Violated

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.

Obviously low-budget indie with some very suggestive scenes. Some confusing editing and overacting. But, relatively good. Creepy semi-ambiguous ending. Vicki Carlson was a doll.

Low-budget flick, filmed in NYC, about a photographer who kills women and cuts off locks of their hair. Producer William Holland plays the photographer, and screenwriter William Mishkin (I know, these are real household names) has a bit. An exotic dancer named Lili Dawn plays one of the victims. She's not bad looking if you can imagine Hedy Lamarr with about twenty more pounds on her. The musical score consists of a guitar played by Tony Mottola.

Except for the 1950s view of the city, this film doesn't have much to offer. The acting is pretty bad, and the dialogue is worse. As the film's shrink explains, "the human mind is a vast domain. When its door is unhinged it's open to an endless variety of queer happenings." Like this movie.

When young women start turning up dead, a couple of cops begin to hunt for the sexual predator who is killing them.

It's an exploitation film, intended to show prostitutes and maniacs, with a thin veneer of respectability added by a couple of brief talks on how psychiatric care should be better. The acting was downright poor, with the usual dull-voiced lecture by the psychiatrist, and poor line readings by everyone but the strip-club owner. That was played by William Mishkin, who spent the next quarter century producing and distributing such fare as THE RATS ARE COMING! THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE! and GUTTER TRASH. Surprisingly to me, I found Pat Rich's cinematography to be pretty good, although some of his work seems like an attempt to liven up a poor piece of exploitation.

THis might have been racy in 1953, but it's nothing these days.

Violated could have been a standard psycho-on-the-loose thriller but for director Walter Strate's keen eye for detail. Background details really bring the Greenwich Village location to life and give you insight into the characters lives and motivations even when the performances don't. The violent scenes are shockingly effective without bloodshed and are a precursor to Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) (he saw this, don't tell me he didn't). Violated perfectly illustrates the oppressive and persistent nature of the lustful men on the street all young women must contend with. It's a shame this was Strate's only film as it transcends its low budget and seedy milieu to make some solid points.