Monday, September 17, 2007

IFP: Predator House

Predator House is a film likely to cause mixed emotions in viewers. The portion screened was fascinating, but I do not know if I want to spend more time with the profiled individuals, for an understandable reason. They are convicted sex offenders.

If nothing else, PH raises alarms over the prison revolving door. Accept for the female subject, as part of their therapy, the four male profiles have copped to fifty to eighty previous victims, before getting caught. However, accept for one individual who also served time for attempted murder, the other four only did two to three years for the sex crime for which they were convicted.

The movie is pretty clear on one point, like it or not, they are getting out and they have to be put somewhere. For reasons that are not fully explained in the market cut, the owner of a Spokane apartment building has agreed to house fifty-five such ex-cons. She certainly sounds tough though. The landlord, the State Department of Corrections, and the parole officers cooperated in the filming, making PH the first film crew to film there, aside from foreign news crews (which have been allowed in the past). According to the filmmakers, they frequently act as a corrective to when the subjects try to spin certain issues in their horrific careers.

PH certainly has a true crime appeal, and would be an excellent fit for HBO’s documentary series. The commitment and execution are definitely there, but one wonders how they could spend three years with such an assembled cast of characters. (Predator House is in post-production. Trailer here.)