are movies that are much, much worse, but it doesn't entertain, either.

3 out of ten.

two hours of my life I won't get back...

[PashaY · 1/10 · 14 September 1999]

Poor old David Carradine. You thought "Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues" was undignified? It gets worse. Remember, five or so years ago, when 'serial killer' movies were really edgy? It's over.

Like Robert Rodriguez's worse outings, "Natural Selection" has the feel of a film made by film fans, not filmmakers. Worse yet, those involved appear to believe that all it takes to make a film is to emulate the likes of Rodriguez, Tarrantino or Oliver Stone (of course with the title, subject matter and style come the inevitable "Natural Born Killers" comparisons - one can't help wonder if maybe the filmmakers wanted this).

The film is predicated on a single phrase: "Black Comedy about serial killers." The plot (two serial killers in one small town try to kill each other) is entirely secondary to the writer's attempts to showcase their preteen comic stylings. Black Comedy requires keen wit and irony, neither of which this film has, satisfying itself instead with a string of childish jokes and poorly-conceived, 'absurdist' situations. The dimestore dada really highlights the filmmakers' heavy-handedness - there is a particular sequence, involving a fight and a phone call, which almost works, but is completely undone by massive over- exposition in the dialogue. The writers REALLY wanted to make sure you "got it."

I saw this film during a trip to Austin, Texas. I don't suspect anyone will ever see it anywhere else; I just can't see the market for a second-rate entry into a dead-horse genre.

Un-Natural Selection

[JimmyJ-2 · 1/10 · 5 February 2000]

When Hollywood studios jump on a band wagon, it is the unfortunate tendency for the independent scene to crowd the wheel tracks. Serial killers were hot a few years ago but these people aren't swift enough to realize just how much psycho-killers have cooled off. Maybe they should have made a boxing movie.

The poster for this movie tags it as "The standing room only, sell-out sensation of the 1999 Austin Film Festival." As bad as this movie was, this is not a glowing endorsement for that particular festival. There were a few funny jokes, but they were far and painfully few between. Most of the "funny" moments were based on one of the following 1) "Wacky" back-woods types acting, well, wacky or 2) Cursing - as if the f-word is still such a novelty that its mere utterance will cause us to fall over laughing into the aisles.

I only wasted $4.50 to see this movie. If you must see this do not be suckered into paying more than a matinee price.

Great Fun!

[G-man-29 · 10/10 · 9 September 1999]

I love this movie, which, dare I say, with some well deserved luck, could be the "Blair Witch" of comedy. "Natural Selection" is a movie within a movie about a good ole boy gone very very bad in a small Texas town. Willie Dickenson is a fugitive serial killer who's body count stands at eight. A documentary filmmaker interviews the cops, the neighbors, the family, the groupies, and the victims' parents and attempts to solve the riddle of Willie, i.e., "what makes a time bomb tick?"

"Natural Selection" is an original, hilarious satire that never plays it safe. It skewers our perverse obsession with twisted hero worship. After all, in this country we don't know what to make of the notorious, so we just make them celebrities. There's so much to like about this indie underdog: the look-- eye candy way beyond the budget; the sensibility-- yes, Virginia, a movie about a cold-blooded killer can actually be at its heart warm and homespun; the soundtrack-- featuring welcome contributions from the greatly underappreciated Texas rocker Charlie Sexton; and especially the inspired performances from a tremendously eclectic cast.

Michael Bowen, as Willie, gives a complex and unbelievably delicate performance. As a father-to-be, he is a man who is capable of tenderness, but is driven by his demons to cold-blooded murder. Here's a man who mails his victims heads, yet we feel a measure of sympathy for him. That's acting. David Carradine delivers a wonderful, comic performance unlike any you've ever seen as a wacko FBI agent on Willie's trail. NewsRadio's Stephen Root is as funny as he's ever been--and that's damn funny--as a victim's father, and proves once again that in comedy, monkeys are always hilarious. And veteran character actor Bob Balaban is a riot as a crackpot psychiatrist with an ego bigger than Texas. And just trust me about Willie's cousins. You can't go wrong with rednecks, beer and shotguns either.

