Movies - The Driller Killer

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	Movies - The Driller Killer

The Driller Killer is a 1979 horror movie directed by and starring Abel Ferrara. It is notable for being one of the first video nasties in England, in addition to being banned in Germany.

Plot summary

The story centers around Reno Miller (Ferrara), a painter struggling to make ends meet. He shares an apartment with his girlfriend Carol (Carolyn Marz) and her friend Pamela (Baybi Day), who unbeknownst to him, are carrying on a lesbian affair. Despite being urged by Carol to finish his painting of a buffalo faster in order to pay the bills, Reno refuses, believing in the integrity of his art. The Roosters, a punk rock band, soon move into the apartment complex and begin practising loudly at all hours. Reno's inability to concentrate exacerbates his already apparent madness, until he finally snaps and begins using an electric drill to murder the homeless.

After finally being completed, Reno's painting is rejected by the head of the art gallery, Dalton Briggs (Harry Schultz). Fed up, Carol leaves him for her ex-husband, Stephen (Richard Howorth). In retaliation, Reno invites Briggs to dinner and drills him to death. Pamela returns to find the corpse, and becomes a victim herself. In his final act of revenge, Reno breaks into Stephen and Carol's house, and kills Stephen while Carol is in the shower. The movie ends with Reno hiding under the covers of the couple's bed as Carol returns from the shower, believing the figure in the bed to be her husband.

Controversy

In 1982, the UK distributors of Driller Killer, Vipco (Video Instant Picture Company), took out full page advertisements in a number of movie magazines depicting the video's violently explicit cover. This resulted in a large number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Agency.

Soon, due to the release of other graphic horror movies such as Cannibal Holocaust, a large campaign to curb violent movies, blaming them for the rate of youth crime, was underway in the UK. Ultimately, Driller Killer was banned under the Video Recordings Act of 1984. It also gained notoriety for being banned in Germany. The movie was not officially released uncut in the UK until 2002. Many cut versions of the movie still exist, which show scenes of drilling into heads and abdomens blacked-out. The uncut version of the movie does show certain parts blanked out using the colour red, most notably the final scene; however, this is intentional and done for theatrical effect.

Ironically, being labelled a video nasty did Driller Killer more good than harm, as despite its low production quality and being critically panned even by horror movie reviewers, its place on the list virtually guaranteed it a cult following.

Cultural refenrences

Swedish hardcore punk band Driller Killer took their name from the movie
US death metal band Mortician have made a song about the movie featuring a sample, called "Driller Killer"

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Driller Killer ]

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