Three on a Meathook

I long for days when films like Three on a Meat hook painted the screen red. The year 1999 bloodless lame horror films with models and rap singers play your local multi-plexes. I was lucky enough to live through the 70's and 80's to see fun movies like this. Today horror is a shadow of what is used to be. I feel sorry for today's fans who watch such bloodless weak pieces of total garbage like Scream and Halloween H2o and call that horror!! This is horror. Mindless, poorly acted, edited, and basically just a lot of fun. Sorry to dwell on the past so much but Three On a Meat hook represents what will never be seen again thanks to Politically correct morons in today's film world!! Long live 3 on a Meathook!!!!

Ultra-low-budget, skid row version of Psycho lands firmly in the category of so-bad-its-good!

Why is it that every time handsome, young Billy brings a girl home that she ends up butchered?

One of a number of drive-in horror flicks that William Girdler made in the '70's, this one being fairly memorable. As with many films of its budget, the raw, natural settings add to the moody believability of the picture. James Pickett turns in a decent performance as the films main character, who seems to have some problems indeed. Charles Kissinger plays off well enough as Pickett's odd father. Girdler gives the film a gritty, but nicely moody music score.

As with many exploitation films of its day, there's plenty of gore and skin to see. After all, what would you expect from a movie with this memorable title!

All in all, Three on a Meathook is a film that's certainly not for all tastes! Fans of the B genre, especially from this era will likely enjoy this horrific and unintentional funny flick.

** 1/2 out of ****

What makes "Three on a Meathook" a balls-out real horror film? It's the fact that it looks like a home movie a serial killer would make. It looks like, after finding a 16mm camera in one of his victim's houses, some serial killer got a few of his demented buddy's together, put some ad in the paper for cheap talent, and tried to make a movie. In one of the earliest scenes where the father is berating the son you can see that, although the actors keep screwing up their lines they kept filming and left it in the final print. The grainy stock of the film, the inventive although cheap special effects, and the down-trodden feel of this picture really put you into the subconscious pocket of something brewing in a crude psychopath's mind. Scene after scene is dragged out mercilessly as the filmmakers try to fill the legal feature-length time. One scene has the son sitting in a bar watching the band AMERICAN XPRESS play through two lackluster 70's contemporary tunes. This had me wondering what ever happened to American Xpress, the band featured in some serial killer's home movie "Three on a Meathook"? I wont spoil the end for you, but I will say that you do not watch this movie with the expectation of being entertained: you watch it to experience something a blood-letter would dream.

A young man is terrified to bring anyone home because, when he does, they always turn up dead. Is it his jealous father or maybe one of his alternate personalities? Everything is tested when he finally meets the girl of his dreams and wants to bring her home to meet daddy.

Three on a Meathook is Psycho filtered through a dusty and grimy grindhouse lens. You look at the way this is shot and it's a miracle that it makes any sense at all. Not a lot of coverage, all the actors seem amateurish, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn the main farmhouse location was given to the filmmakers for free by a relative or friend. That said, this is an interesting revamp of some classic themes and ideas and I found myself glued to the screen.

I came across this movie in Psychotronic Movie Guide Vol I, and was surprised I could watch it on YouTube. I have done this for Ms. 45, went a few years back to the movie house re release and bought the Blu Ray. What I say on YouTube was unimpressive, the script really was the problem, as the story does not flow as in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I suspect this was the director first or one of his early movies and did not attend film school, and this is true for many independent directors who learned what they could from other directors and production staff including Clint Eastwood. While TCM plays like a reality movies TOaMC is more like a HS dropouts nightmare and I would not have done any better. Watch it, just to say you included it in your viewing history of B movies, but try to watch it free the first time before you invest in a copy.