It's more than twenty years since I last saw this and I didn't really remember anything. Not even how violent it was, not even that it had a serial killer theme. I just remembered that it was a film to watch again some time because it was great. And so it is. Clearly not for everyone, this is one hell of a violent road movie with Brad Pitt in crashing, cruelly uncaring and at time even incoherently hateful and his little lady by his side, Juliette Lewis. We have seen her do her Southern, waif like kiddie stuff before but here she is allowed to go full throttle and so we have the most disturbing couple. Wild and horrific Brad and 'he only whips me if I deserve it' Juliette. Not an easy ride then but David Duchovny seems not too put out, certainly at first. He's already started up the Red Shoes Diary machine, about to become a real star through X-Files and Brad Pitt freaking out isn't going to ruffle his feathers, well at first anyway. Possibly a tad long, some have criticised the prolonged and crunchingly violent ending but if you fancy an off the wall road movie featuring one of Brad Pitt's best performances plus Juliette Lewis doing what she does best and then some, you can't do better than watch this mini classic

I had seen 'Kalifornia' before (must be about 10 years ago) and I still remember to be very impressed by it. That's why I wanted to see it again and all I can say is that it still hasn't lost its power, even though I'm used to a lot more when it comes to movies than that I was ten years ago.

'Kalifornia' tells the tale of the writer Brian Kessler and his girlfriend Carrie Laughlin, a photographer, who want to move to California. But instead of stepping on a plain and flying right to the state where they say it never rains, they choose to make a trip by car. He wants to write a book about America's most famous serial killers and she will make the matching pictures. But because their car uses an enormous amount of petrol, they decide to take another couple with them, so they can spread the costs of the trip. Only one couple has answered the add, so they will automatically be the lucky ones. But they haven't met each other yet and when seeing the other couple for the first time, when their trip has already started, Carrie is shocked. Without wanting to be prejudiced, she can only conclude that Early Grayce and Adele Corners are poor white trailer park trash. She definitely doesn't want them in her car, but Brian doesn't really mind to take them with them and decides to stop and pick them up anyway. At first the couple doesn't seem to be that bad after all, but gradually Early Grayce changes from a trashy hillbilly into a remorseless murderer...

Not only is the story very impressive, so is the acting from our four leads. Brad Pitt is incredible as Early Grayce. His performance in this movie may well be his best ever. The same for Juliette Lewis. She plays the childish and naive girlfriend that doesn't want to hear a bad word about her Early and does that really very well. But David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes are a surprise as well. They both did a very good job and I really wonder why we never heard anything from Forbes again since this movie, because she really proves to have a lot of talent.

Overall this is a very good and impressive psychological thriller with a very powerful story, but because of the graphic violence, I can imagine that it may not be to everybody's taste (although I don't really see another way how to portray a serial killer in a believable way). Personally I really liked this movie a lot and the violence never bothered me (it's a part of the story that's too important to be left out). I reward this movie with an 8/10.

This interesting serial killer tale offers us a fascinating glimpse into the mind of such a killer, but unfortunately destroys impact by relying too much on clichés and the conventions of film-making. However as one of its type it's not half bad, with plenty of murders and mayhem to keep one's mind off the occasionally over the top piece of acting. The film is essentially a modern day variant of Bonnie and Clyde, with the four stars travelling across America and Pitt dispatching anyone and everyone who crosses him in any way. At least this is an excuse for some nice scenery, as it's a road movie there are plenty of shots of winding roads, deserts, and blowing tumbleweeds.

The acting is generally good in this film, with Pitt giving perhaps the best performance of his career (at least I prefer his performance in this to the ones in SEVEN and TWELVE MONKEYS). He's an out and out maniac, and yet nice and friendly too - he just kills people occasionally. Unfortunately at the end of the film Pitt goes way over the top into sheer mania, screaming, shouting, and killing everybody in his wake. Juliette Lewis gives the best performance of the film as his simple-minded love interest, who doesn't fully realise that he's a murderer (or doesn't want to realise); Lewis has the child-like mentality down to a tee. David Duchovny is the hero of the film, in a role which seems surprisingly similar to his Mulder in THE X-FILES. He even gets to walk around old warehouses with a torch. Michelle Forbes isn't bad as Duchovny's lover.

There are lots of horrible deaths in this film, the worst being the first shown, where an old man is brutally murdered in a toilet. The film makes us care about the people being killed, shown best in a gas station sequence where a young assistant is shotgunned to death. It doesn't show Pitt in a bad light though - instead, it simply portrays his actions and lets us make up our minds about him. There are also some interesting things said about why serial killers do what they do, as Duchovny researches for his new book. All in all, KALIFORNIA is perhaps not the best of its type but it's a good attempt anyway.