"Natural Selection" is a wonderful surprise. Scene after scene, it's like you're scooping up another unexpected gem.

Boring and stupid

[Knuckle · 1/10 · 17 August 1999]

This movie is another in a series of poorly written, poorly directed, poorly produced "films" which attempts to convince us that the serial-killer genre has not been beaten to death. The sheer volume of clunky dialogue, first-year film student camera tricks, and wooden acting, gives you the impression that this film was an abortion of logic, taste, and good sense.

"Natural Selection" is told to us from two points of view: the standard narrative as well as that of a documentary crew attempting to record the events haunting White Hills. While the standard narrative is boring, disjointed, and poorly acted, easily the worst part of the movie are the documentary sequences. The social commentary provided by these segments are neither biting nor clever enough to be in the least bit entertaining or thought-provoking. At best they provide a momentary distraction from the monotony of the rest of the movie.

The humor, if it can be called that, is infantile to say the least. One of the gems offered by this movie is that of an interviewee declaring flatly "He was a masturbator." This crude attempt at humor would have trouble wringing a chuckle from twelve year olds, at whom this gag was obviously aimed. There is a fiendishly unfunny bit with a hard-cussin' cowboy cop, obviously placed in this movie to impress us with the writer's ability to swear like one of the big kids.

The rest of the movie is simply a boring mess, with the story going one way, then another. There are several sub-plots that are touched upon, but never fully explored, leaving you with a sense that the movie you missed was a much better one than the one you just watched.

Good, clean, murder and mayhem!

[f242 · 10/10 · 1 April 2002]

I saw this movie on Showtime recently and I had a ball. Sometimes it was a little rough around the edges, but I laughed a lot. Hell, the monster gags even freaked me out. Very creative film. It is nice to see that small independent genre films can still find an audience. Check it out when you can.

Monster misfire.......

[merklekranz · 1/10 · 23 March 2009]

I'm all for weird movies. I love the strange ones, but along with the unusual there should be at least a hint of a plot. Unfortunately, "The Monster Hunter" not only lacks a script, but any semblance of cohesion. The story simply flops around like a goldfish on the floor. Sure, there is David Caradine, but he has very little to work with. Weird for weird's sake does not make a film, and although the concept of two serial killers being stalked by an insane monster hunter sounds intriguing, the result is well below average. I should have known any movie endorsed by Quentin Tarantino, who's own mediocre movies are only slightly better than this failure, would be almost unwatchable. - MERK

funny movie deserves a chance

[bears_fonte · 9/10 · 18 April 2004]

I had the joy of catching this flick at a film festival and it is truly a find. Very off-the-wall independent stuff. And very funny. At times you may think it goes over the top, and then it goes further. With the right circumstances, this could have been a great cult hit, as it is much more entertaining, thought provoking and well-acted than something like Donnie Darko.

And Carradine is absurdly hilarious. Is he being serious? Is making fun of himself? I don't know, watch the movie and make your own choice.

The script is the true find of the production as it reads like the perverse parody that 'Natural Born Killers' never amounted to. It jumps back and forth between a sort of film noir and pseudo-documentary - and I wish there had been even more that interplay. It's almost as if the director stumbled onto a movie and didn't realize it was as funny as it ended up being.

Where frailty ends this movie begins

[yeodawg · 8/10 · 22 August 2008]

If you loved the movie "Frailty" and wanted more, well here it is. If you loved the concept of a crazed ax-murdering serial killer, killing other serial killers that are actually demons/ghouls. The problem is how do you turn this into an hour long TV show or a sequel. Well these guys found a way. You don't! you don't explain the passed you just go forward with you take on the concept.

The movie starts off with a documentary on the aftermath of a small-town that was plagued by two serial killers. Interviews with the victim's family, the bungling police, co-workers of the suspect, and man on the street interviews. They even interviewed the high-school coach as he belittled a fat kid about his man-boobs. they interview the killers passed and interview his mom this is the comedy. They get down to business about how the killers pick their targets, and the show-down with the FBI "Demon Hunter".

