You might feel sorry for the obese Otis, stuck in a pizza delivery job, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s also a serial killer. He preys upon pretty blonds, calling them “Kim,” and when he tires of them he cuts them up in pieces and puts them in dumpsters.
He should go after Warner Brothers though because somebody cut all the special features off this Blu-ray.
When we first meet Otis (Bostin Christopher), we discover that he’s got his own private torture dungeon and a blond captive that he keeps calling “Kim.” “Kim” doesn’t come to a pretty end and soon he’s without a victim.
Otis is a pizza delivery boy, or is that man since he seems too old to be in the profession, and he spots his next victim in the pretty Riley Lawson (Ashley Johnson) - who digs around in her pocket for an extra dollar for a tip for him. He sniffs the dollar like a famished hound and we know that the torture dungeon isn’t going to be unoccupied for long.
Father Will (Daniel Stern), mother Kate (Illeana Douglas), and juvenile delinquent brother Reed (Jared Kusnitz) are devastated when Riley turns up missing and even more frightened when Otis starts calling and asking if he can keep “Kim” out late or take her to the prom.
Otis is trying to live his brother Elmo’s (Kevin Pollack) life. Not that Elmo had a great life, but he was a benched football player in high school and married a Kim that Otis seems to be obsessed with (he did something naughty to her undie drawer and it got him thrown out of their house).
The incompetent Agent Hotchkiss (Jere Burns) is called in on the case and baby sits the Lawson’s as they try and get their daughter back. Riley has little choice but to play along with Otis’ rigged fantasy life in hopes that she can stay alive long enough to find a way out. When she does she’s taken to the hospital, but her mother tells her to keep the kidnapper’s address a secret after she learns it because she has other plans for Otis.
I suppose we’re supposed to feel a bit sorry for our large pal Otis. He’s stuck in a dead end job, but his extracurricular habits temper our sympathy. He really doesn’t seem to kill his victims as the one we see before Riley is abused but accidentally electrocuted as she tries to escape.
He’s also not chosen a great life to emulate as his brother appears to have not been anywhere near the life that he imagines. Elmo curses and yells at Otis, appears to be a low rent security guard, and I imagine that his life with Kim is not the grand romance that Otis imagines.
The film is the blackest of black comedies as the Lawson’s decide to take out their vengeance on their daughter’s kidnapper with humorous, bloody, and mistaken results. The film’s twist on the serial killer genre and the black comedy is what you’ll find enjoyable, if you can say that about a serial killer film.
Otis is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features are where the disc breaks down. The DVD had a commentary and other goodies, but the Blu-ray drops all the special features and barely has a menu. It’s very disappointing that those special features didn’t make it over to the high definition release.
Otis is a decent film, but it’s always a shame when a studio brings a title out on the high definition format and jettisons the special features that were on the low definition edition.
Otis: Uncut [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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