User reviews

Knife wielding vigilante Hectic Knife roams the streets of New York City taking out evil any way he can and dispatches of thugs and druggies left and right. When a madman and arch enemy Piggly Doctor (J.J. Brine) wants to bring upon the end of the world, Hectic Knife rises to the challenge. This is pure exploitation mayhem from start to finish. Cheesy Indie film-making at it's finest.

In a world similar to our own there is a vigilante roaming the streets of New York City. He destroys the junkies, the drug dealers, pretty much anyone who is evil and destructive. His name is Hectic Knife and armed with his two trusty knives and an uncanny ability to regenerate from any wound, even self inflicted ones, he is out to make the world a better place. But, there's no money in the world saving business so he advertises for a new roommate and ends up with Link (John Munnelly) who with his comic books and fat stacks of cash, moves in right away. Consisting on a diet of nothing but hard boiled eggs and the occasionally fried gun and cardboard (???) he dispatches thugs left and right. When he saves a young girl, Frannie Glooper (Georgia Kate Haege), she follows him home declaring herself as his girlfriend. When Hectic beats the crap out of three drug dealers he finds that they are working for the nefarious Piggly Doctor (J.J. Brine). A madman who wants to bring about the end of the world by hooking everyone on drugs and blowing up small children. Hectic Knife must call upon his mad skills of knife wielding to save the day, the planet, and the children and maybe even himself. I go to a convention twice a year. Cinema Wasteland. Held the first weekend of April and October every year it has been a Waltz tradition for over a decade. I was walking through the dealers room with the always lovely Martha Waltz when a man in a long, blonde wig, face covered in blood approached us with flyers in hand. He was pimping his new film being released by Troma. That film was Hectic Knife. When I expressed my enthusiasm for what sounded like an epic film he gave us a special screener copy of his movie along with a CD of his own music. (The music is cool, thanks Peter – DW) I had zero expectations when I started the movie. It exceeded all of them. See, I'm an old fart and have watched so many movies that I remember when there were these amazing underground film makers like Kenneth Anger, Richard Kern and Nick Zedd. I can remember seeing movies like Liquid Sky and Repo Man that defied ordinary film making. Now I can add Hectic Knife to that eclectic blend of bizarre, weird and downright insane films that I can watch over and over again with no boredom creeping in around the edges. Using the black and white mode coupled with some grainy effects that can only be achieved through film and some really good computer programs this movie feels like it was made in the 80s and someone just dug it out of a hole for all of us to enjoy as it was meant to be. Hectic Knife is pure underground cinematic perfection. The characters are fully aware that you're watching them. Little touches of color creep in when appropriate like when one of the drug dealers can't stop talking about how orange the pills are. I especially liked the scene where Frannie introduced herself to Link and she did it about twenty times in about twenty accents. It sounds like a lot, but it works really well. The idea that people in this universe eat things like fried guns and cardboard are genius. It reminded me of the odd world created in the film The Dark Backward. Hectic Knife has two friends in the whole world in this movie his buddy Harry who is a Vietnam Vet that plays chess and kicks ass. He is awesome in this film. But, then Rockin Ray comes along. Rockin Ray is driving this car painted with a mural of awesomeness and has many things festooned about the entire surface. He is driving through the neighborhoods preaching his gospel of no drugs through a loudspeaker on the car. Imagine my surprise when I saw that he is a real person!

The entire film reminded me of a better time in film. A time when people took chances and it got shown in a theater. This would play so well in a theater so it did my heart good to see that it will be having some screenings. I have no idea what brought that young man who I now know is the star of Hectic Knife, Peter Litvin, to hand over a copy of the film that he helped to bring into this world, but it made my day. Now, if you will excuse me I must go and spread the word of the magnificent piece of cinema known as…HECTIC KNIFE!

I've never written a review here and may never again. Vut I had to say something about this delightful piece of film making. As near as I can describe it would be if David Lynch wanted to do an Abraham/Zucker style film - Eraserhead meets Airplane.

This movie revels in the joys of film making first and foremost. While some Jazz is music for musicians, this takes many of the tropes of cinema and turns them on their head and can be enjoyed by all. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time, as the film goes from surreal to absurdist to slapstick to commercials to sci-fi to musicals somehow in a seamless fashion.

Normally these types of movies are one-note affairs with the same punchline that gets tired quickly. While for me the Troma type movies usually have a smile or two, I've never really wanted to revisit them, or even tried to seek them out to tell you the truth. However, this movie keeps changing gears and never stays in one particular reality for very long. While not everything works you don't have to wait too long until something else sticks.

It takes somebody who knows how to make film correctly in order to do it badly in the right way. The cinematography, (bad) acting and even the music are spot on. I seriously can't remember when the combination of gag and score worked so well as a 1-2 punch. This is one of those types of movies where you check the next day just to see if it really was that funny. Yes, it is.

As others mentioned, the 4th wall is broken frequently. A paper could be written on how many ways it is broken, because it's never the same way twice. Some of the jokes work simply because they're more real than what you see in most "realistic" movies. The violence and gore is over the top, but being in black and white it takes on a whole different appearance. The Wile E. Coyote protagonist is both loathsome and sympathetic. The villains cliché to a "T". The recurring gags quotable.

I'd love to throw out some sort of example, but I feel the surprises surrounding so many of the jokes would make it a spoiler. The movie simply has to be witnessed - go into it with an open mind and no preconceived notions.

While comparisons to Troma films can be made, for me this is easily better than any of their classics or recent collaboration films that I can think of. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for the film makers. In an alternate reality people would be quoting parts of this film.

I'm really glad I stumbled onto this gem, and never would have if it weren't free on Amazon prime and "suggested". I'd put this between 6-7 stars compared to anything I've seen in the past few years.

Orange pills will never be the same.

Just watched Hectic Knife and it is everything you would expect from a Troma distributed movie... It was cheesy awesome and hilarious... Gore, martial arts, intense fighting scenes, EPIC bagel scene, and a final fight that keeps you on the edge of your seat... Okay, well it did have an epic bagel scene... This was a low budget movie done so incredibly right.

So where do I begin? I am on a show called Droids Canada, and we decided to do a watch along of Hectic Knife. I can't believe that we made it through the whole movie. Never in my life have I seen anything remotely close to how horrible that movie is. There is attempting to make something so bad that it is good, and there is Hectic Knife. It's in a whole new category of bad. 10/10. You need to see this train wreck. I want to die in Hectic 2

Movie is one of my favorites of all time. Great director! Great score! Great premise. Great fun!

Had an incredible plot, comedy, excitement throughout the film. It always had me guessing. will have you questioning reality at every turn. It kept my full attention throughout the whole film. I would definitely recommend this to others as the actors were impeccable. J D'andrea