Best scene: the opening credits of the tied and bound victim trying to escape the serial killer.

crazy little pseudo mockumentary-turned-dramatization of the events surrounding a serial killer in Texas

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 27 September 2007]

If you're wondering what might be an indication of recommendation for The Monster Hunter (aka Natural Selection as it's called on IMDb), Quentin Tarantino has a quote on the back of the DVD case that reads simply as: "Great!" And how could he not say that, mayhap, considering David Carradine and Michael Bowen, both co-stars of the Kill Bill movies, appear in two of the juiciest roles of their respective careers? It's all a big goof, but often very sly and unexpected; looking at the DVD box you think you're getting a bad sci-fi channel movie with Carradine as a From Dusk Till Dawn type bounty hunter or something. Not quite, kids.

It's the story of Willie, a postman who turned into a deranged serial killer (go figure, it IS a postman), and more than half the movie is dedicated to telling his story through interviews with his mother (she's the best, funniest really, especially talking about his brother Eddie), the sheriff, a psychologist (Bob Balaban, funniest side character) who talks mile a minute and even imitates Willie; the redneck hunters who hung around Willy, or sort of knew him, I guess; the hotel cleaner; the neighbor, et all.

It's shot just like you've seen every true-crime doc on TV, and the filmmakers do it pretty well. But it's surprising to see how good the quality of film-making it with the actual drama (well, drama, how dramatic can it really get?!), as there are some images that seem like they could be done not by some cheapo exploitation director but by real true-blue professionals who are making this little excursion into the deranged and backwoods in their spare time.

I especially liked the cinematography in the morgue scenes, with the blue a weird contrast to what Carradine's character does in there (which is rather hilarious and wickedly, um, Christian in a sense). But really, much of what makes Monster Hunter entertaining is the wink and nod of the actors to the material, while still making it bad-ass. We know Carradine and Bowen know what they're into, but they play it like pros all the way, even when a) Carradine as the nut FBI guy goes into a vampire-killing pose in a back lit sun-scape (my favorite scene), and b) there is a *2nd* killer revealed! This brings it to an even wackier level.

With some really rockin music- guest produced by Tom Waits perhaps- and pulled off with enough wit to make Mr. Brooks look like the overly serious sham it is, The Monster Hunter is a little underground sleeper that should appeal to anyone who wonders what it's like in the mind of a serial killer - or a pre-DaVinci Code nut for that matter. Good times for a knowing cult crowd.

Hey, what's that stamp doing on my forehead?

[My Doll · 10/10 · 9 September 1999]

I think that the best movies are those that evoke a gut level emotional response, whether it is disgust or laughter, and this one is right on target. In addition to a big grin, I left with the feeling of just going on a whirlwind ride through small town Texas, a witness to the absurdity and humor of real life so well captured by the talented writers and skillfully communicated by the actors. This movie is not for the politically correct anal-lizers, but best enjoyed by the regular person, the one who looks twice at a car wreck and the one who isn't afraid to find humor in the ugliness of this world. It offers the viewer a glimpse of the underbelly of mundane suburbia, a place where oddity is alive and well. Natural Selection moves adeptly between the disturbing tale of madness and murder and the documentary scenes that provide a sort of delightfully sick comic relief to the starkness of human nature's hideousness. The juxtaposition of disgust and humor made me constantly anticipate what would flash before me next. I loved being an observer of White Hills and its cast of characters, together bringing a sweeping view of the strangeness of humanity. From Bowen's brilliant and scary Willie, to his hilariously ignorant cousins, to the insanity of Carradine's Dehoven, to the pitifully funny, monkey collecting parents of one of Willie's victims and all the other eccentrics, I bounced between the reality of these lives well portrayed by the cast and brought up from the Texas dust by the writing of B.J. Burrow and Allen Odom, an up and coming team that promise more great work. This unique movie had the theater in its grasp, and never failed to hold me in this bizarre place. I enjoyed every engaging minute and was sad to see it end. I hope that everyone gets to take the ride through White Hills. It's a great trip!

