Office Killer

Plot synopsis:
A magazine editor named Dorine, due to budget cuts, is forced to work from home. One night she is called to help fix the computer of a co-worker, Gary Michaels, who is electrocuted while trying to fix the wires. Dorine dials 911, but hangs up when the call is answered. She places the corpse on a cart, rolls it down to her car, loads it in her trunk, and takes it home, placing it in her basement. Then, seemingly without reason, she goes into a murder spree. She begins her spree by murdering another office worker, but later murders two young Girl Scouts who arrive at her door to sell cookies. The young girls join the other corpses in the basement, and Dorine is seen eating the cookies while working on her new laptop. Dorine sends messages from Gary to the remaining office workers, implying he is alive. There are three more murders before the movie ends, all artistically executed. The last murder is the office manager (played by a young Jeanne Tripplehorn), who awakens in the basement, surrounded by dismembered bodies, after being knocked out by Dorine on a lunch date. After dispatching the office manager's boyfriend, who had come searching for her (a young Michael Imperioli) with a kitchen knife, Dorine murders the office manager after taunting her for making her and other employees work from home. The last scene shows Dorine, after her mother's death, setting fire to her basement, then, sporting a blond wig and makeup and with the office manager's head in a bag on the seat beside her, driving away in her car, and circling a newspaper ad with her pencil for an office job.

Tags: comedy, murder, flashback

Review:
It involves Carol Kane (with very odd penciled in eyebrows) as an awkwardly mousy, hardworking magazine editor in a drab and depressing looking office building where she gets picked on daily.
Then, without any time wasted, the inevitable psycho switch gets flipped and she starts killing off her coworkers.I know that may sound to most like your typical fun slasher, but in fact, it can't even be considered a slasher.
And it's pretty disappointing because the photographer turned director, Cindy Sherman, seemed to have talent and would have benefited greatly if it were a straight up thriller.So what were we meant to feel during this film?
The whole film felt just as awkward as she looked and felt just as drab and boring as the office building looked, which leaves us with no reason to ever want to visit.
This is a great horror/comedy.Its got a great plot,a great cast who gives great performances including Molly Ringwald(Teaching Mrs.Tingle,The Breakfast Club),Carol Kane(Jawbreaker,Adams Family Values)& Jeanne Tripplehorn(The Firm,Waterworld).This Movie is funny and a little scary if you watch it in the dark.See this Movie!.
Director Cindy Sherman uses gore and some very curious camera positions to make you a little bit scary and also laugh once or twice (not out-loud, though).
The performances from Carol Kane (totally crazy) and Molly Ringwald (in a very against-the-type turn) are very good.
The less-than-impressive results: Robert Longo's "Johnny Mnemonic," David Salle's "Search and Destroy," Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat" and finally Cindy Sherman's "Office Killer." That only Schnabel moved on to direct a second feature says a lot about these poor directorial choices.
Surprise - just because you can paint a picture or take a photograph doesn't mean you know how to make a movie.That said, "Office Killer" has a unique look to it: Sherman's photographic eye makes for some nice creepy compositions, even if her philosophy about using a camera cinematically is of the bolt-it-to-the-ground-and-maybe-pan-a-little school.
And she works well with cinematographer Russell Fine, though the whole film is shot through a murky lens that had this viewer crying out for the occasional bright exterior just to add a little contrast.So what went wrong with "Office Killer"?
Well, pretty much what you'd predict would go wrong with a photographer director who had never made a film before: uneven pacing; more attention paid to the setup of a shot than to what's going on in it; a lack of tension; and a cast who, with the exception of the ever-willing Carol Kane, don't seem to know what to do.
Michael Imperioli and Jeanne Tripplehorn have been far better elsewhere, Barbara Sukowa is flat-out bad, and Molly Ringwald is her usual depthless self.
The script is also somewhat leaden, given its dark comic potential."Office Killer" is still a curiosity, interesting mainly for aficionados of Cindy Sherman's work (and you've got to admire those cool opening credits), though horror fans who enjoyed the better-received "May" (which I personally didn't care for) might like this movie's look and mood.
