Fall Breakers: The Making of 'The Mutilator'

Fall Break: The Making of 'The Mutilator' (2016)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining documentary taking a look at the making of THE MUTILATOR, the 1984 slasher film that pretty much came out of nowhere and turned into a cult favorite. Director Buddy Cooper and co-director John Douglass are joined by several of the cast and crew members as they go down memory lane and talk about the production of the film. Matt Mitler, Ruth Martinez, Bill Hitchcock, Jack Chatham, Edmund Ferrell, John Bode, the director's son Trace and Tom Outlaw are among the people interviewed.

Clocking in at 75 minutes, there are a few dry moments throughout the documentary but if you're a fan of the film then there's no question that you're going to enjoy hearing from the writer-director as well as a large portion of the main cast members. It's clear that everyone has a fond memory on the shooting of the picture as we get some terrific behind-the-scenes stories as well as some footage that was actually shot during the production. Some of the most entertaining stories come from the release of the film and its battle with the MPAA.

Arrow Video - you can always bet on them to get the Goodies. Be it movie wise (finding some obscure movie you've never heard about for example) or extras wise. In this case, this documentary is about the making of this slasher I had not heard about. It was almost called Fall Break - but I reckon The Mutilator is a way better title.

The main focus here are the special effects - and they are clearly the star of the movie. Yes there is also some jokes and hints at other movies (like Night of the Living Dead with Coming to get you (Barbara)) - there is also a fair amount of jokes and you can see where this comes from in this documentary. Very well made and a lot of behind the scenes stuff ... plus a lot of things that did not get into the movie for various reasons.

As I said in the user comment I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I did not care much for the slasher movie "The Mutilator" - it had some good gore, yes, but that's about all. However, the making of the movie documentary that comes as a supplement with the Blu-ray release of the movie is much better. It's true that even though the documentary is of significant length (75 minutes long), there are all the same some key details about the production that are kind of vague or are not mentioned at all. But the documentary does all the same prove to be informative. You learn about the various pitfalls and struggles that can happen in the making of a B movie. Equally interesting is meeting key people in the production of the movie and learning what they dealt with, what they thought at the time, and what they think now. (And they all come across as very nice people you wouldn't mind meeting, even if you don't care about their movie or horror B movies in general.) This is a well done documentary, and it will make you wish that more B movies released on Blu-ray or DVD would have documentaries this substantial.