Unconventional, well-crafted film that takes us on a wild ride.

[Paul-312 · 8 September 1999]

WARNING - CERTAIN PLOT LINES MAY BE REVEALED IN THESE COMMENTS.

A few weeks ago, I attended an advance screening of NATURAL SELECTION. As key grip on the picture, my comments may seem rather slanted, but I feel compelled to share a few thoughts. I shall make every attempt to be objective.

With a quirky, provocative script by BJ Burrow and Allen Odom as his foundation, Bristol has built a crafty film. Even though I was on the crew and watched the scenes as they were being shot, I shall have to watch the final cut several times before I catch all of the surprises that the film offers. It moves along at a brisk pace, and takes us on a wild ride.

In a nutshell, NATURAL SELECTION is a story of boy meets serial killer, boy copies serial killer, cop stalks serial killer, and all hell breaks loose in every conceivable direction.

NATURAL SELECTION wrung from me many different reactions as I watched the story unfold before me. A moment after laughing hysterically at one of the film's many moments of curious comedy, I would find myself jumping involuntarily at one of its startling little twists.

The story revolves around a faux TV documentary which follows a series of killings by Bowen's character, "Willie," and its impact on a small town.

The body of the film chronicles the changes that are inflicted upon the town and its people under the focus of the media.

One of the most compelling moments is a pivotal scene between Bowen and Carradine, in the seedy little motel where Carradine's character, an FBI agent gone over the edge, eventually meets his end. The dichotomy between these two actors - half brothers, incidentally - is palpable.

After the chilling scene in which Carradine's "Dehoven" character is brutally killed, actress Laura House whips us right back into laughter mode. As the motel's housekeeper, she basks in second-hand fame before the camera of the "documentary" crew and leaves the audience with the guilty pleasure of another good howl.

As Dehoven, Carradine demonstrates his skills as one of the great Hollywood journeymen. Throughout the film, I was torn between pity for Dehoven's delusional existence, and biting myself in the lip to keep from laughing at the poor guy's Oliver Hardy-like awkwardness as he shadows Willie. One moment the stammering nebbish, the obsessed predator the next, Dehoven is a joy to watch.

Known for years as "Ed," the young Indian filmmaker in "Northern Exposure," Darren Burrows turns in a riveting portrayal as a small-town guy, transformed by the media attention that the killings have brought to his little berg. He explodes from one emotion to another with chilling fluidity and, with Bowen, emotes both rail-gripping terror and side-busting laughter during their final confrontation.

The lynch pin of the cast is Detective Richards, played by Joe Unger. Richards is the gruff, jaded cop, numbed by a career full of murder investigations, and a downright snarling contempt of the media. With a matter-of-fact take on the situation, punctuated by several well-chosen expletives, we follow this tough-ass cop through the "documentary" and the body of the film as he pulls the story together.

The "TV documentary" is where cameos by such talent as Root, Balaban and Laura House really shine. These performances are beyond excellent as they lead us through the maze and deliver us to its unexpected exit. Root, in particular, is captivating as the father of one of Willie's victims. His turn before the camera is, at the same time, poignant and riotously funny.

The "MVP" of the NATURAL SELECTION production crew has to be Rhet W. Bear, the director of photography. This young cinematographer and his minimalist style gave director Bristol the ideal paint with which to create his witty picture of the Burrow/Odom screenplay.

Again, as one of the film's department heads, it is difficult to be as objective as I would like. Still, I have to say that the film has a bright future ahead of it. NATURAL SELECTION is haunting and hilarious at the same time. It is a complex film which provides a stimulating counterpart to many contemporary works.

I gauge a film by the number of times it would have been okay to skip out to the lobby for a nine-dollar hot dog. When you go see NATURAL SELECTION, I suggest that you eat first.

One thing's for sure. You'll never look at your mailbox the same way again!

Puts the fun back in funeral!

