Making a Killing (2018)

Three morticians get caught in a web of greed and deceit, involving buried treasure and a tangled love affair, in this modern day crime mystery that is based on a true story.

Director:

Devin Hume

Writers:

Devin Hume, Jamie Pelz

Stars:

Mike Starr, Jude Moran, Alaina Warren Zachary

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mike Starr	...	Arthur Herring
Jude Moran	...	Vincent Herring
Alaina Warren Zachary	...	Mrs. Alarie
Christopher Lloyd	...	Lloyd Mickey
Julian Bonfiglio	...	Jesse
Butterfly Garcia	...	Butterfly (as Elmar 'Butterfly' Garcia)
David Midthunder	...	Coyote Jim
Brian McGill	...	Hatchet Head
Aida Turturro	...	Connie
Laramie Cooley	...	Waitress
Sally Kirkland	...	Dolores Pernivue
Tait Fletcher	...	Ron
Jesse James Montoya	...	Pool player
Joseph Daniel Havenstar	...	Bar Regular (as JD Havenstar)
Andy Kastelic	...	Greg Broomfield

Storyline

Arthur Herring (Mike Starr) is the mayor, priest and mortician in a quaint small town nestled in the mountains of New Mexico. He and his brother, Vincent (Jude Moran), are well-respected pillars of the community. Arthur and Vincent once agreed to safeguard fellow mortician Lloyd's (Christopher Lloyd) rare coin collection worth a small fortune while he served time in prison, but when Lloyd is released and requests that his coins be returned, the brothers hatch an elaborate scheme to keep his treasure for themselves.

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Taglines:

Some secrets are better left buried

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 2018 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CanAmPac3

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 / (anamorphic)

User Reviews

Decent directing, but the terrible writing failed this true story

Novice Devin Hume did a fairly decent job directing his first full length film, but failed miserably in the screenplay.

It was a hack job focused on the wrong narratives, with unnecessary scenes - or ones just thrown in without reason or explanation. There were too many plot issues, and the focus was too much about the brother's personalities, instead more of their past, their motives, and their plans going forward. There was too much slack in the screenplay, and some dialogue was just out of place. It left me unsatisfied in what this film was wanting to portray, and the story it was trying to tell. I still don't know who the killer was or why the two called themselves brothers.

The cast felt like they were bored, with the exception of Michael Jai White and Christopher Lloyd who were the only ones that seemed excited to perform their roles and were great in doing so. Mike Starr and Jude Moran were too monotonic and bland, but that could have been the inexperience of Hume not directing his cast properly.

The pacing was so ridiculously slow, I wanted to fast forward many scenes. The overly long 106 min needed some major cutting and editing to bring this film down to a comfortable 80-90 mins.

It's a shame this true story wasn't told better. I enjoyed reading the news articles more than watching this film, they were way more informative. They also made me wonder why Hume had to change some of the real facts with movie fiction, especially when he actually personally knew the two "brothers" in real life.

A very generous 6/10 from me.