Night Killer (Severin Films Blu-Ray Review)

Is Night Killer Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Severin / June 25, 2019

Somewhere between ZOMBIE 4 and TROLL 2, writer/director Claudio Fragasso – here under the name ‘Clyde Anderson’ – set out to direct a suspense thriller about a suicidal beauty, an unstable sleazebag and a masked killer with a razor-fingered glove. But when the producers received Fragasso’s cut, they hired his former partner Bruno Mattei (THE OTHER HELL, ROBOWAR) to shoot additional scenes of graphic gore and released it in Italy as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 3. The result is part sicko giallo, part depraved slasher and 100% batshit insanity that Euro Fever calls “disturbing, nasty and more inspired than most Italian horror of the early ‘90s.” Peter Hooten (INGLORIOUS BASTARDS) and Tara Buckman (SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT) star in this glorious slice of ItaloSleaze co-written by Rossella Drudi (SHOCKING DARK), now scanned in 4k from the original negative.

Jamie’s Take (2 / 5)

“Hey bud, what happened to your clothes?”

“I got molested! In the little boys room!”

While some of you may think that this bit of dialog is sick, disturbing, or maybe sad I want you to keep in mind the person who said that he got molested is a man in his late 30’s wearing bright blue speedos, running out the door and into the street. This is just a taste of what Night Killer is like. You know those “so bad it’s good” type movies? Night Killer is one of those movies. Some of you will despise it. Some of you will relish in this rubbish.

Claudio Fragasso, the man who brought the world Zombie 4: After Death and Troll 2, set out to make a more “serious” film; a thriller as opposed to a blood and guts slasher or monster film. Poor Claudio. With studio interference and his inability to make a decent film, Fragasso’s attempt to make a suspense thriller is bad on all accounts.

The film stars Tara Buckman (Silent Night, Deadly Night) as Melanie; a woman’s whose marriage is on the rocks. We first see Melanie say goodbye to her pre-teen daughter whose off to school where Melanie pulls out her huge milkers and plays with them while she talks to herself in the mirror. Makes sense. Most mothers do this…right?

Shortly, after an irate phone call from her drunken husband Melanie is attacked by a man wearing a Freddy Krueger type rubber mask with a plastic claw hand that is somehow sharp. As this assailant threatens her with all sorts of vulgarities, Melanie falls unconscious as we find out later that she was raped by this masked creep. Now, with full on amnesia, Melanie has no memory of that attack and has no memory of anyone else for that matter. I can only hope that Buckman has no memory of being in Night Killer either.

This is where the film gets even more strange as Melanie is stalked and kidnapped by this creep Axel (Peter Hooten from Orca) who wants to just rape and torture this poor woman but yet, saves her from trying to commit suicide and seems to protect her at various moments. There is something strange going on with Axel; is he friend or foe? Meanwhile the police as well as a family friend Sherman who also was attacked by the masked assailant are trying to find Melanie and bring her back home.

The interesting thing about Night Killer is that Bruno Mattei (Robowar which Fragasso also co-wrote) was brought in by the producers to add more horror / gore to the film so there are scenes of this masked killer attacking other women who have absolutely nothing to do with the storyline. These sequences come out of nowhere and while they offer some action, the gore / violence is so ridiculous it goes from laughable to annoying real quick. One woman has her neck sliced open but continues to run about holding her neck with no blood on her at all. These added sequences even use the same exact shot of this claw going threw the person’s stomach and out her back which completely defies all logic since this killer is not a supernatural monster at all. These added sequences suck and just pad out the movie which ultimately fails in providing any sort of horror or suspense.

The scenes with Melanie and Axel can be hilarious as Melanie screams non stop and continues to show off her motherly cans. Meanwhile Peter Hooten’s acting is so over the top as Axel that he chews the scenery in every single scene he’s in, sweating more than Joe Spinell from Maniac. It is very impressive to make a movie that is both hilariously bad and yet tedious and boring at the same time.

Night Killer must be watched with others, it’s impossible to enjoy alone. I watched it twice as I thought maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I watched it the first time but no, it still got on my nerves despite busting a gut at some of the dialog and performances. Perhaps if I saw this with fellow Trashmen Craig, Jimbo, Travis or Tyler it would have been a different experience.

It is nice to see Severin release this often forgotten and hard to find movie since it was never officially released in the U.S. until now. The footage that Mattei shot and what Fragasso shot is distracting as the Mattei sequences look much nicer and have a different style to them with lots of long shots. The Fragasso footage is much grainier and colors seem to be a bit more washed out. The audio is fine and one can hear the movie with the English track and Italian track but keep in mind the film uses both Italian and American actors so no matter what track you choose to listen to, someone’s voice will be dubbed. The blu ray does offer two sets of interviews with the husband / wife writing team but aside from the trailer, that’s it. Pretty sparse for Severin.

Night Killer (which by the way no one gets killed at night) shockingly was released in some countries as Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 despite there being no connection to the other films (not to mention a chainsaw isn’t even sceen in the film). I must admit I did laugh and was partially entertained while watching Night Killer but most viewers will find this thriller a complete waste of time. I can see Night Killer becoming a midnight cult movie much like The Room or Dangerous Men although there is a certain type of charm found in those films where Night Killer is just pathetic.

Jamie says: One’s Trash is Another’s Treasure.