Although he has been part of movies like Million Dollar Baby (2004), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), and RoboCop (2014), Jay Baruchel is much better known for his comedy roles in titles such as Almost Famous (2000), Knocked Up (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), Fanboys (2009), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), The Trotsky (2009), This Is the End (2013), and the How to Train Your Dragon animation saga. But besides his jobs in front of the camera, he is also an experienced filmmaker that debuted as writer and director of a feature film with the sports comedy Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017). For his second project as co-writer, producer and director, Random Acts of Violence (2019), he has chosen to take a very different path and swim deep into the seas of horror.
Random Acts of Violence (2019) tells the story of a pair of comic book writers who begin to notice scary similarities between the character they created and horrific real-life events. Todd Walkley and his publisher Ezra made their careers crafting a comic book based on a real-life serial killer called Slasherman. On a press tour to announce the launch of their final issue, they visit the town where Slasherman wreaked havoc twenty years earlier. Upon their arrival, a series of new murders unfold… murders that look eerily familiar to imagery in Todd’s Slasherman comics. Speculation and paranoia build regarding the identity of the mysterious killer. It is based on the comic book of the same name created by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.
Jay Baruchel plays one of the main roles in a cast completed by Jesse Williams, Jordana Brewster, Simon Northwood, Niamh Wilson, Isaiah Rockcliffe, Clark Backo, Victoria Snow, Eric Osborne, Nia Roam, and Aviva Mongillo. Jesse Chabot, the frequent collaborator of Baruchel, is the co-writer of the screenplay.
Random Acts of Violence (2019) had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 19, 2019. After that, it was part of the line-up in festivals like Calgary Underground Virtual Film Festival and Octopus Film Festival. Elevation Pictures released the film in Canada on July 31, 2020, before it’s scheduled to debut on Shudder on August 20, 2020.
After its premiere, the film garnered positive reviews. Random Acts of Violence (2019) has been described by Bloody Disgusting as “brutal and merciless“, while other viewers have praised its violence, bloody sequences, and explicit special effects. You can watch here the official trailer:
