The Driller Killer

8/10

"The Driller Killer" was an infamous B-Movie from 1979. It was controversial at its time for its graphic and morbid violence, and was originally cut down greatly from its original form. In recent times, an unrated version has come out, and viewers got to relive the horrors that plagued society for decades. While the movie has become a sort of an obscurity with audiences, it was met with positive reviews by critics, and definitely still has some fan base. I personally loved the movie, for its crazy scenes, good acting(by the majority of the cast), and it's ruthless portrayal of urban life. 

The movie begins in a church, where two men are worshipping. One of the men named Reno approaches the other, and the other man has Reno's name and phone number on paper. Reno doesn't know what do at this point, and things become even weirder as the man grabs his hand. Reno then runs out of the church with his girlfriend Carol, and they take a ride in a limo to a club. After a night of punk music and partying, the couple goes to their apartment that they share with Pamela; Carol's other lover. Reno becomes very angry when everyone wakes up in the morning, as he looks at the multitude of money he owes in bills. I thought this beginning was all very well done, because it gave mild suspense, and some awesome character development. 

The trio begins to figure out that this financial trouble is going to put them on the streets, and they need to do something quick. Reno is an artist, and he is currently working on his best work, which at this point is the big defining piece of their standard of living. He tries to get a loan from his art dealer, but is denied, so he has to be done even faster. Tensions start to grow in his life with these troubles, and a growing anger at his new punk rocker neighbors. All of this leads for the once laid back man to become, "The Driller Killer."

The movie was pretty great, because it took liberties at its time to be one of the most disgusting and shocking film up to that point. It showed a brutal and merciless look at the madness of Reno, which included some really wild murder scenes, and a lot of gore. I was honestly not expecting this at all, being the movie was made in 1979, and the surprise was very pleasant. As long as you watch the unrated cut, then you are guaranteed for one of the most craziest films of the decade. 

Another thing that was shown very well was a sad and dark look at urban life. The movie offered themes of the rough downtown area like gangs, drugs, the homeless, etc, and didn't hold back on making it harsh. One of the saddest scenes to watch is when a homeless man is sleeping on the sidewalk, and he pukes in his own sleep. I thought that what this overall theme did was get the viewer more emotionally prepared for the horrible nature of what happens in the latter half of the film. 

The motives for Reno becoming a killer were never truly explored, as it comes up between his anger between a band and his bills(without killing the band or the landlord). What I hypothesize is that all of these pressures in his life drove him to complete insanity, and he didn't care about who he killed, nor did he fully process what he was actually doing. I thought this was a pretty haunting idea, because in the beginning, Reno seemed rough around the edges, but never would I have seen him to be a murderer. 

The movie's cast was good for the most part, as it showed a lot of raw emotion.  Abel Ferrara was amazing in the lead role Reno, because he had a very rough way about him. His scenes of insane meltdowns were pretty terrifying, and his portrayal as a murderer was so real, that I would keep an eye on him in real life. Carolyn Marz was good as Carol, because she didn't overplay or underplay the role of Reno's girlfriend. There were some awesome scenes of her just flipping out, and I was extremely convinced of her feelings. I really didn't like Baybi Day as Pamela, because she was really annoying, and while I understood that she was trying to act like a person that was quite fried out from drugs, it wasn't a good job by her, and she was my least favorite cast member for sure.  Harry Schultz II was good as Dalton, because he had a very jerky way about him, which was completely necessary for the character that possibly pushed Reno over the edge. 

One of the main parts of the movie was punk music, being Reno's neighbor was a band called the Roosters. While the singers were notoriously(and hilariously) bad, I found the songs to actually be somewhat catchy. Once again, I thought that the punk style brought a lot more realism to the condition of this time, and it was a very nice addition. 

The film's ending was quite shocking, and I loved how as a surprise event happened, all of the dialogue and such were to a black screen. This made a much more haunting feel for me, because the viewer never saw what truly happened.  This was the perfect ending of the movie, rather than some cheesy conclusion, and I thought it was a very mature decision from the filmmakers. 

The only thing that could've been changed was the occasional slow pacing. It didn't bother me a whole bunch, because I found the surrounding plot lines interesting, but some viewers may be turned off by it. 

"The Driller Killer" is definitely an important film for all horror fans to watch. It was a brutal, realistic, and controversial movie that was much more important to its time than people realize. While it wasn't a high caliber masterpiece like "The Shining," it was definitely an awesome movie, and I recommend it highly. 

The Wizard of Gore(1970)

7.5/10 

A while back, I got the chance to interview Herschell Gordon Lewis. Ever since that day, I wanted to be able to review one of his movies. Now thanks to Amazon, I have this opportunity.  "The Wizard of Gore" is one of the most iconic films that Lewis made, because of its dark nature and extreme gore that had never been seen before. I liked the movie a lot, because it was very original, and it had pushed boundaries like no other. 

The beginning of the movie introduced the viewer to Montag the Magnificent; a magician on tour. He raises the question of what magic really is, and engages the audience instantly.  He then does a shocking trick with a guillotine, and appears to take his own head off. To the audiences' surprise, the head wasn't real, and he was completely fine. After this, he announces his next trick, which is to saw a living woman right in half. He takes a volunteer from the audience, and completes the illusion. The weird thing is that we don't actually know if it was just a trick, or if it was real.  Even though all of the blood and gore is right in front of us, the woman appears completely fine moments later.  The next thing we know is that this same woman is found dead of the same wounds at a restaurant went she to. This intro was pretty thrilling, because everything as macabre and dark, and it was just really well done. 

The rest of the movie follows this pattern, where a seemingly harmless trick by Montag actually ends up being a secret murder. I find this plot extremely original, and it's weirdness intrigued me. I honestly don't think anything like this was done before, and even if someone tried to repeat it in the future, it couldn't be the same. I think the craziest element is that the audience of the magic show never really sees how morbid he is being, because it brings a supernatural idea that bends things a lot. 

The movie really lived up to its title, because even 45 years later, this film is still outrageously gory in all standards. Guts fly, and blood pours, and in the most morbid ways too.  I can't believe that any man could've thought of being this innovative, and it impressed me a lot with how much he pushed the boundaries. Even though the blood looks fake, it doesn't take away from the nastiness at all, and I find it to be one of the craziest movies ever. 

Along with the blood, the tactics of killing were extremely brutal and sadistic. Punch presses were used, mallets, swords, etc, and they were done in ways most people wouldn't even think of.  Herschell did an amazing job with spicing up the genre with these ideas, because I feel that they influenced a lot of people in the future. 

The acting was nothing spectacular, as it was obviously low on the agenda for Lewis' vision. Regardless, there were still some good performances that worked well for the movie. The greatest of all was Ray Sager in the lead role of Montag. He did a really awesome job at portraying the sadistic nature of the magician, because I could sense the darkness from a mile away. His voice in the monologues was very powerful also, and he was just really professional. 

The film was on a very low budget, yet Lewis did a great job of making the product look pretty amazing. I thought the red tinted graveyard scenes were a great touch, because it made everything much more psychedelic, and it also made things more mysterious.  The idea of switching back in forth from seeing a murder, to going to what looked like the harmless stunt was not easy to complete without looking dumb. I thought this was done well, because it had a very eerie and disturbing way about it that successfully made the viewer extremely confused. 

The ending of the movie was quite a surprise, and while it could've been better, I still liked it a lot.  I thought that the last minutes were very worthy of leaving the viewer in shock, because it was a plot twist that I wouldn't have expected at all. 

The only thing that I thought the film was lacking was its pacing. Sometimes the story went too slow for my taste, and in others it really breezed through important things.  For instance, the movie spent way more time with dialogue than showing scenes in graveyard, which could've possibly added to the suspense with more screen time.  While this did not ruin the film at all for me, I just think that it was something that could've definitely been improved upon. 

Overall, this was a very fun movie.  It wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it was an original, extremely gory, and crazy movie. I definitely recommend it to all horror fans that can take the violence, because it was pretty iconic in the genre's history for sure.  It has also made me look forward to watching many more Herschell films in the future, because it was a piece of art for sure.