There’s a good film hiding in “Mister White”. It’s actually the urban legend of the titular character. Legend has it that Mister White (Carl Summers) was a plantation owner during the time of slavery. When one of his slaves gets out of line, he savagely beats her to death. Her family and friends revolt, killing their owner and putting a curse on him. That curse being that he must do the bidding of the less fortunate if called upon.
That story, told by a voodoo priestess to a bunch of college assholes, has more power and emotion than the main story at hand. The characters motives are just and their way of exacting revenge is unique. Centering a story around them revolting against their slave owners and cursing them could’ve been fantastic. Unfortunately, that’s not what we get.
That’s not to say the main story is a bust. Erica Summers attempts to create a sympathetic character in Tyler Rooney (Andy Salgado) and she half succeeds. Tyler is an effeminate outcast who stutters and seemingly subscribes to the gothic lifestyle. This makes him a target for bullies, who torment him any chance they get. The pack is led by Scott Powell (Dakota Morrissiey), who is dating Summer Mills (Amber Watson), who used to defend Tyler.
As it turns out, Summer and Tyler had a one night stand, which Tyler mistook for love. This wasn’t a cruel act by Summer. She does seem to care for Tyler. She just isn’t in love with him and made a mistake one night. The reason she drifts apart and into the arms of Scott is because she can’t handle Tyler’s neediness, nor does she approve of him making himself a target (he occasionally picks fights with the bullies, setting himself up). Well, that and he sees ghosts.
As it turns out, he learned of the story of Mister White a long time ago from his mother. She claimed to have seen the vicious soul, which landed her in a mental hospital. Ever since then, Tyler’s been obsessed with the man. He originally fears him, but finally calls him up after being assaulted one too many times. The straw that broke the camel’s back is when Summer is forced to spit on him.
While this story isn’t as engrossing as the actual urban legend, it could work. I’m fine with the simple setup if it was done right. The problem is that the characters and their actions are too forced. The bullies seemingly exist solely to torment Tyler and, despite being college students, act like grade school children. I don’t doubt that people like this exist, but I do feel they aren’t as exaggerated.
I understand why Summers made them so obnoxious. It’s so we hate them and want to see Tyler exact revenge against them. Actually, in a well done twist, we end up rooting for Summer, who is a nice girl who got caught up with the wrong crowd. While that character works, the others are so over the top that they stop being characters and become caricatures. I got the point where I didn’t want to see them get their comeuppance; I just didn’t want to see them at all.
I’ll give credit where credit is due. The murders are brutal and done very well. Mister White picks off his victims in gory fashion, including stringing one girl up like a puppet by her intestines. He also plays around with some of them, such as leaving nails on the floor for his prey to walk on. The effects are convincing and very gooey. Gorehounds will be satisfied.
For me, this came too little too late. These events started occurring halfway through the film. By then, I grew tired of the characters and didn’t care what happened to them. I was also still conflicted with who to root for, since Tyler was seemingly still the protagonist. The groundwork had been laid for Summer’s turn, but it doesn’t come front and center until closer to the hour mark.
Erica Summers is a good filmmaker. She knows how to pace the story (despite my problems with the characters, I appreciated the time devoted to developing them), can frame a shot really well and can create some gruesome kills. It’s her script that could’ve used a bit more work. Restraining the characters a bit and toning them down a few notches would’ve went a long way in making this work. That or possibly just telling the actual legend of Mister White, as opposed to Tyler’s plight.
Final Rating: C+