She will make sure you will pay for whatever you do to her!"Office Killer" is a film, judging from most comments submitted to this forum, that deserved better.
Cindy Sherman, the director, shows she can deliver a good movie.
The film was written by Ms. Sherman and it appears Todd Haynes, a good director himself, helped with the dialog, although he is uncredited.We don't understand, at the beginning, what is Dorine's motivation for doing what she does, but the key to comprehending what's wrong with her is revealed in flashbacks that shows her as a teen ager when some traumatic events occurred involving her parents.
Dorine has been dealt a bad blow from life and her reactions, although extreme, seem to be typical of someone that has been deeply scarred.The film works because of the wonderful Carol Kane who does some of the best work of her career.
Ms. Kane transforms herself into this weird Dorine, who is the butt of all jokes at the magazine where she works.
What triggers her spiral unraveling is the downsizing the company is going through that will render her a part timer, losing, no doubt, a good deal of her earnings.The supporting cast is up to task under Ms. Sherman's direction.
Molly Ringwald, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Barbara Sukowa, Michael Imperioli, David Thornton and Alice Drummond, among others, respond well to the director's instructions.One wishes good luck to Ms. Sherman with future films because she is not afraid, to show it all for the viewer's enjoyment..
Otherwise, technically as well as artistically, this film is deeply flawed.Carol Kane's performance is at times overwrought and at times dull, while the rest of the cast phones-in the expected flat, B-grade horror film acting job.
None of the lead characters are at all engaging, and the attempt at garnering sympathy for the horrendously pathetic Dorine is a failure in light of how successful the film is at making her both despicable and irritating.
The emotionally charged scenes are so awkward as to immediately break any momentum the film had managed to gain and leave you feeling embarrassed for the filmmakers.All in all, this film went direct to video for a very good reason, and unless you're doing a "Bad Horror Movie Marathon" I'd say it's best left collecting dust at your local video shop....
Cindy Sherman, one of the most talented photographers and modern artists on the contemporary scene, directed this incredibly bad and thoroughly predictable slasher flick.
Carol Kane was great, and Molly Ringwald was as I've never seen her before -- a caricature of herself.
A mousy office worker (Carol Kane) accidentally kills one of her coworkers, then proceeds to bump off a few others.Besides Carol Kane, the "star" of this film is Molly Ringwald, who shows us that she is no longer America's sweetheart.
And I am not saying she is a bad actress, but after her John Hughes years, she will have to do more than appear in one or two disposable films to re-create herself.And does Carol Kane age?
I am not sure if I am impressed by her lack of aging or dismayed that she has always looked 60 years old...But, as far as the film goes, I just did not think it was that great.
The dead body effects are decent, but there is just something about the film quality that gives off an "amateur" effect and makes the whole thing seem poor.
Mousey and introverted magazine proofreader Dorine Douglas,Carol Kane,is the most effective worker at the office.
When it comes down the grapevine that there's going to be a major change-over at the magazine Dorine as well as most of the staff are sent home to do the work and e-mail it in via a new computer system that being installed.
Not wanting to be at home with her infirmed mother Chalotta, Alice Drummond,and away from her job and fellow workers at the office slowly turns Dorine's sick thoughts into violent actions and it's a quirk of fate that sets it all into motion.Quietly and secretly killing off her fellow workers at the magazine Dorine hides their bodies in her basement to keep her company.
While all this was going on Kim, Molly Ringwald,a writer at the magazine becomes suspicious of Dorine not really knowing whats she doing but that she's somehow trying to get her fired from the job.
There's also office manager Norah Reed, Jeanne Tripplehorn who Dorine feels has been embezzling the magazine coffers and is responsible for what's been happening there.
Trying to murder Kim in a dark and empty stairway Kim gets away but is later fired for accusing "sweet and innocent" Dorine of trying to kill her.
