Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In film school in the early 70s we used to revere any filmmaker who had the guts and determination
to go out and get his movie made, no matter what the odds. After seeing The Driller Killer
I think
our admiration was misplaced. There is Abel Ferrara work with merit (Ms .45, The Bad
Lieutenant, The Body Snatchers) but this early horror film is a pretty miserable excuse
for a movie.
Cult Films presents the well-known "controversial" picture in high style, with a selection of Ferrara's
short films presented on a second disc.
Synopsis:
Manhattan artist Reno Miller (Jimmy Laine, actually Abel Ferrara) creates interesting
canvasses but behaves like a total psycho, confounding his live-in girlfriend Carol (Carolyn Marz)
and her sleep-in girlfriend Pamela (Baybi Day). A rock band moves in next door and Reno can't take
the noise; between it and the pressure from his gallery connection Dalton Briggs (Harry Schultz),
Reno is starting to go over the edge. Then he sees a TV ad for a portable battery pack that would
allow him to roam the streets with a power drill, drilling helpless homeless men to death. What's
not to like?
In his mumbled commentary, Abel Ferrara says that compared to his group of artists and actors, the
Warhol Factory was the Royal Dramatic Academy. That ain't the half of it. A Martin Scorsese wannabe,
Ferrara approaches meaningful content in the worst film-student way, while striking self-indulgent
poses. He plays the psychotic anti-hero himself.
The Driller Killer is shot on grainy stock (in 16mm) and fairly well edited. Ferrara's camerawork
is coherent and there are some halfway dynamic shots, but the main impression received is a shapeless
collection of commercial elements disguised as an art film. Hero Reno is an artistic
Travis Bickle who relates to nobody, not even his beautiful girlfriend. Being a non-communicative oaf
eliminates the need for dialogue and relationship scenes. Most of the human interaction in the picture
is limited to shouted complaints. Nobody communicates, it's all so symbolic, man. Through the aid of some
so-so "deranged" montages, Reno goes nuts and becomes a serial killer, thus making the film a marketable
horror item. There are also nude lesbian shower scenes and lots of cutting away to the Roosters, the band
next door endlessly practicing their songs, especially one with a bass line identical to the Peter
Gunn theme. 1
Reno sees an ad for a battery belt called the Porto-Pack; it is actually just the same piece of equipment, with
the same name (Portapak), used to power a 16mm docu camera. He soon responds to the surfeit of bums, homeless men and
mental cases roaming the nighttime streets by running around like a mad Energizer Bunny and drilling them
to death, five and six at a time. There are no consequences to this, even though Reno walks through the night
streets with his incriminating drill rig in plain sight. Manhattan is a hell where anything goes,
but there's really nothing made of that cliché observation.
To ensure at least some discussion, The Driller Killer ends ambiguously. (spoiler) We've seen flash
forwards to a blood-soaked Reno reeling in agony, so are we to believe that he's actually killed himself, and
that Carol is crawling into bed with his bloody corpse ("Gee, the bed is so warm") instead of the other boyfriend
who belongs there? The film isn't clear about this.
Cult Epic's two-disc limited edition of The Driller Killer will please splatter fans with its
good transfer of the grainy film. The 16:9 enhancement gives every shot the benefit of the doubt, even those
so dark it's hard to see what is on the screen. The audio is very rough and was surely recorded that way. There
are subtitles in French and Spanish, but none in English to help with the less audible sections.
The extras are contained on a second disc, even though there should have been room for them on one. Two of
Ferrara's 'early short films' are terrible-looking VHS copies of amateurish work that drips with sub-film
school expression and technical cluelessness. Since this is how many filmmakers start, that's no crime in itself -
even a couple of
Roman Polanski's school films are pretty lame.
The ones on view here show little promise until we get to Could This be Love, an interesting attempt
at a character study that shows a group of dinner party hipsters casually discriminating against two guests
who don't measure up to their standards. It's not good, but it shows a sensitivity not seen before or anywhere
in The Driller Killer.
The fourth example of Ferrara's early work is the trailer for a hardcore porn film he directed. It indeed
shows everything one expects to see in a hardcore film of the time, and without sufficient warning. Perhaps
working in that area shows Ferrara to have the street cred of a rebel auteur. Perhaps.
Abel Ferrara contributes a rambling, barely audible commentary that does him little credit. He makes jokes
about how dumb individual scenes are (the drilling-holes-in-the-door shot), as if admitting that he thinks
his work is garbage too. The way he whines about the lack of an ending is a lame put-on that many listeners
will take literally, if they're still listening.
The DVD of The Driller Killer is a commercial item licensed directly from the filmmaker, and as such
it fairly supports Ferrara's image as the genius artist dealing in rough subject matter. Cult Epics' presentation
is handsome and well-appointed but its attempt to lionize the filmmaker is futile, especially with Ferrara
vocally cutting down any such assessment. Liner notes are provided by Brad Stevens, who has written a book
called Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision. In Stevens' view, The Driller Killer
is one of Ferrara's highest achievements, and his porn feature is "surreal." Ferrara's bohemian life in New York
is presented as evidence of artistic credentials. The director eventually made a couple of interesting movies,
but The Driller Killer isn't one of them.
Interestingly, little is made of the film's "video nasty" status in England, a ban that greatly added to its
notoriety. There are plenty of shocking and transgressive horror films from the splatter period and even some
of the most unbearable (like
Last House on the Left) can claim artistic
or thematic validity. The Driller Killer is a pretender.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
The Driller Killer rates:
Movie: Fair
Video: Very Good (original photography is weak)
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: commentary, four examples of earlier Ferrara work, liner notes, uncut Porto-Pack
commercial
Packaging: two discs in Keep case
Reviewed: July 9, 2004
Footnote:
1. When he was showing midnight screenings
in the early 80s the New Beverly's Sherman Torgan screened The Driller Killer for a few weeks
on Saturday nights. The film's notoriety brought in a steady stream of young horror fans, most of whom
weren't impressed (according to Torgan). Of all the midnight shows he put on, it consistently put viewers
to sleep. Return
DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson
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