Dark, Disturbing, Unrated Thriller You’ve Never Heard Of Will Haunt You For The Rest Of Your Life

Written by Robert Scocchi | Published 55 seconds ago

Sometimes, a movie you’ve never heard of comes on stream and completely rocks your world. 2024 chameleonwhich still doesn’t have a Wikipedia page as of this writing, wasted no time in dazzling me with a slow-burning, gritty serial killer origin story that would make any true crime fan jump for joy. Leaning heavily into its new black aesthetics, chameleon It’s not a blotchy story, but a character study of a man with something deeply wrong with him as he comes to terms with his dark side.

We come home with the idea that the people who keep us locked out at night and stare at us while we jog in the morning could be hiding in plain sight, chameleon It follows one man’s transformation into the worst version of himself. What makes the film so fascinating is how we watch this development unfold in real time, each step more brutal than the last as the story heads straight into nightmare territory.

Cold-hearted realtor

chameleon He first introduces us to Knoll Ashby (Henry Samuel Held), a real estate broker successful enough to have his face plastered all over town, making him a minor celebrity of sorts. Outside of work, Knoll keeps to himself. He lives alone and spends his free time building models, crafting birdhouses, tackling his latest challenges, and restoring an old El Camino in his backyard. Mark (Carson Charles Butcher), Noel’s only friend, invites him over every now and then, but his wife, Dina (Leanne Johnson), can’t stand having him around. Knoll reluctantly keeps Mark in his life and helps him close on his new house, but Dina’s attitude always pushes him away.

One day, while Noll was sitting at home feeling dissatisfied and depressed, he interviewed a prolific serial killer on his television. Something the killer says prompts him to consider killing his next hobby, which checks Knoll’s psychological profile. He’s hypersensitive to mistakes, loves a challenge, and is desperate to feel anything other than the numbing routine he’s fallen into.

The problem is that he’s never thought about killing anyone before, so he’s hesitant. He eventually claims his first victim, a mechanic he thought of hiring to work on his car, and from that point on, all bets are off. Noll discovers that he likes to rush, and almost immediately begins planning his next kill.

Investigation

Newly assigned to the homicide division, we meet Detective Dietz (Steven Sean Garland), a veteran officer who felt the need to shake things up. His first case involves a series of disappearances caused by Knoll’s new hobby, which has panicked the town. Timing is what makes it chameleon This watch is captivating.

We have two newbies in their own way: Noll, who is still learning how to cover his tracks, and Dietz, who is respected in the police but not an experienced homicide detective. The fact that they live in the same small town is the kind of cosmic coincidence that keeps you on the edge of your seat as we watch two people in over their heads navigate territory that neither of them fully understands.

Dietz, who is smarter than he lets on his superiors, almost immediately suspects Noll as the person behind the disappearances, but his department does not have the resources to conduct surveillance, the manpower to investigate, or to obtain a warrant. Dietz decides to take matters into his own hands as Knoll continues to slide deeper into his violent awakening, becoming smarter with each new milestone in his dangerous evolution.

A first-rate thriller for true crime fans

Most serial killer movies are made for violence and spectacle, however chameleon Not one of them. While the practical violence here is impressive, it’s second only to the character study, which is infinitely more compelling.

I’m not saying there isn’t a time and place for horror movies – the gorier the better – but writer and director Andrew Dean did something special. It takes the origin story aspect found in true crime documentaries and depicts it accurately so you can see the transformation in the character happening as the film plays out.

Knoll goes from a shell of a man to a menace to society, and the transition is so gradual that you don’t realize how far things have come until it’s too late and it’s escalated to another terrifying level.

If you like your slow, thought-provoking thrillers, where the politics of a police procedural keep the momentum steady, chameleon This should be the next movie on your watch list. It’s streaming free on Tubi now.