The Traveler (I) (2010)
8/10
Dark Poetry
25 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The movie was like a Freddy or Jason film. You know who the killer is, who is going to die and why they are going to die. The film starts out with a girl, Mary Black being abducted while out in the woods skipping rope and playing with her kitty, Shining. Don't worry, if you miss this scene they will show it 3-4 more times. She manages to get out very loud screams even though the killer has his hand over her mouth.

We flash ahead 1 year later, Christmas Eve at a small town police department. Detective Alexander Black was the father of Mary and is having some family problems mainly over the death of Mary a year ago. Then at 8:14 Val Kilmer shows up as "Mr. Nobody" to confess to murders. Val has the eerie appearance of an old fat Jim Morrison and recites various dark lines and truisms such as "It is the job of the police to protect the rich and persecute the poor." He also has his own music as he whistles Mozart, which sounds a little like the opening of "Lassie" for you old timers.

The soundtrack is a combination of Mozart and Metal. It was good, but it really had an opportunity to make the film. We soon find out that the cops who are on duty had clubbed a drifter into a coma attempting to get him to confess to the killing of Mary Black. They show the torture scene about 6 times. The drifter (never called The Traveler, perhaps "Drifter" was already taken) was beaten with a shovel, baton, fist, hung, whipped, and suffocated. Oh yes and stuck with a pen.

Our Traveler is here to get revenge in a strange and supernatural way, which the police quickly figure out. As he confesses to a killing, he is actually describing how a police officer is being killed.

I found the movie to be "Twilight Zone-like" at times, and Kilmer, attempting to be the new thinking man's Freddy. His slow monotone speeches are reminiscent of his Morrison readings. I saw this as a film version of dark poetry with cult status potential.

No sex. No nudity. Does contain blood, guts and torture.
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