"Insane Like Me?" (2024)

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s the supernatural thriller Insane Like Me?, by Britt Bankhead and Bankhead Productions.

Synopsis

A supernatural thriller about a combat veteran, who returns home after a tour of duty overseas. He becomes the lead suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance and is subsequently wrongly convicted and incarcerated. Nine years later he is released from the mental asylum, he returns home to find the truth and settle the score.

The Good

Joseph: Unfortunately I don’t have much to say in this section. Grace Patterson stands out as giving the best performance in the film. I do give credit to the filmmakers, cast, and crew for completing a feature film, which is an admirable task. The effort and energy are present; I’m just not big on the end result.

Mike: There are a lot of outstanding vampire movies out there to choose from, so many in fact that I’m not going to even bother naming any for fear of forgetting someone’s favorite. Instead, we’ll just agree that there’s many to choose from. As such, finding an original way in which to present a tale of the undead bloodsuckers can be difficult and deserves some kudos when done sufficiently. Britt Bankhead puts forth an admirable effort in this department by tying together vampires with a slew of missing persons all centered around an old hotel. While not wholly original, it does offer a decent enough premise on which to build around. While vampire lore isn’t too important to Bankhead and co-writer Chip Joslin’s story, it IS established and combines a good mix of that which we’ve all seen and heard before, so knowing the “rules” and following them is something that is well done here.

The Bad

Joseph: For a while, I couldn’t tell whether this was supposed to be a horror comedy — with one character referring to the twentysomething Halloween party goers as “local youths,” which usually means teenagers in horror movies . . . although couples were sneaking off to rooms like high schoolers would — before I realized that it was a combination of unimpressive acting and writing that made me wonder that way. Rather than offering plot twists that heighten suspense and drama, the stabs at piling on twist attempts just made for a muddled overall product. To put it succinctly, I rarely stop watching a movie, but if it weren’t for the sake of finishing it just to write this review, I would have.

Mike: Oh, dear - Insane Like Me?, where do I start? Is it the lackluster acting? Is it the rather poorly rendered CGI blood splatter? Is it the stilted dialog or the generic plot? Or, as I am sorry to say, is it the entire package that rates a mention here in the ‘Bad’ section?

In the year and a half or so that we’ve been around I’ve had the pleasure of watching dozens of films, all of which I try to give my honest thoughts on. The only thing that has changed since the early days is that I try to temper my snark and offer more positive negatives (if that makes sense) when the films deserve it. So while I COULD lay into this with wild abandon, I’m simply going to say that this was not a very well crafted movie and that vampire movie fans can do a lot better than sitting through Eric Roberts trying to portray a tough, grizzled, and angry old sheriff.

The Verdict

Joseph: I don’t make “Worst films of the year” lists because I find them to be a negative aspect I don’t need to be a part of, but efforts like this help me understand why some writers and fans feel the need to do so. Simply put: Not recommended.

Mike: I did not like Insane Like Me? For a number of reasons, chief among them that it just felt lazy and flat. Poor acting, scripting, and dialog teamed up to form a Ghidora-like three-headed monster of a film, wreaking havoc and causing destruction as it unspooled (okay, I had to put a little snark in here). By the time the third act rolled around I was looking at the clock on a regular basis - a sure sign that a movie has totally lost my interest.

I’m not totally writing this off as I am sure there are some people out there who will enjoy the film’s simplicity and tame action and to them I say “enjoy!”. The rest of you can skip this.