Dameon Clark, Matthew Gray Gubler, Laura Dahl

No one knows the criminal mind better than Dr. Spencer Reid, of the CBS series Criminal Minds, so who better to cast as the eager apprentice to a cold-blooded murderer in the movie How to be a Serial Killer, than the same clever actor – my brother, Matthew Gray Gubler.

Much like Heath Ledger did when he explored the flip sides of love by going from Brokeback Mountain, where he played a conflicted gay cowboy, to Casanova where he embodied the quintessential lady’s man, Matthew goes from genius FBI Profiler to the FBI’s most wanted list.

Matthew plays Bart, a simple video store clerk who anxiously accepts the invitation to learn all the ins and outs of serial killing under the tutelage of a seasoned professional, Mike, played by Dameon Clarke.

At face value, the film transforms the cinema audience into an auditorium of self-help seekers attending a seminar given by the famous serial killer, Mike Wilson.  Sadistic and warped, writer and director Luke Ricci brings us a perfect parody of Tony Robbins, the famous motivational speaker.  And it’s that ironic and twisted perspective that makes this off-beat movie work.

Bart becomes the audience’s eyes and through his perspective we watch as this reserved and tortured character fluffs up with confidence and gains a sense of serenity by finally finding his purpose in life.  That purpose just happens to be murder.

"Dr. Reid", Criminal Minds

"Bart", How to be a Serial Killer

I found it fascinating how similar Matthew’s two, seemingly contrasting characters, really are.  It’s as though Reid and Bart started out as the same person, but through a series of distinctly different life choices, developed into completely opposite creatures with disparate beliefs and ethics.

They’re both socially awkward.  They both long to find their place in society, and they both gravitate to a life in crime.  Criminal Minds the series is fundamentally based on the methodology that one must “become” a criminal in order to catch a criminal.  If that’s true, Reid must know Bart pretty darn well.

This movie is strange, surreal, bizarre, and ugly.  It skirts the edge between comic ridiculousness and disturbing psychopathic illness, never apologizing for it’s bad taste.

It’s not a film that everyone can appreciate, and oddly, I think that was the director’s intention.  The story is clearly questionable.  It looks like it was shot on a budget, and the costuming is sketchy (though I personally took pleasure in seeing my brother wearing old-man, high-waisted elastic sweatpants in one scene).  That said, it has all the requisite elements, including vivid and likable performances by the leads, that might just make this deviant film a cult classic.

Bart perfectly sums up the film’s perverse personality when he, with his new found confidence and purpose, addresses the camera and declares his appreciation and love for his cherished friend and mentor.  His sincerity might make you well up with compassion, but that heart felt moment is literally killed when Bart awkwardly jogs off screen – hot on the tail on his next innocent victim.