Written and Directed
by
Justin Paul Ritter

Starring
Helene Udy,
Taylor M. Dooley,
Nicole Jarvis,
Todd Gordon,
Lee Perkins

Unrated

Presented by
Heretic Films

100 minutes

KATIEBIRD: CERTIFIABLE CRAZY PERSON Review
By Col. Scott W. Perry

 
Katie is a disturbed woman who grew up loving her father. He took her everywhere, showed extensive care, and displayed an extreme amount of care in showing her the ways of life from his eyes. Only her father was a very brutal serial killer who used Katie to target victims as well as taught her the ways of torture. As an adult, Katie has more than proven herself as the title role in a film as disjointed as her personality that is one of the most disturbing films that feels like a Brian De Palma film on a bad acid trip and plays like a sadomasochist’s sublime dream.

KATIEBIRD: CERTIFIABLE CRAZY PERSON is a truly schitzophrenic film, with the screen split into many layers throughout, that tells the story of Katie (Helene Udy), who tells her story to a psychiatrist who knows she is dangerous, yet uses a tough approach to get through to her. It results with him being chained to her bed while she tells her story of how she became a “certifiable crazy person” through her father as told in flashbacks of Katie as a child and teenager. However, as Katie recalls the events with her father, she re-enacts them on her now captor, step by gruesome step.

This is one fucked up movie, and the editing job by Justin Paul Ritter is one of the best I’ve seen in an independent production in quite some time. Even though it borrows heavily from Brian De Palma in his “split screen” imagery (and also in the hospital scene in KILL BILL VOL. 1 for those who haven’t seen De Palma’s earlier work), Ritter makes it work here because its jaggedness shows just how unbalanced Katie really is. As the current Katiebird, Helene Udy, who some may remember from MY BLOODY VALENTINE, is pretty good here however Taylor M. Dooley is excellent as the teenaged Katie, just starting her run as a serial killer under the watchful eye of her father Merl (Lee Perkins, also excellent in a very low key, chilling performance). This is a very key relationship in that even though Katie gets aroused by self mutilation, there’s no hint that this was due to physical abuse by her father at all. However, it was the exploits of her father that drove her to idolization, and this is a startling revelation to show that the crimes of the parent can affect the mind of the child as they grow up. There’s a very disturbing scene where Katie’s father tells his daughter the first time he used a hacksaw and why, and his description was more frightening than any of the gore on screen. Katie’s reaction, and even the reaction of the helpless teenage victim, is even more disturbing.

The music was annoying I must admit, but was necessary to be as disjointed as the visuals. While there is plenty of blood and gore (and done very well), horror fans might be disappointed by the lack of overall victims in this film. I don’t think Ritter is done telling the chapter of Katie and this is only the beginning.

In all, KATIEBIRD: CERTIFIABLE CRAZY PERSON is a film that isn’t for everyone. Though I’m giving it a favorable review, I think it’s best for a one time viewing. If you’re looking for something different in terms of a bloody good story with a unique vision, then check out KATIEBIRD for sure.

KATIEBIRD: CERTIFIABLE CRAZY PERSON: 7 Out of 10 Maggots