Budget Movie Review: Driller Killer

Driller Killer is a budget slasher-flick that came out in 1979. It's about an artist who is pressured by everything in his life, he goes insane, and kills people with a drill. Sounds Cheesy to you? Well, it is... But it's not without it's merits.

Let's talk about some of the good parts first. The Main-character, Reno, is a pretty awesome guy, and is pretty likable in a "hey, that guy is a douchebag, he's the most awesome douchebag ever" kinda way. Throughout the course of the movie, we find out how Reno hates bums, loud music, and annoying women. In the movie, he eventually kills them all, using a drill. It's an interesting concept at first, but it does get pretty old. The music in the movie is pretty decent and better than most low-budget films, we get some cool music from the band

Now, I'm not sure if it was the movie itself, or the quality of the DVD, but the entire movie seems very dark. Not in tone, but in terms of actual light. Most of the scenes in the movie take place at night, so this is a problem. Not only that, but the story is way too intricate for this type of movie, and it's handled really sloppily, and it's hard to follow what's going on. There's something going on with a band called the Roosters (Which I'm not sure if they're a real band or not) who just moved into Reno's apartment, an art salesman who likes Reno's past works but not his new stuff, and a bunch of bums doing bum stuff out on the street. The characters aren't even introduced by name, I only realized the main character's name was Reno at the end when he's about to kill one of his final victims, and he's begging for his life.

Another thing the movie has a problem with is originality. If you're going to see a slasher-flick, you want to see some original kills. the gore was okay, there's a lot of fake blood spewed about, and for a movie from 1979, it all looks pretty good. However, a lot of the kills involve him just drilling somebody in some part of their body, nothing special. I will give it a bit of credit, however, some of the kills were pretty interesting, especially when he drilled some guy's hand into a wall, and released the drill bit, essentially nailing him there. There's a few more parts where he did that, but that's about as far as originality goes.

The biggest problem the movie has, though, is it's pacing. Most of the movie is spent focusing on how this guy is slowly going insane. The first kill doesn't happen until 30 minutes into the movie! That's pretty surprising for a slasher-flick. The worst part is, the second kill doesn't happen until almost an HOUR into the movie. The last half-hour of the movie is where most of the killing takes place, but it's such a long journey to get there. The parts where he's not killing people range from how annoyed he is at the band downstairs, to how his wife is driving him insane, to how he has to keep working on his latest painting. There's a few parts that are funny, but it's mostly a bunch of dramatic bullshit by actors who aren't suited to play dramatic roles.

Overall, the movie has many glaring flaws and only a few redeeming values, but somehow I kind of liked it. Sure it's slow-paced, the story is a mess, and it only has a few original kills. But there's moments where it's super-cheesy and unintentionally funny, and I get a real kick out of those parts. However, that still doesn't excuse it from being a poorly made movie. If you like slasher flicks and have a high-tolerance for cheesy acting and stories, then check it out. Otherwise, stay away from this one.

I give Driller Killer a 3 out of 5.

Budget Movie Review: Little Mad Guy

Hey everybody, this is a first of many reviews that I'll be doing. The purpose of these reviews is to take a look at a budget movie, something that you might find on one of those $1 dvds, and let you guys know if it's any good or not. Most of these will probobly be old martial arts movies, or crappy old slasher flicks, and most will probobly fall under the one or two star range, but I might be surprised by one of them someday. Without any further adieu, let's get into our first review:

Little Mad Guy is a martial arts movie about a young man who's pretty immature, and he practices frog style kung fu, he meets up with his uncle, master Ma, who practices snake style kung fu, and he tries to steal his horse. Later on, another snake style user disguises himself as master Ma, and at this point, we find out Ma is a lawman. The person disguised as Ma has an innocent man get arrested, and it's up to little mad guy to save the day with his frog style kung fu.

Honestly, the story is just so bad, and it's just thrown on top of all of the martial arts, so you'd think that the martial arts in it would have to be good, right? Well, most of the scenes don't... In fact, some scenes used sped-up footage in order to make it look like the fighters are moving faster. This isn't done well, and it comes off looking really cheesy.

The movie also tries to be more than just your average martial arts movie too, by incorporating some comedy elements into it. However, the movie is only funny for about the first 10 or 15 minutes, and then it just gets way too serious. Seriousness would be fine for most martial arts movies, but as I said before, the martial arts in most scenes are just so horrible, that it's hard to take anything seriously, so the movie ends up becoming boring and hard to watch. I will say, however, that the final scene does kick it up a notch, and has a nicely choreographed fight scene. I just wish they put more time and effort into the rest of the fight scenes, instead of trying to be funny.

I watched the English Dub, and I must say, all of the voices are really badly done... this is typical of most martial arts movies, and it comes as no surprise, but it doesn't make the movie any better, either. The best voice actor would probobly be the guy who plays master Ma, and that's not saying much.

Overall, Little Mad Guy has a good ending scene, and a few parts in the beginning that are actually funny. The entire middle section of the movie just drags on and on, and is really hard to watch! I can't recommend this movie to watch in whole to anybody, but if you want to turn on the final scene, or watch the beginning, go right ahead. just don't pay more than $1 buck for it.

I give Little Mad Guy 2 out of 5 stars.