Sometimes a neat hook can compensate for a lot, and Head Count hinges on a good one. The film’s in-media-res start jumps into the worst possible moment for outlaw Kat: on his knees, a gun to his head, his revolver actually, and with only moments to wrack his brain for how many – if any – bullets are left as the trigger is pulled again and again. The ensuing blend of flashbacks and present danger delivers as a freewheeling on-the-lam thriller whose engaging lead carries the audience through a whirlwind of bad luck and worse villains.
As if to cement the lighthearted tone from the start, directors Ben and Jacob Burghart kick off this twisty crime odyssey with the most absurd jailbreak possibly ever committed to screen. The nighttime chain-gang animal attack that leaves Kat as a fugitive is merely the start of his darkly comic trouble in Kansas. Head Count doesn’t put its best foot forward with the scene’s plain direction and unseen growling in the bushes, but the hyper-stylish lead-up to the notorious revolver and title card does hint at the confident eye behind this low-budget genre romp.
Aaron Jakubenko plays Kat with a likable balance of quick wits, vulnerable emotion and roguish slapstick charm that makes his episodic close calls consistently entertaining. A not-so-safe haven positions Kat as a tense third party in a dysfunctional domestic conflict, a tenacious officer (Ryan Kwanten) is on Kat’s trail for less than noble purposes and amends must be made with brother Hayes (Kyle Dyck) and ex-lover Jo (Melanie Zanetti), among other escapades and narrow escapes. Every new incident eventually results in another bullet fired, marked by a scrolling on-screen graphic counting down with each shot. That clever bit of style threads a throughline of suspense leading up to the opening’s deadly flashforward, yet the decision to also cut back to that gunpoint danger at other points only serves to gum up the pacing.
When the Burghart brothers slow down their energetic thriller for more low-key character beats, Head Count fares much better. The dynamics between Jakubenko and Zanetti and Dyck are imbued with a laid-back naturalistic warmth not often seen in madcap indie thrillers of this ilk. That the film is able to enjoy such dramatic breathers even with a sub-80 minute runtime is a testament to the directors’ capable eye for characterization and modulating intensity. The tertiary characters don’t fare nearly as well, but Jakubenko’s charisma fills those gaps admirably.
Even with that weaker supporting cast and odd narrative decisions, Head Count’s tangle of absurd detours, dark gags, foreshadowing and Kansas underworld figures does pay off. Coming full circle, Ben and Jacob Burghart mine that life-and-death moment for all its worth while relishing in their bullet-counting gimmick to satisfying effect. The journey to that finale may be messy and frenetic – qualities that alternate between enhancing Kat’s bad luck and weakening the overall film – but Head Count succeeds as a stylish thriller punching over its weight class.
Photo courtesy of SHOUT! STUDIOS
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