Artik

Gore meets comic books in Tom Botchii’s Artik. A serial killer depicts his own bloody-murders in a story that is very realistic to him, while he also teaches his son how to get away with murder. Things go awry when a mystery man tries to become a hero.

Artik takes horror elements and blends them with a comic-book-like story of good versus evil with the focus being the latter. It may sound a bit familiar if you think of the recently released superman like horror film Brightburn from David Yarovesky, but Artik blends the two beloved styles in its own way.

“…teaches his son how to get away with murder.”

Quickly in the film (as early as its opening credits) the horror and comic book elements are obvious. The opening credits show comic-book-like illustrations of the murderer and villain in panels that replicate the comics. The credits are somewhat of lengthy for an opening but are interesting to watch because of the illustrations. There are even little comic book Easter eggs shown in a couple of scenes in the film. The film moves at a very decent pace as it has the right amount of action that helps move the story along well. When it comes to the action, it is quite brutal. One of the murders that takes place during the middle of the film sees Artik (Jerry G. Angelo) who resembles a beefed-up Charles Manson, put a fork into the neck and face of his victim. Each murder in this film is gore-ific.