The Killer Inside Me (2010)

Lou Ford (Affleck) is the Deputy Sheriff of a sleepy West Texas town. Polite, courteous and
accommodating, the unassuming lawman is a pillar of the community. Beneath the oft-spouted
platitudes and soporific exterior, however, lurks something truly terrible. A twisted sadist and occasional murderer, Lou gets the opportunity to indulge his twisted predilections when he becomes involved in a blackmail plot perpetrated by local prostitute Joyce Lakeland (Alba). Double-crossing Joyce by murdering the blackmail victim and savagely beating her until she is unrecognisable, Ford thinks he has covered his tracks, until he discovers she has
survived the attack, albeit in a coma. As his romance with schoolteacher Amy Stanton (Hudson)
flourishes, detectives investigating the case begin to suspect this overly-polite young man, leading Lou to take increasingly desperate and deadly actions to stay one step ahead of the law.

Released to both controversy and acclaim, Winterbottom's searing adaptation of Jim Thompson's
1952 pulp novel is not likely to slip from the memory. Although The Killer Inside Me totters a little in its final reel, its conclusion can be interpreted in any
number of ways, making it a film that's worth returning to at least once, providing you can stomach it. With great work from a fine supporting cast, most notably Hudson, and Simon Baker as a hard-nosed detective, this is tough, honest film-making that, if nothing else, highlights how used we have become to seeing unspeakable acts of violence depicted with an unfortunate air of Hollywood glamour.