“Murder is fun and doesn’t cost a thing!”

So says aging stand up comedian Norman (Marvin W. Schwartz).  Though we don’t learn much about Norman’s background, it’s obvious that he’s been pursuing his career for a while and he has yet to achieve much in the way of success.  With his dark suit, gray hair, and sarcastic delivery, he really does seem like he should be working in a cheap casino or a Catskills resort or maybe on a cruise ship.

But then you hear his act and you discover that he spends most of his time talking about how better the world would be if we just killed each other.  At one point, he even mentions that he’s working on a new act in which he’ll basically order the people in the audience to kill anyone sitting near them.  Eventually, he offends the wrong person and he’s told that he’ll no longer be allowed to perform at the local comedy club.  Norman replies by saying that the club’s owner probably would have hated Lenny Bruce as well.

And so Norman wanders around New York City.  He talks to a fellow comedian and notes that Jack the Ripper only killed five people but yet he’s had more books written about him than any president.  Everyone that Norman talks to nods along, humoring him.  It’s the same basic approach that Peter Boyle took to Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver and look how well that turned out.

Eventually, still wearing his black suit, Norman tries to play in the park.  For a few minutes, Norman is actually enjoying himself.  Of course, this is when Norman has a heart attack and nearly dies.  Norman, who dreams so much of being famous, is forced to consider his own mortality.

And, while all this is going on, Norman also finds the time to brutally murder 11 people.  That’s right.  Norman’s a serial killer.  If he can’t find fame as a stand-up comedian, he’ll find fame as a murderer.  However, as Norman discovers, even killers have to struggle to get the recognition they think they deserve.  Norman’s comedy is ignored and his crimes are only listed in the back pages…

I Hate You was released in 2004 and has been included in several box sets.  (I saw it as a part of the same Decrepit Crypt Of Nightmares box set that included Burning Dead and Dead 7.)  It’s a low-budget film that really doesn’t go anywhere but I have to admit that I actually liked it.  Marvin W. Schwartz (who also co-wrote the script) gives a good performance as Norman and the movie, which is shot in wonderful black-and-white, provides a lot of wonderful shots of New York City.

Plus, it’s barely an hour long!  So, right when you’re getting tired of it, it ends.  That’s a lesson that many movies could stand to learn from I Hate You.