Video Nasty : The Driller Killer (1979)

One of the most infamous nasties, much because of the nifty cover art, which sent religious fanatics, hysterical crusaders of moral issues, and frustrated housewives alike into a frenzy. Now, this one must be REALLY sick with a cover like that, right?



Plot:

Reno is a confused artist who's about to face some hard times, and become a deranged, then crazy, then homicidal artist. He can't pay the rent, a really bad Punk band messes up his consentration to say the least, he has a fucked up love and social life, and his paintings?..well, they suck. Then he finds a new friend...an electric power drill, and goes on a rampage removing what...ahem..WHO ever is bothering him.



What's good?:

Abel Ferrara does a decent job directing this, but a better job starring as Reno. The style of the film is very 70's underground New York, and portraits it as a place you would never wanna live. The various characters underlines that as we are talking about some of the utmost human trash. The climax of the film is the infamous power drill through the head which is well made and bloody as hell.



What's bad?:

Slow pacing to the extreme which makes this a very boring 90 minutes. You sit and wait for the power drill scene from the cover, suffering through the deranged painters problems that you don't give a shit about, actually you'll catch yourself thinkin' you hope he puts that drill right through his own forehead rather sooner than later. In addition we have to suffer through the music from the incredibly bad Punk band, and get familiar with characters which is the kind of people we would like to keep at a good distance in real life, and wouldn't dream of dating any of the girls in the movie...well, unless you're on smack.

The Verdict:

Worth it only for the power drill scene which is what got it banned, but it could've been released with that scene cut out with no problems with the censors, but who would wanna watch this mess without that scene? To some degree it's also interesting to get a glimpse at New York during the time at it's most trashy, but that becomes dull after about ten minutes of it. All in all not a good start for actor and director Ferrara. I suggest you see the drill scene on Youtube, and forget about the rest of the movie, unless, you like me, is a Video Nasty completist. I got bored just thinking about having to review this movie, and guess what. Now, I'm done!..YES! :)



Rating:

2 (out of 6)