Driller Killer - Abel Ferrara

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Product Code: MOVIEDVD048

Description

Director Abel Ferrara's ('Bad Lieutenant') first major feature has an infamous reputation but is actually more of an art film than a straightforward blood-letter. Tortured and penniless artist Reno and his girlfriends Carol and Pamela hang out at their New York loft, enduring such problems as the phone bill, the rent and a rock band that's always practising downstairs. When it all becomes too much, Reno grabs his drill and runs through the city on all-night rampages. Eventually, Carol moves out, Reno's paintings don't sell, and things just get worse from there. Shot on gritty 16mm, 'The Driller Killer' has a distinctly 1970s New York underground feel - a low-rent artistic quality that makes it seem like a cross between 'Taxi Driver' and 'Andy Warhol's Trash' (with drilling). Low budget and somewhat amateurish; this film nevertheless benefits from some moody lighting and Ferrara's brave insight into the psyche. Reno's mental disintegration manages to be chillingly believable and a potent statement on the place of the artist in modern society. A surprise hit on the drive-in circuit; this was re-released in 1981 to capitalise on the teenage slasher movie boom (and the success of Ferrara's second film, MS. 45).