Otis: A Slasher Comedy Movie Sneak Peek

Otis is a rare find: black comedy, blood and guts and seriously talented actors who raise this film above the sum of its parts. Even if those parts are fingers and toes blended into smoothies.

A Raw Feed production, Otis is the story of one insane psychopath's desire to be loved, any way he can. The film opens with a nubile teen on a bed surrounded by amped-up booby traps. Hesitant to answer a ringing phone at the bedside, she is beaten and bruised. She answers. We see Otis (newcomer Bostin Christopher, who actually makes a heinous character pitiable). In another room, he's a gargantuan man surrounded by live video feed of his "date." Tonight is their prom night, he reminds "Kim." Reluctant to continue playing along, Kim jams the video circuits with petroleum jelly, but not before allowing Otis to see her attempting to hang herself with the chain around her ankle that's holding her captive.

Otis rushes for the room and Kim lays out her plan: she practices swinging the metal trap door cover on the other end of her chain, preparing to make a break for it. Unfortunately, in the ensuing tussle, Otis shoves her and we see her fall into a filled bathtub along with the radio, shaking as she's electrocuted.

At the outset, this looks like a mainstream horror movie, no more or less intriguing than any other teen slasher.

Enter teenage Riley (Ashley Johnson) her brother Reed (Jared Kusnitz) , and their suburban parents. Reed has a penchant for filming his sister in various states of undress and uploading to the Internet. Riley is a smart, beautiful teen. Her parents, played with excellence by Daniel Stern (Home Alone) and Ileanna Douglas (Alive, Ghost World) are your standard double-income parents: harried, busy, barely able to keep-up with their kids. Dad is an avowed pacifist who keeps his anger bottled; mom is a no-nonsense nurse, prone to ordering takeout.