Horror is a genre that I tend to explore occasionally (and mostly alone) and I have enjoyed some good movies during recent months (Vampyros Lesbos, Night of the Living Dead, etc.). But when I received the press kit for Marcus, I had no idea what the movie was about. It didn't take me long to find out. Within seconds, it was obvious that it was a horror film.In my opinion, there are two types of horror movies. The first category includes movies with monsters and ghosts - these don't scare me because I know that they are unreal and more often than not include just computer-generated characters. The second category includes sick human beings (or animals) - these do manage to scare me because they are depictions of real people and without our knowing it, they might be around us.
Marcus belongs to the second category. You would not dream of any monsters or imagine that there are ghosts in your bedroom, but the image of this heartless killer will stay in your mind.
Here is the plot in brief. Brooke has invited her brother Roger for a Christmas meal and he has decided to bring along his fiancee Gwen to surprise his sister that he hasn't seen in several years. When they arrive at her door, they first meet his estranged friend Charles, who is now dating Roger's ex-girlfriend Kate. Not a great start. When they walk into the house, Brooke is nowhere to be found but Marcus, a man that no one knows, shows up claiming to be the man Brooke is dating. While the guests are not aware of this, but we see that Brooke is counting her last moments in the bathtub.
No one in the movie is comfortable with each other and they are all waiting for Brooke to come back home (Marcus informs them that she had a minor car accident and is on her way home). It turns out that Marcus is a scary psycho and pretty much kills everyone by the end of the movie without losing the mean smile on his face. You are left wondering that how a man who looks like a professional can be so brutal!
What makes this movie interesting and powerful is that with just a $35,000 budget, it manages to elicit superb acting from Ross Kurt, Marc Rose, Frankie Ingrassia, Jade Dornfeld, and Samantha Shelton, and has some excellent music that provides a contrast to Christmas carols that also play throughout the movie.
Strongly recommended.