This has has him driving to the Douglas house looking for her only to find that Kim was right about Dorine, dead right, and that he and Norah were soon to pay the price for not listening to her.Strange but interesting and not for everyones tastes "Office Killer" takes a while to get off the ground but once it gets going you can't really take your eye off it.Carol Kane as Dorine is her usual quite and passive self at first but slowly goes postal as the pressure of her job, and putting up with her nagging mom, gets to her and drives Dorine over the brink.
I thought this movie was fairly good considering it was a) direct to video and b) had an unknown supporting cast.
The performances were good, the effects were good and it was odd to see Carole Kane doing what she did in this movie...
lame flick tries to be campy but comes off as stupid and inane with a dopey script that never works and it has terrible acting i did not find anything amusing in this Carol Kane gives a decent not a memorable but decent performance not worth it *1/2 out of 5.
Crossing Over from Her Highly Successful Career as a Still Photographer, Cindy Sherman Directed this Lifeless, Lame, and Limp Horror Parody that is Boring and Bland and Except for a Couple of Interesting Scenes, Utterly Unwatchable.A Doctoral Thesis could be Written, maybe it has, about the Similarities and Differences between Still Photography and Cinematography.
Dorine is a real wallflower - a middle-aged, shy, ugly single woman living at home with her mum and working as an editor for a small newspaper, she's a real outsider.
This "accident" changes her mind, and she starts having fun killing her mobbing colleagues one by one and hiding them all in her dark cellar...Photographer Cindy Sherman's directional debut has a very nice plot idea, but that's all.
The direction is too weak and boring, and the actors - Carol Kane as Dorine and Molly Ringwald, Jeanette Tripplehorn and stunning Barbara Sukowa as her colleagues can't bring their roles to life.
It would have been a nice try to produce this kind of home office version of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in a real comedy or horror style, but his movie doesn't know where to go.
This movie is about a woman who is kind of messed up,but at the same time smart enough to manipulate.She kills people in her working place and puts their dead bodies into her basement and treats them as her friends.Her father used to sexually abuse her and her thinking isn't quite normal...If she is done with one place,she moves on,performing as an helpless old lady,who is very fond of her work.The movie is kinda twisted in its own way.It is not a horror movie though,the special effects aren't very good,if there even is any.There are other interesting characters too in the movie.Some loose ends too.I liked the movie cause it was so different from other movies that kind.Also,it showed,that female murderers aren't always supposed to use their good looks to get away with things..
Short, sweet, and amazing actress Carol Kane plays Dorine Douglas, a lonely middle aged woman who is buried under big sweaters, clunky shoes and over sized glasses.
The last night at the office, Dorine runs into computer trouble and seeks help from one of her co-workers.
Now of course it's normal for one to think that this lady has got serious issues right from the get go but as the movie progresses you should tell yourself that words like 'crazy' and 'psycho' are total understatements.
Dorine begins to feel a form of comfort for her loneliness after killing her boss and another co-worker along with a pair of 7 year old girl scout cookie sellers(Which I think was very screwed up).
In one of the flashback scenes, we see that Dorine(as a child)has killed her father.
Molly Ringwald plays Kim, a co-worker who despises Dorine and is friends with co-worker, Norah(Tripplehorn).
Norah's boyfriend comes looking for her and heads to Dorine's house.
Carol Kane delivers one of the best performances I've ever seen!!
You can't help but feel sorry for Dorine even after she goes on her killing spree.
This movie was well acted and the plot, although silly at times, was good over all.
Photographer Cindy Sherman makes her directing debut in this long, boring horror/comedy about mousy proofreader Dorine Douglas (Carol Kane) who works for a magazine company that needs to lay off employees.
I remembering seeing this in my local video shop and well didn't think much, but I ended up picking this up anyway, kinda by accident and when I got round to watching this, well it wasn't bad, not amazing or brilliant, and not terrible, but somewhere in the middle.
To my surprise this movie has quite a few familiar faces such as Carol Kane (When A Stranger Calls), Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club) and Jeannie Tripplehorn (Basic Instinct).The plot seemed interesting enough, a mousey employee goes on a killing spree when she's handed her pink slip at the office.
