Renamed Killer on the Air for its UK release, Jessica Morris props up this low-key thriller playing Sarah Williams. A late-night talk show host who earns her crust dooling out advice to callers, and tiptoeing through a trial separation. As set-ups go Killer on the Air falls neatly into cliche, embraces stereotypes, and ticks all those genre boxes audiences will expect.
To be clear, this film is workmanlike at best. A limited budget minimises locations, locking audiences inside Sarah’s radio station for most of the tight running time. Plot is stripped back to the bare bones, and exposition is jettisoned in favour of extensive dialogue scenes that hammer home narrative choices and elevate drama. With a made for television ethos and a sense that all of this has been seen before, Killer on the Air was always fighting a losing battle.
Audiences are after something thrilling when it comes to thrillers, and unfortunately this poor comparison to Olivier Stone’s Talk Radio falls short. Even the NBC television show Midnight Caller hit harder than Killer on the Air back in 1988, and it becomes painfully apparent early on. Sub-plots linking back to disgruntled employees, missing daughters, and an indifferent husband also do nothing to up the ante.
Image Courtesy of Signature Entertainment
This leaves Jessica Morris with a boatload of heavy lifting to do, and carrying Killer on the Air clearly takes its toll. This is a film that should be a family melodrama about people going to pieces, growing apart, and keeping those revelations from their daughter. A subplot feels fumbled and ultimately overlooked, while other less interesting elements are pushed centre stage. Giving the impression that certain creative choices undermined what could have been an intriguing film.
Killer on the Air feels compromised and rife with uncertainty, since that late night killer conversation takes precedence over more grounded moments of melodrama. It would have been wise to include more context on Sarah’s relationship, rather than trying to use broad strokes. Audiences trying to connect with these characters are given almost nothing to work with, and what they do get feels plot driven rather than organic.
Facts that all relegate Killer on the Air to a made for television thriller, suited to Sunday matinee slots that will be little more than background noise. As Robin Williams once said, ‘you can’t make butter with a toothpick’, and audiences after something more cutting edge could do worse than watching re-runs of Midnight Caller, or the almost impossible to find Olivier Stone classic Talk Radio.
Killer on the Air is available now on digital download. Distributed by Signature.