The Janitor (2003)

Director: TJ Nordaker, Andy Signore

Writer: TJ Nordaker, Andy Signore

Tagline: An Epic of Custodial Proportions.

Actors: Andy Signore, Bruce Cronander, Crystal LeBard, G. Larry Butler, Skip Pipo, John Carreon, Rachael Ann Bennett, Kelly King, Stephanie Christine Medina, Logan Christopher

Runtime: 1h 33m

Category: Comedy, Killer, Slasher

Synopsis: Lionel is a scruffy-looking janitor for an office building…with a dark secret. Lately, office employees have gone missing or turned up dead; but no one suspects a thing from the quiet, withdrawn janitor. Ridiculed day after day, Lionel ends up setting one of the office employees on fire. Now, FBI agent Page is sent to investigate these occurrences and interview each employee…right down to the janitors. Lionel starts to go berserk but Mr. Growbo calms him down. He explains to Lionel that he has known about Lionel’s killing from the beginning…and now he wants in.

One night at a local pub, Lionel runs into three sorority chicks who, through criticism, ask if he wants to be their janitor at the sorority house. Hesitantly, he accepts an interview and that’s that. After the interview, he tells Growbo, who is thrilled for him. But Lionel plans on going by himself, splitting up the team. Growbo is none too thrilled now. The next day, Lionel sees a note left by Mr. Growbo stating that he has left for another opportunity. A week passes and Lionel is training Willis, Growbo’s replacement. During their meanderings, Lionel discovers that Willis has the ability to be a great janitor…and killer! Now on the porch of the sorority house, reporting for his new job, one of the sorority sisters tells him that they found someone else…and it’s Mr. Growbo! Now Lionel is pissed. He trains Willis in the fine art of janitor killing and together they storm the sorority house. An endgame ensues leaving Lionel…well, I’ll let you watch and find out.

Review: I knew nothing about this movie from the start. I was referred to it from the director/writer/star of the movie, Andy Signore. From just the cover art I knew I was gonna love it. Even the tagline is awesome. Thus, Andy, I applaud you in your attempt to make a funny, campy, slasher flick about evil janitors. Wow…

The story was actually pretty good. Solid storyline, however deranged, kept me entertained throughout the entire movie. I loved the concept behind this: janitors are prone to be murderers. I love it! The entire movie was one big, bloody laugh-fest. Another thing I liked was when Lionel and Growbo split up and became enemies; leaving Lionel to be the head honcho janitor of the office building. Almost like a rite of passage or something; coming into his own. Overall, great story.

The comedy was something that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I love horror/comedies and I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. If I’m not mistaken, which I usually am not, I haven’t laughed that hard since Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dead & Breakfast (2004), and Braindead (1992) (which is where Andy got the name Lionel). It was not necessarily smart comedy...more like…dumb comedy. That’s not an insult Andy; I’m actually more fond of the stupid humor than the intelligent stuff (tells you something doesn’t it?). But if you’re looking to watch a movie and have fun doing it…see this one!

The acting was…ho ho! Uh…the acting was…uh…interesting, yes interesting. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad, it was…interesting. I’m actually having a hard time explaining it because I didn’t hate the acting, but it wasn’t that standout-ish. I think it’s safe to say that the acting was…B-rate, like the movie. Even though I classify the acting as B-rate…I loved it! I thought that it went very well with the story and the script (which we’ll get to later). It seemed to keep the characters’ personalities in check and keep them in character. Not that they were in danger of stepping out of character, but sometimes people will infer other characters into their current character. Now, this is not always bad; but in this case, it is unnecessary.

Now, onto the script (this is gonna be a short one). I thought that the script was interesting as well. It didn’t seem to give much of the characters any depth; but I guess it’s unnecessary in a slasher, considering most people die anyway. But the script wasn’t as bad as I thought at first. I was surprised…to say the least. It was funny as hell.

The gore was absolutely wonderful. This is a perfect example of a guy who wanted to make the bloodiest, campy slasher flick available. He did just that. With the limb-ripping and the blood-projectiling, I was impressed. Even though some of it was obviously a hose of some sort, it was well done. That is actually the only complaint I have in this section; if they would have made it a little more life-like than like a hose, I think it would have been better. But…it does add to the ambiance of the B-rate horror flick. Overall…nice.

Rating: 19. I liked the story, the gore, and the ambiance. The script was funny as all hell and I think I even started crying from the laughter. The acting was ok, but it added to the comedy portion of the flick. Originally I was gonna rate it lower, but I decided that the comedy portion was so engrained throughout most aspects of the movie, that it deserved a higher rating. So there you go Andy…a 19. Nice work; I loved it! (19of25).