[Witness-6 · 9/10 · 30 August 1999]

Natural Selection is a zany romp though a small east Texas town. Its frightened and sometimes frightening characters are drawn right out Jerry Springer's guest list. This film pokes fun at almost every aspect of life in the small towns all over east Texas.

The movie starts as a documentary about a serial killer, "Citizen Willie". In the opening scenes we get to meet three of Willie's cousins. The cousins are a clear (and hilariously frenetic) sign that all is not well in Willie's gene pool.

The movie cuts between the narrative of the story, and the documentary in a way that leaves you either on the edge of your seat or doubled over with laughter.

The best character in this film has got to be Willie's psychotic mother. We can get a real insight into what it takes to completely destroy a child's developing mind by watching this nutty bi***. If she's not pantomiming masturbation she's using a toothpick to remove the casualties of her continuing war on the fly population from a battered filthy flyswatter. To say this film is over the top is to put it mildly. Wimpy little mama's boys/girls need not apply. The laughs that come from this marvelously acted and written film will have you grabbing for your asthma inhaler (whether or not you are so afflicted).

an ounce of originality's worth a ton of polished acting

[zengun · 10/10 · 23 January 2003]

I saw this late at night recently on premium cable, and I got more amusement from it than from any of the top moneymakers of 2002. Is it me? I guess. Maybe my brain's been rotted by one too many formulaic thrillers and vacuous big-budget special effects extravaganzas. At any rate, five minutes in it was obvious this was my kind of movie. It has that spark.

The bad news first: David Carradine sucks. Fortunately he's only in a small part of it, in spite of top billing. And, ok, some other subpar acting, but not by the main characters. Some of the 'real' characters (in the parallel documentary movie w/i a movie) are bad actors, but in a way this is covered by the fact that they're supposed to be real people put on camera -- so hey, wouldn't you be a bit stiff?

The good news. The script is so witty and multi-leveled you wouldn't mind reading it. You want to savor this stuff, there's so little of it around. These writers are funny.

Since there are alot of great characters, I want to credit them. (Not that many people are likely to read this.) I particularly enjoyed Bob Balaban's seemingly off-the-cuff performance as the smarmy, BS'ing and yet bestselling psychologist -- speculating for the camera on why serial killers kill. Maybe there's a prototype for this character somewhere, but to me it was deliciously original. Darren Burrows I loved as the wacky and cheery young guy who has unusual ambitions. And Joe Unger as the morose local yokel cop who get's the case (and hot tuna surprise in the face) but who gives as good as he gets: Asked the eternal question by the documentary crew about why serial killers kill, he remarks without emphasis: "I don't know, I never thought about it until I met you guys." (Or something like that.)The whole movie is rife with this kind of understated humor. It's great.

BTW, if you're into this intellectually perverse, low budget, twisted but not sick kind of black humor, check out these other underrated gems: Eating Raoul, TerrorVision, Re-animator, $lasher$, and The Evil Dead.

An enjoyable dark comedy.

[RLP-2 · 31 August 1999]

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

Natural Selection is a lot fun. It's also a promising first step for director, Mark Bristol, boasting fine work from screenwriters, B.J. Burrow & Allen Odom, as well as impressive technical credits for a film of its budget, most notably eerie and evocative cinematography by Rhett Bear and excellent production design by Jennifer Bristol.

For purposes of quick comparison, the movie which comes to mind as most similar is Natural Born Killers. Though, it must be said, that in Natural Selection the emphasis is placed squarely on dark comedy and not explicit violence.

The film concerns itself with the final days of Willlie Dickinson's reign of terror in the small Texas town of Whitehills. Willie (menacingly played by Michael Bowen), a postman in addition to being a serial killer, finds himself the prey of two psychopaths - one, a serial killer wannabe named Glen who is nicely played by Darren Burrows (Ed from TV's Northern Exposure), and the other, an FBI agent named Dehoven who believes he is hunting vampires. Dehoven is played by David Carradine in a touching homage to his father, John Carradine. It is a delight to watch him pull his glasses on and off and jut his chin out in mannerisms that are pure John Carradine.

