Robert Sisko | Through the Shattered Lens

First released in 2014, Jailbait tells the story of Anna Nix (Sara Malakul Lane).

Anna is a teenager who loves to play the cello, largely because it allow her a mentally escape from her abusive homelife. When her stepfather sexually assaults her, Anna pushes him back and he ends up hitting his head on a wall and promptly dying. After her own mother testifies that Anna is lying about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather, Anna is sent to a juvenile prison.

Warden Frank Baragan (Steve Hanks) has a quick smile and a dorky sense of humor and he might seem earnest and supportive when he tries to encourage Anna to play her cello at the prison talent show but he quickly reveals himself to be as much of a perv as Anna’s stepfather. Warden Frank is willing to help Anna but only if she does things for him. (You can guess what things.) And, even when Anna complies, Frank makes it clear that there’s no way he’s going to support her efforts to get parole.

There’s a lot to deal with in this prison. Anna’s cellmate, the well-meaning Genie (Jennifer Robyn Jacobs), may love her but Genie can only provide so much support. Meanwhile, gang leader Kody (Erin O’Brien) provides Anna with protection but only as long as Anna follows orders. (Kody even forces Anna to get a tattoo identifying her as being a part of the gang.) As soon as Anna tries to get away from Kody, she finds herself targeted. Anna soon starts smoking and then injecting drugs, becoming an addict who is continually sent to the dark, dirty, and vermin-infested isolation cells, where no clothing is allowed. (Yuck! If I was ever on one of those Scared Straight shows, all of that would be enough to keep me out of prison.) Will Anna be able to survive long enough to not only impress the other prisoners with her cello skills but also to expose the corrupt warden?

Released by The Asylum, Jailbait hits all of the usual women-in-prison movie beats. It’s definitely a sordid film, one of those movies where everyone somehow still looks good despite living in a filthy prison and only getting to take a shower once or twice a week. (Occasionally, someone will get a smudge of dirt on their face but considering the amount of time that many of the characters spend locked away naked in a filthy cell, everyone still looks remarkably clean and healthy.) That said, Jailbait was still better than I was expecting, largely due to the performance of Sara Malakul Lane, who didn’t let the fact that she was starring in an exploitation film keep her from giving a fully committed performance. She gets strong support from Jennifer Robyn Jacobs, Erin O’Brien, and especially Steve Hanks. (Oh, how you will hate the Warden!) Director Jared Cohn is a veteran when it comes to directing on a low budget and he keeps the action moving quickly.

Don’t get me wrong, of course. The film has its flaws. I’ve read a few comments online from some people who felt that the cello scenes were not convincing. I’ve never played the cello so, to be honest, I really wouldn’t know. But, with all that in mind, this film is far better than I would expect any film called Jailbait to be.

The city of Santa Cruz, California is gripped by fear as two separate serial killers stalk and murder young women. Detective Tom Harris (Christopher Stapleton) may not have many clues but he does have a brilliant best friend named Edmund Kemper (Robert Sisko). Though most people just see Kemper as being a nerdy, middle-aged house painter who lives with his abusive mother, Harris understands that Kemper is actually a genius who has an instinctive understanding of the criminal mind. With Kemper’s help, Harris is able to take down one of the killers. Kemper celebrates by murdering his own mother and then calling Harris and revealing himself to be the other killer. Harris must now track down Kemper before he can murder again.

2008’s Kemper: The CoEd Killer is very loosely based on the true story of serial killer, Edmund Kemper. And by loosely, I mean that it has next to nothing in common with what actually happened. In real life, Kemper was indeed a genius who lived with his mother and he did kill several hitchhikers. However, Kemper committed the majority of his murders in the early 70s and, by most accounts, he did not have any friends on the police force. Nor did he play a cat-or-mouse game with the police. Instead, he committed ten murders and turned himself into the police after killing his mother and her best friend. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Once in prison, he was frequently interviewed by FBI agents who were looking to understand how the mind of a serial killer works. According to veteran profile John Douglas, Kemper proved to be an amiable and honest interview subject and much of the science behind what is known as profiling is a result of the insights that Kemper provided. Douglas has described Kemper as being the most likable serial killer that he ever met, which is something that I’m sure provided little comfort to the families of the women that he killed.

In the movie, Kemper is a modern-day serial killer who calls the police on his cell phone. (A major plot point involves Detective Harris trying to trick Kemper into getting frustrated enough to call the police station’s landline so it will be easier to trace his call.) Kemper taunts the police and kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage in an attempt to mess with Detective Harris’s mind. Kemper doesn’t so much come across as being particularly clever as much as the police themselves just come across as being amazingly bad at their jobs. Somehow, they can’t find Kemper in the city, even though he never makes an attempt to disguise his distinctive appearance and continues to eat at the same diner where he and Harris ate at before Kemper revealed himself to be a killer. The film’s version of Edmund Kemper takes the idea of hiding in plain sight quite literally.

The film has the same flat, made-for-video look that one tends to find in a lot of these low-budget serial killer biopics. None of the acting is particularly effective, though Patricia Place does have a few memorable moments as Kemper’s foul-tempered mother. For the most part, this is a true crime film that you can safely skip.