Capture Kill Release is the second film by director Nick McAnulty following 2010’s Uncle Brian and follows Jennifer (Jennifer Fraser) and Farhang (Farhang Ghajar), a couple looking to spice up their relationship by kidnapping and murdering a random person.  Well, I guess it’s better than being forced to read 50 Shades of Grey.  The film takes the found footage approach as they document the process of prepping for their crime, finding a victim, and committing the deed.

Found footage films have the challenge of striking a balance between realistic and comfortable to watch and Capture Kill Release generally manages to find that line, not forgetting the handheld camera aspect and shooting everything like a regular film while avoiding the need to constantly remind the viewer through obnoxious shaky cam. This, combined with some top-notch writing and acting gives the film an incredibly organic quality,  and creating the impression that the viewer really is a fly on the wall during these events. 

What really brings the film together is the layered performances and dysfunctional chemistry between Fraser and Ghajar. Fraser, in her first credited role, is one of the most captivating villains I’ve seen in some time. Dexterously moving from sweet and charming to completely unhinged, there is nonetheless a consistency to her character, a feat accomplished both through her dialog and performance that ties all of these disparate elements into a single entity. This is not a character with multiple personalities that goes from innocent to evil at the flip of a switch, but an incredibly nuanced character with these different layers present throughout, and this is what makes her performance so unnerving. Even when she’s turning on the charm and appearing sincere, her insidious manipulation is constantly peeking out from beneath her disguise, waiting to truly be released.

Ghajar’s performance on the other hand is far more understated and subdued, but no less impressive. Initially seeming to be supportive of her devious desires, he slowly becomes more terrified and disillusioned as it dawns on him that this isn’t just an abhorrent fantasy he can indulge to get her in the mood. Often the straight men, those characters destined to act as proxies for the audience, empathizing with our shock over the craziness we’re witnessing struggle to develop their own character in the process, but Ghajar avoids those pitfalls. His character is pathetic, continually beaten down into compliance by Jennifer’s manipulation, I can’t say I began to sympathize with him, I’m not sure you’re supposed to, but you understand his suffering through a performance that is frequently devoid much dialog, instead using his expressiveness and body language to express his despondency.

While it’s tempting to give the actors all of the credit for just how real everything feels, and it wouldn’t surprise me if certain scenes were improvised, some credit is certainly due to the writing as well. The dialog is a study in imperfection, with subtleties like lines getting muffled and needing to be repeated so another character can hear them that give the film its unrehearsed quality. There is a purposeful chaos to the proceedings that breaks away from the idea that every scene, every piece of dialog must further the story, instead focusing on creating the impression of found media, something that was not orchestrated intently for our viewing pleasure.

Unfortunately, it’s not a complete success. The third act kind of runs out of steam, never quite managing to recreate the voyeuristic tension leading up to its climax and Capture Kill Release ends on a somewhat Hollywood note. It’s not bad per se, it just feels like it exists to justify giving the film a more concrete finale that I’m not sure it really needed. Overall it’s a very well-crafted experience that rarely shows its hand as a film and thus allows the viewer ample opportunity to suspend their disbelief. Tonally it’s all over the place, but again this adds to the realistic aesthetic and complements Jennifer’s manic disposition. For her first film role, she really knocks it out of the park and I hope to see more from her and Ghajar in the future. As for writer/director Nick McAnulty, I look forward to seeing what sort of charmingly twisted characters he creates in the future. The trailer for Capture Kill Release is included below, but I would recommend against watching it as it gives far too much away and much of the fun of the surprise of what is around the corner.