Two out of
Five stars
Running time:
93 mins
With a handful of decent gags, a clutch of spirited performances and a script that never takes itself too seriously, Kill Keith isn't quite as bad as you might anticipate (while still being pretty bad) and at least delivers more or less the film you're expecting if you've seen the trailer.
What's it all about?
Directed by Andy Thompson, Kill Keith stars Susannah Fielding and David Easter as Dawn and Cliff, co-hosts of breakfast TV show The Crack of Dawn (see what they did there?). When the show launches a search for a presenter to replace Cliff, every C-list celebrity (including Tony Blackburn, Joe Pasquale, the titular Keith Chegwin and a suddenly-much-more-famous-than-when-he-made-this Russell Grant) wants in on the act, but an unknown Saw-like assailant is systematically bumping off (or kidnapping and torturing) all the official candidates for the job.
As the body count mounts up, Dawn fears for her life, so love-struck coffee boy and wannabe presenter Danny (Marc Pickering) takes it upon himself to protect her and the pair start to fall for each other.
The Good
The performances are actually not that bad: Susannah Fielding is particularly good as Dawn and David Easter is impressively odious as the pompous Cliff (you get the feeling someone in the script department has breakfast TV experience), while the likes of Blackburn, Grant and particularly Pasquale all throw themselves into their exaggerated parts with more enthusiasm than the script really deserves. Cheggers isn't actually in it quite as much as the title promises (sadly, the film isn't actually about lots of people trying to kill Keith, which might have been more fun), but he's extremely good value nonetheless, particularly in an amusing roving camera segment called “Cheggers Knocks You Up.”
The Bad
Sadly, the film doesn't quite live up to the promise of its 'Saw meets Richard and Judy' publicity quote, though it does get some good digs in at the inanity of breakfast television and there are some inventively silly death scenes (Pasquale's is a particular highlight) and a handful of good gags. It's also fair to say that the film never takes itself remotely seriously, so it's hard to kick it when its aims are set so obviously low.
That said, Pickering is fairly bland as Danny and his scenes with Fielding never really convince, which is a shame, as their sub-plot takes up a disproportionate amount of screen time.
Worth seeing?
Kill Keith isn't quite as funny, as scary or as clever as it could have been but it's not quite the disaster it could have been either, and is actually more or less watchable.