Friday, February 12, 2010

'Naked Massacre' is too chilling to recommend

Naked Massacre (aka "Born for Hell") (1976)
Starring: Mathieu Carriere
Director: Denis Héroux
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

An insane Vietnam vet (Carriere), returning home via Belfast, invades a house shared by eight nurses and proceeds to terrorize and murder them.


"Naked Massacre" is one of those films that has enough good points that it deserves at least an average rating, yet it is one that I can't really recommend that anyone sees. It's one of the more disturbing proto-slasher flicks I've seen, with the level of sadism and cruelty displayed by the murderer, and the reaction of the victims, too realistic in its nature to be entertaining.

The film is decently acted--although some of the dialogue the actors deliver could have been better written--and while the movie is unevenly paced and sloppily filmed, it is structured in such a way that we come to care for the nurses who are about to get a visit from a Winter Soldier-type crazed war vet.

This film was a tough slog, because it was so disturbing. It's not one I will ever watch again, and it's not one that I can recommend to anyone else either. (Don't be deceived by the early scene of a hooker dancing while the madman plays "Oh Suzanna" on his harmonica... it goes from stupid to horrible very, very fast.)


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