Violated (1953)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Greenwich Village comes under attack by a psycho who is stalking women. Not only is he killing them but he's also scalping them. The lead investigator (Mitchell Kowall) teams up with a psychiatrist (Jason Niles) as they try to determine the killer who might just be a released sex offender.
For 1953, VIOLATED is pretty hot stuff from start to finish. This is basically an exploitation film that mixes horror and film noir elements and the end result is fairly entertaining even if there are many flaws with the picture. If you're familiar with the 1980 slasher MANIAC you'll know that the lead character there scalped his victims. That film was heavily influenced by the 1966 film AROUSED. Well, I think it's safe to say that MANIAC also borrowed from this picture.
The first thing you'll notice about this picture is that fact that it's working on a very small budget. I know noirs made a name for themselves by having small budgets but this here is a lot lower than you'd typically expect. What really sets the film apart isn't its story so much but the fact that it's willing to push the boundaries of good taste. After all, this here was seven years before PSYCHO and you've got a sex maniac, a psycho stalking women and a burlesque subplot where there are plenty of ladies not wearing too many clothes.
Those exploitation elements is what keeps the film alive and moving throughout its short 67-minute running time. The performances are very hit and miss and the majority of them would be called amateurish to say the least. The lack of any real acting talent makes for a documentary like feel and the music score by Tony Mottola really adds a lot of sleaze. VIOLATED is a film that should probably be better known than it is.
