The Driller Killer

A deliciously grimy and dirty debut from Abel Ferrara ('Bad Lieutenant'), 'Driller Killer' follows an artist (played by Ferrara himself) whose frustrated attempts to make ends meet and find creative satisfaction against a backdrop of urban decay and the interminable punk-rock cacophony of a band in the apartment above him eventually get the better of him and lead him to emotional breakdown and maniacal, grisly homicide.

The story of a city-dweller (New York, no less) who can't take it any more and snaps clearly owes much to 'Taxi Driver' but, in contrast, 'Driller Killer' is distinguished by an almost total lack of the psychological and technical finesse so characteristic of Scorsese's film and makes its point through a relentless inarticulate bludgeoning of the viewer which could be said to be an (ahem) acquired taste. Having said this, the film isn't as gory as its cult status on the list of "video nasties" compiled by the Director of Public Prosecutions in England in the early eighties would lead you to believe and in lacking both the searing transgression of films like 'Cannibal Holocaust' or the all-out gore of films like 'The Beyond' or 'Evil Dead' some may well be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about.

However, all things considered the film is an enjoyable psychotic romp (in a masochistic sort-of-way) and I have always found its limitations to be an indispensible part of its appeal as the low budget and technical bludgeoning are central to evoking a genuine sense of the stifling degeneration of New York at its nadir. What's more, the films depiction of the psychosis such milieus engender walks a perfect line between a partly distanced comic-book presentation and a crushingly claustrophobic and authentic sense of madness made manifest.

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Public domain movie. Watch it free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaQLbLJiA50

Watch short trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Dn57QgvRw

Watch extended trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFobdamXZvo