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Overall Rating : 7/10
Directed By : Tim Ritter
Asbestos Felt (Creep)
Courtney Lercara (Slaughterhouse)
Raymond Carbone
Bruce Paquette
Supplied By : Camp Motion Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : November. 14, 2007
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| PLOT Meet Tom Russo. Creepy-looking and eccentric, there's something not quite right about him. Dangerous even. When Tom suddenly convinces himself that his wife Leeza is sleeping around, it pushes him over the edge into full-blown, delusional madness. All-too-real images of Leeza having sex with other men 'play' in Tom's diseased and tortured mind as he hunts down and sadistically murders each one suspected of nailing her. Knives, chainsaws and lawnmowers leave a trail of severed heads and splattered entrails in his grisly wake, and no one is safe from this psycho's killing spree. |
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| THE REVIEW 1987's KILLING SPREE by Writer/Director Tim Ritter, tells the story of Newlywed Tom Russo. Before marrying his new wife Leeza, Tom was involved in another marriage with ended as a result of his Wife cheating on him. Although things are going rough for he and Leeza financially, things are going well- that is until Tom begins to fear that history is repeating itself and suspects Leeza is cheating on him with just about everyone whom comes near her, even his best friend. Since Tom has recently taken a pay cut at work, Leeza has secretly submitted and sold some of her romantic stories to a romance magazine, stories that are fictionalized act the people Leeza comes across on a daily basis(the electrician, TV repairman, lawn care guy, etc. Although the stories are fabricated, in Tom's warped and delusional mind become a reality. Tom begins to lose his mind more and more each day until he ultimately snaps. He soon lures every man he he believes is sleeping with his wife back to the house in which he kills each, in very different ways. Back in the 80s when the world wasn't so conservative, Horror VHS rentals owned a big piece of human culture. There wasn't ever a time that you couldn't browse through the new release section and find some thing new, and something you'd probably never heard of. It was because smaller video stores were making most of their profits from Horror films and thus kept ordering them to keep them stocked. This made way for Independent filmmakers to shot and produce their own features, because they knew that there was a good chance they would sell it, more than likely making more from their films than it took to make them. Tim Ritter's 1987 16mm Horror film KILLING SPREE was such a film, which he made after his film TRUTH OR DARE? - A CRITICAL MADNESS, which was a success a year prior. On the back of the box Camp Motion Pictures states KILLING SPREE as HENRY A PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, meets PIECES, and I see the HENRY comparison as being correct. Like HENRY, KILLING SPREE shows how a somewhat weird, but "ok" person in Tom Russo snaps and then goes on to display just how wrong in the head he really is, with grisly and gory details. It depicts how Tom's satisfaction for killing basically consumes his everyday lifestyle, virtually becoming his top priority of the day. Well besides being a character study of one homicidal maniac and with all seriousness aside, KILLING SPREE also has a little black humor sprinkled about for good measure. For fans of 80's schlock and gore, it's all here from the bad jokes, to the tons of gore, and even though some of the gore gags were a little less than realistic, you really have to hand it to some of the staged kills, as some are among the most innovative I have ever seen!(especially the ceiling fan with the machete blade attached) The acting here i'd say is average....but what would you expect from this type of film? But I have to say that Asbestos Felt was perfect for the role of Tom Russo - are we sure this man isn't really insane? His actions down to his psychotic laughter were so natural, that we just naturally ourselves have to ask - was he enjoying himself a little too much? Leeza, the wife of time is portrayed by Courtney Lercara. I remember seeing Courtney is SLAUGHTERHOUSE(which is one of my favorite low budget films of all time, despite what anyone says about it), and apparently she was cast for her experience in that. Although Leeza's doings play a big part in the film, and an even bigger part of Tom's motivation to kill, I didn't see Leeza as the most influential character, in fact, saw Mrs. Palmer, the nosy old lady next door as a key player as she at one point is Tom's only real threat. KILLING SPREE isn't a great film and wasn't supposed to be - but what it is, is an off-beat Horror story with just the right amount of seriousness and comedy mixed in with an abundant helping of gore to make it a fun time! | ||||
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| GORE
METER 6/10 Although not all of it was really realistic it was still pretty gory and even at times a bit clever. A decapitation, a ceiling fan scalping, a chainsaw attack resulting in intestines being spilled, a lawnmower mutilation and a hammer through one's face - it's all here... |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5.5/10 For the score there are the standard 80's synthesizer tracks, to be honest it fits the film pretty well |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM KILLING SPREE is a film that is for the most part like HENRY : A PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER and has gore scenes that would fit the trend of most slashers of the 80s, and an ending reminiscent of MANIAC.(in which the killer's victims- in some form, come back from the dead to attack who killed them) To tell the truth, KILLING SPREE won't be for everyone, but I really enjoyed this comical, over the top, but surprisingly deep insanity story. |
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