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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  The Driller Killer
Posted by: James McClung, June 2nd, 2006, 5:04pm
When in doubt, turn to the Video Nasties list. The Driller Killer shares a place on this list with such memorable assaults on traditional moral values such as I Spit On Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, and, of course, The Evil Dead. Unfortunately, the Video Nasties list takes the phrase "hit and miss" to extreme and The Driller Killer is most certainly an extreme "miss."

In The Driller Killer, Reno, an ill-tempered artist struggles to get his latest painting sold in order to pay a grossly overdue rent. Meanwhile, he takes to the streets wreaking havoc with a power drill.

This, unfortunately, isn't the plot. Only fragments of what could have been a plot. Neither Reno's painting nor his psychopathic promenades take up a lot of time. In reality, there is no plot. Half the time, the movie is druggies playing shitty feux punk-rock, tripping out, and acting like idiots. The rest of the time, the movie is mindless dribble intended to pass for exposition but goes absolutely nowhere. Then, of course, there's Reno's lame hallucinations of him being showered in blood spliced together with frames of drill bits. It doesn't help that the Driller Killer seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. It's so clearly an exploitation film but it seems to have dillusions of being an art film. To top this all off, you get shoddy camerawork and piss-poor sound quality. Sure, it was made in the late 70s but this is bad.

All in all, a complete waste of time. Not good on any level. The only purpose it seemed to have was for me to write a bad movie review for a change. Avoid at all costs.
Posted by: Lon, June 4th, 2006, 4:55pm; Reply: 1
A friend of mine in Georgia sent me this DVD about a month or so ago and I've yet to watch it.  It's one of those notorious horror flicks I've never had a great interest in seeing but figured I'd get around to one day.  

It's the first film directed by Abel Ferrara (who, I understand, plays the killer in this flick) and though I'm a big fan of his King of New York, after reading your review and seeing it basically shares the same sentiments as most others I've read on the flick, I'm even less interested in checking it out.  I guess it's just doomed to sit and collect dust on my DVD shelf lol  

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