"Repeat after me..."
Disembodied Hitman is a Short Film written and directed by Dean Houlihan.Warner Sampson is a young Irish man recently dealing with the suicide of his father - who was the victim of a smear campaign that destroyed his career.
Warner is now targeting the seventeen people who spread the lies, and murdering them one by one. Each victim is filmed reciting a Bible passage before being killed.
The film was initially released as a segment in the Deadly Numbers
anthology, but has since been released as a standalone short.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: Warner is actually quite casual to his victims as he's forcing them to read Bible passages.
- Agony of the Feet: Warner appears to have a severed foot hanging up in his shed.
- All There in the Manual: The victims' names are listed in the end credits.
- Arc Number: Seventeen. Warner mentions that the number seventeen has played a significant role in his life, that in the Bible it symbolizes victory and perfection. There are seventeen victims, all of whom recite a Bible passage with seventeen in the title. Even 'Disembodied Hitman' is seventeen letters.
- As the Good Book Says...: A recurring motif is Warner quoting the Bible.
- Asshole Victim: Downplayed. All the victims were responsible in some way for Warner's father committing suicide.
- Bald of Evil: Well, asshole anyway. Victims Isaac and Anticide have shaved heads, and are apparently Jerkasses.
- Binocular Shot: The murders of Dilyn (number one) and Evan (number ten) are framed as if through night vision goggles.
- Chain Pain: Both Harvey and Anticide are chained up. The latter in particular is quite bruised, implying he's been whipped with the chains.
- Chainsaw Good: Warner makes good use of a chainsaw. The first shot of the film is in fact him waving one around.
- Color Wash:
- When Warner forces a victim to shoot himself, it's washed with a blood red hue.
- The unseen seventeenth victim gets a green hue.
- Cue the Sun: Once Warner is finished with all his murders, we're shown a sunrise.
- Death of a Child: Downplayed. The fifteenth victim (named Marty) is visibly a young teenager.
- The Determinator: Warner tracks down seventeen people responsible for his father's death, and it's implied by some of the accents that this is done in multiple countries.
- Dissonant Serenity: The victim Olena appears almost calm and serene as she's about to die.
- Dublin Skanger: One victim (called Bobby in the credits) has a thick North Dublin accent.
- Driven to Suicide: Warner's father killed himself because of how his reputation was destroyed.
- Fake Shemp: Since each victim recorded themselves remotely, this is the case whenever Dean Houlihan appears to share the frame with one of them.
- Fan Disservice: Two of the victims are shirtless, but the fact that they're terrified and about to be killed negates any titilation.
- Found Footage: Partial example. The confessionals from the victims were filmed remotely by the actors themselves, in-universe as Warner forcing them to record their last moments. The murder of Dianna is given a filter to make it look like a vintage camcorder.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: There's actually an even split of victims - eight male and eight female. The gender of the unseen seventeenth victim isn't said.
- Genre Throwback: The tone comes from Exploitation Films of the 70s, specifically those in which murder is done with power tools - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974, The Toolbox Murders, The Driller Killer in particular.
- The Ghost: The seventeenth and final victim is never seen on camera. We just see from his/her POV as Warner prepares to kill.
- Give Me a Sign: Towards the end, Warner asks for a sign from above that he's doing the right thing. Lights appearing in the sky seem to confirm it.
- Gorn: There's quite a lot of gore and splatter, given the murder weapons.
- Gory Discretion Shot:
- When Bobby is killed, it cuts to a shot of blood splashing on a curtain.
- A similar shot is repeated, along with one of shotgun shells falling to the floor when Trinity is killed.
- Hillbilly Horrors: Warner appears to live in a remote area, allowing him to get away with these murders. Also him having lots of power tools as murder weapons would be less suspicious.
- Inelegant Blubbering: One victim called Ezra bursts into hysterical crying when reciting her verse.
- Lying Heroes, Honest Villains: Sort of. Warner is punishing people for having told lies in the past.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Warner dons a red ski mask occasionally when looking for victims. He is seen committing a couple while wearing different Halloween ghoul masks.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The end has a sequence that implies Warner may have been given divine help, but he could just be imagining it.
- Meaningful Name: Warner spells it out; his first name means 'protector of the people', and he views himself as a righteous avenger. His last name means 'son of' and is a reference to the famous hero granted Super-Strength by God.
- Motive Rant: Warner's motivations are conveyed through voiceover as he commits each murder.
- Murder by Suicide: Victim 16 (credited as 'Anticide') is handed a shotgun and told to kill themselves.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: What Warner believes he's doing. Of course, his definition of 'evil' is in the All Crimes Are Equal school of thought.
- Religious Bruiser: Warner carries crucifixes with him, quotes the Bible and makes the victims recite from it.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The story was loosely inspired by the Marilyn Manson abuse allegations, as well as the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial. It's also based around modern 'cancel culture' in general.
- Shout-Out: The opening line "If you don't know what heaven feels like I'll show you what it feels like without it!" - comes from Marilyn Manson's "15".
- Sinister Shades: After the murder of Ezra (victim four), we're shown Warner lounging around wearing a pair of sunglasses. A particularly sinister voiceover plays over this.
- Sinister Silhouettes: Before the first murder, Warner is framed in silhouette, malevolently saying "you don't want to know what I'm gonna do to you."
- Slashers Prefer Blondes: Special attention is drawn to one blonde victim (called Ivy in the credits) who appears to have been scalped after her murder.
- Take Our Word for It: We don't know specifically how each victim was responsible for Warner's father's death, their motivations or if they even know.
- Villain Protagonist: Warner is our POV character, and he's a serial killer.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Warner wants to punish people who spread lies and destroyed a man's reputation, seemingly not caring about the damage they caused. But hunting them down, one by one, and murdering them on camera...
- You Killed My Father: Proxy example. Warner's father committed suicide thanks to the actions of the seventeen, and they're being punished for it.
- Your Makeup Is Running: The second victim Iris has been crying so much, her face is covered in mascara.
