Killer App (universe movie)

Killer App
Directed by	Harold Keach
Screenplay by	Chandler Bingham Harold Keach
Story by	Levi Trevino
Based on	Characters by Levi Trevino & Michael J. Bayheimer
Produced by	Levi Trevino Kerry Collins
Starring	Katrina Wilson Nicole Carter Amy Norman
Distributed by	Rathbone Films
Release date	September 2, 2016 (2016-09-02) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$21,500,000
Box office	$89,750,224

Killer App is the fifth entry in The Motherboard franchise and includes Harold Keach returning as director.

Plot synopsis

A new social media app quickly gains popularity, leading to widespread distraction and subtly brainwashing users, turning them into killing machines. A group of teenagers uncover the truth and team up with the survivor from Windows 90-Ate (1998) to prevent the app from taking over entirely, only to discover that The Motherboard is orchestrating everything.

Cast

• Sabrina Hess as Laura, a teenage girl who rebels against the norm, only to realize it will save her life.
• Mari Wolf as Tiff, the high school cheerleader dating Heath.
• Declan Archer as Heath, Tiff's boy, who hides his childhood friendship with Laura out of embarrassment.
• Nicole Carter as Candace, the aunt of Laura, who survived previous computer attacks in the 90s and comes on the grid to help her niece and friends.
• Katrina Wilson as Hillary, the survivor of the previous film, who uses a bomb to blow up a phone store in the opening moments.
• Ernest Wilkinson as Lt. Sawyer, the local police chief who befriends the teenagers and has a past with Candace.
• Amy Norman as The Motherboard, the ruthless sentient computer that controls other humans to kill.

Production

The Next Chapter

Following the immense success of diePhone (2012), Paramutual Pictures established a new production company to handle the distribution of its horror/suspense films, naming it Rathbone Films. This movie became the first film released in theaters and ultimately led to a series of other horror movies whose scripts had been purchased by Paramutual but never produced. These include Candyland Murders (2017), Field of Death (2017), Kill U: Reunion (2018), Dr. Killhov (2019), Dr. Killhov: Rescheduled (2020), Dr. Killhov: Rejuvenated (2021), and Coffee Death (2022).

Knowing they wanted to continue the success of the franchise, the studio brought back Levi Trevino to help develop the film. Trevino praised the work Harold Keach did on the previous entry and asked for him to return. Michael J. Bayheimer, wanting to move away from the horror genre, decided not to return as producer, leaving that duty solely to Trevino and Kerry Collins.

Trevino had a concept for a script; however, knowing his age compared to the modern audiences that the storyline would be for, he sought out the help of Chandler Bingham, a well-established genre writer in Hollywood, to flesh out the script. Together with Keach, a friend of Bingham's from their early days in Hollywood, they collaborated on the script and completed a draft by early 2014, which Trevino and the studio both approved.

New Direction with Old Faces

Trevino reached out to actresses Amy Norman, Katrina Wilson, and Nicole Carter about reprising their roles in the film. Norman, who has been quoted saying "When Levi calls, I always answer the phone with a 'Yes'. He doesn't even have to ask me anything!" signed on first, reprising her role as The Motherboard.

Katrina Wilson signed on once she read that her character, the survivor of the previous film, would be killed off in the opening sequence. She loved the idea, saying, "Audiences are not going to see that coming. I survived the last movie, but the post-credit scene showed that maybe I didn't make it out entirely in one piece. I can't wait to hear the reaction in the audience!"

Nicole Carter was the final of the three women to sign on to the film. Her reaction was hesitant at first, as she had last appeared in Windows 90-Ate (1998) and didn't understand why her character was appearing now, after almost 20 years. Trevino, taking a page out of the "Terminator" franchise, wanted Carter's character to be the badass Sarah Connor type —someone who survived The Motherboard all those years ago and now needs to return to help take her down once and for all. Carter, who hadn't done a horror movie since then, liked coming back as an older mentor who could defend herself from whatever The Motherboard threw at her.

Reception

The film performed moderately well with audiences, earning a 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and most audience members described it as "a fun ride." Critics averaged a score of 51%, saying that while the movie attempted to stay relevant, it was unsure how much longer it could keep going before becoming too stale.

Trivia

• Both Nicole Carter and Katrina Wilson agreed to reprise their roles under the condition that their characters had grown from how they were last seen. Levi Trevino pitched the concept that Carter would have become a badass Sarah Connner type character, hating all machines and living off-grid. Wilson stated she thought her character wouldn't have had such a happy outcome and suffered permanent damage from the brief time connected to the machine in diePhone (2012). It was this suggestion that led to the cold open where her character walks into the phone store and detonates a bomb.
• The success of this film ultimately led to its follow-up/spin-off A-Die (2023) which would feature the phone manufacturer of this company rebranded as a software company instead.

Quotes

• "#YouOnlyDieOnce, bitch!"