Commenting on the action, is a hilarious documentary which boasts appearances by Newsradio's Stephen Root as a bereaved father and Bob Balaban as an addled psychologist who admits he knows nothing about the killer or his motivation but nonetheless feels compelled to expound endlessly on the killings.

Still, the film belongs to Bristol who creates some wonderfully eerie and poetic images. A bound victim struggling in slow motion to escape a darkened house. Carradine's FBI Agent standing under a solitary street light breathing in a crime scene. The same FBI Agent's vampire hallucinations, which are both startling and genuinely frightening. Switching gears to the video based documentary, Bristol shows himself to be equally deft with comedy, including an inspired bit of slapstick involving a shotgun and some dim-witted hunters and a funny, yet achingly painful bit with Stephen Root as the father of the above referenced bound victim.

The film does have it's faults. It is too long by about 5 or 10 minutes and could be edited a bit more crisply, moving from punch line to punch line without spending the time on set-ups, and the use of religious mania to explain the psychosis of Carradine's FBI agent does not work at all. - better if we never know why and just concentrate on his actions.

But, all in all, this is an entertaining and promising first feature of which all involved can be proud. It should be quite popular with college and festival audiences.

Don't Be Fooled *SPOILERS*

[DjangoLeone · 20 August 2004]

I was walking through my local big-chain video rental place looking for something cool to watch. I come across a video box that says "David Carradine is THE MONSTER HUNTER." Sounded promising. The cover picture was of good IL' Mr. Carradine looking really cool in a black suit with sunglasses and holding a gun and there were pictures of demon-looking guys in wanted posters. It looked as though it was gonna be like a cheap Men In Black. I pick up the box and look at the back and the tag line reads "Evil Dead meets Natural Born Killers," and being a big Evil Dead head I liked the direction is was going. There was also a quote about the movie on the box. Generally they are something like "An Awesome Thrill Ride!!!" (more than one exclamation point is a must) and they are usually said by some film critic from a publication that you've never heard of. This one said "Great!" - Quentin Tarantino. This was another good sign because Quentin knows movies.

Based on all of these things I thought it'd be a gory, low-budget, Buffy-meets-MIB flick. However it wasn't. The reality is that it is a comedy, half-mockumentary about a serial killer in an East Texas town. Carradine is less of a bad ass and more of a half-crazed rogue FBI agent who can see the "demon" inside serial killers and their victims. The real star of the film is Michael Bowen who plays Willie the serial killer and does a phenomenal job in making him a somewhat sympathetic character in a film where you really feel sorry for no one. However, once I got over the fact that the box was lying, I really enjoyed the silliness of this film. Nothing like the Evil Dead and only kind of like Natural Born Killers, The Monster Hunter (or Natural Selection as I came to find was the real title) is a funny little low-budget movie. As long as you know the truth of the movie's premise then you should enjoy it.

An amusing romp without the excessive Hollywood budget or baggage.

[artgecko-2 · 8 September 1999]

A friend and I were invited to a special screening of 'Natural Selection' in Santa Monica this past June. As finicky spectators, we were both skeptical. We had an inkling of the film's storyline; but for the most part, we were uninitiated as to what might come to light or smolder to ash in a genre that is all too trite--a black comedy entwined with a serial killing ruse. Yet despite our snobbish prelude, by the end of the opening title sequence we were smiling. And by the end of the closing title sequence we were wildly entertained. The characters take some getting use to, all of which are satirically drawn, but once you get past introductions you realize you could be at a southern county fair and all is laughable. The film's strength is its lunacy and the direction of each preposterous circumstance. The writing is no stroke of genius, but in collaboration with the creative direction, performances, and a smart edit it is noteworthy. If 'Natural Selection' gets its audience it will be rocketed to cult film status and hence be a fusion of three genres--black comedy, serial killing ruse, and cult film. Check up and coming film festival listings or special screenings of 'Natural Selection'-- like me, you will be caught off guard and caught having a good time.