Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A journalist duo go on a tour of serial killer murder sites with two companions, unaware that one of them is a serial killer himself.
Kalifornia is elevated primarily by Brad Pitt's raw, unsettling performance as Early Grayce, a genuinely menacing and unpredictable serial killer that stands among his best early work. Juliette Lewis is equally committed as his battered, naive girlfriend. The premise is clever and darkly ironic — intellectuals studying serial killers unknowingly befriending one — but the script doesn't fully exploit the philosophical tension it sets up. The road-trip structure is competently shot but rarely visually distinctive. The ending deflates somewhat, resolving the tension in a fairly conventional thriller fashion rather than landing the existential punch the film seemed to be building toward. Novelty is moderate: the concept has a sharp hook but the execution follows familiar genre beats.