The first thing you notice, after the pleasingly cheesy '80s dark-synth soundtrack, is that Killing Spree was shot on film (16mm to be precise), rather than video. That's a big plus, considering most movies from this era that went straight-to-video were actually shot on video ( Cannibal Campout and Video Violence, for
example). Asbestos Felt (who had his head blown off by a grenade in Tim Ritter's previous film, Truth or Dare?-A Critical Madness) plays the lead character Tom Russo, who suspects his stay-at-home wife Leeza is cheating on him with various people like his best friend, the electrician, the TV repairman, the UPS guy, pretty much everybody she comes into contact with. This drives our anti-hero mad with jealousy and he embarks on said killing spree - much goriness and hilarity ensues (with some fairly inventive splatter gags). That's the premise for the movie, pretty much. There is somewhat of a twist in the film's final act, but I won't give away what that is here. Asbestos Felt's over-the-top performance is great fun to watch and there's plenty of dark humor running through the whole film. For example, Felt buries one of his victims (the lawn maintenance guy, no less) up to his neck in the ground, after knocking him out with a shovel. The guy comes to and starts screaming for help, and Felt proceeds to take off his shoe, then he peels off his filthy sock and shoves it into the guy's mouth. This may not sound very funny, but in the context of the film it's absolutely hilarious (and it's helped out by some inventive POV camera shots). Asbestos Felt's wife in the movie, Leeza, is played by Courtney Lercara, who had previously been in another '80s low budget splatter flick called Slaughterhouse. She was brought to the production by fellow independent filmmaker Donald Farmer (Demon Queen, Cannibal Hookers, etc). The special make-up FX were handled by Joel Harlow, and this was his first film. He would later go on to do FX for Toxic Avenger 2 and 3, Basket Case 2, Francis Ford Copola's Dracula, and The Stand mini-series to name a few. He's still working today and his most recent credits include The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, all three Pirates of the Caribbean films, and the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel as well as the upcoming Star Trek sequel. From what I remember, director Tim Ritter's previous film Truth or Dare?-A Critical Madness was a pretty decent shocker, but the last time I saw it was back in the late '80s and memory fades (someone needs to release this on DVD).
By the length of this review and my generous star rating, I don't want you to have an inflated view of the film. Make no bones about it. It's nothing more than an ultra-low budget '80s splatter film, with all the faults that come with it - bad acting, shoddy production value, ridiculous plot. However, the splatter FX, dark humor, and some inventive camera work make it a bit more ambitious than most of the straight-to-video dreck that came out during the '80s video boom. And if you grew up with these types of films like I did, and your favorite magazines were Fangoria (which gets quite a few plugs in the film), Gorezone, Deep Red, or Samhain, then you'll probably enjoy it. Also, if you're into low budget German splatter by directors like Andreas Schnass, Olaf Ittenbach, Andreas Bethmann, or Timo Rose, then you need to see this - you'll love it (and you want even have to read subtitles).
March 16, 2008