The tone is surprisingly light Carol Kane plays her part well as down trodden would be serial killer Doreen, without going over the top and I really enjoyed Molly Ringwald as the bitchy secretary whose sole purpose is to be a total bitch.But some aspects of this movie simply doesn't work, like the comedy element is almost entirely humourless, the characters are plain and boring and didn't feel for them when they got killed.
I would have liked this movie to go a lot darker and the killings to be a lot more innovative instead they were just boring and lacked any thrills.All in all not a terrible waste of time, but is kind of forgettable which makes this movie very average, but seeing familiar faces in a movie like this is always fun..
Our office killer kills someone by accident, and that somehow makes her start killing people on purpose.
It's not funny because people are dying gory deaths, it's not shocking because well, look at this thing, but it is pretty good.
Carol Kane also plays her role very well, helped by the screenplay that's gradually making her character meaner.
I was searching for a good movie to watch tonite and I got nothing, until i came upon the title "Office Killer" HA!
Kane does a wonderful job and I think I literally was smiling the WHOLE time.
And Molly Ringwald, i will always love her.Everything about this film was perfect, literally.
i think i can account for the discrepancy between my vote and the average vote posted on IMDb. see, this movie was directed by cindy sherman, and therefore is to be viewed as much as a work of art as just another film.
i realize that by casting molly ringwald a lot of people may have thought they were getting another, something bad, i don't know..
Office Killer, written by Elise MacAdam, is the first feature film directed by Cindy Sherman, best known for clever references to classic films in her still photography and utilizes some excellently placed commercial visuals to joke on the slasher film in a very low-key fashion.Sherman always frames for types over specifics of character - this avoidance of in-depth characterization leaves the viewer distanced and uninvolved, and ultimately is what converts the horror-based tale into a comedy.
She plays a woman that just starting to kill her everyone she doesn´t like.
One day, my friends and I wanted to watch a "thriller" or something similar, and we rented "Office Killer".
The performances are ok, as well as the direction, but the special FX makes you wanna cry, or laugh, as in my case.
Come on, you people, I've seen better FX's in class B movies from the 50's.***END SPOILER*** A small budget is not an excuse, it's a matter of imagination, the corpses and guts were ok.
you have talent!), average performances, average direction, bad special effects and a lame plot: it makes you feel you are watching a parody or something like that.
A bad movie that could have been good.
"Office Killer" is a disappointing and not very worthwhile slasher.**SPOILERS**As the company begins downsizing, Dorine Douglas, (Carol Kane) is sent off to work at home, while Norah Reed, (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her friend Kim Poole, (Molly Ringwald) are concerned over what the move will do for the morale of everyone else in the company.
When she tries to get rid of her, she ends up losing her job instead, and when that leads to more people on the staff going missing, they finally figure out that she's a killer and race to stop her before it's too late.The Good News: There wasn't much to this one.
The confrontation in the hallway, with the choking and being unable to see the stalker makes it come off nicely, and the finale in the basement is fine, gets a little better when the lights go out and overall is pretty tense and bloody.
These few moments give the film it's only good points.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot wrong with this one, since there wasn't much to it.
This mostly comes because this one doesn't really seem all sure whether or not as a comedy, which several scenes tend to throw out, such as the gathering of corpses in the basement or the treatment at the office missing only a laugh-track to signal the humor.
Conceptual portraitist Cindy Sherman made her directorial debut (and only narrative film to date) with 'Office Killer' (1997).
Sherman tells the tale of 'Doreen Douglas,' a plain and unassuming office worker.
Doreen cares for her mother at home (she was accidentally responsible for her father's death), and is at work is the kind of longtime employee who often ends up being relegated to menial tasks (by virtue of her being the only one able to do them).
While a failure as the satire it was meant to be, 'Office Killer' demonstrates the impact of Argento's work on horror cinema generally, and interestingly here on feminist cinema.
woman dispatches fellow office workers,than just about everyone else in sight in black comedy,horror/suspense hybrid that is very effective.