filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Mark Turner I know the fans of director Abel Ferrara are out there. They praise his work and compare him to auteurs from the past all the time. And yet to date I've seen one out of the 42 movies he's directed that I kind of enjoyed. None of the rest do anything for me, including this one.The plot line is fairly simple. Ferrara stars as well as directs here, playing an artist struggling to make it in New York City. He's been working on one project in particular, influenced by the violence and street scenes around him and he's being pushed to complete the project. As he continues working to survive and to create his art he slowly descends into madness. Taking to the streets at night he begins killing people with a power drill.So why does this film get mentioned time and time again, why the notoriety? To being with it was part of the infamous "video nasties", a term designating a list of films that at one time were prohibited from being seen in England. That label guaranteed the fact that people would seek out these movies to watch. With that in mind those movies became ones that were watched more than others and thus gained their fame.The movie has so many flaws it's hard to know where to start. The acting is sub-par for even a low budget film. The cinematography is barely passable. The effects are some of the worst with a bright orange blood used in scenes of carnage. The pacing is so slow you may find yourself dozing off from time to time while trying to watch it. The scenes of New York depict the city at its worst. This is not a place you'd want to visit. But for some they love that sleazier, filthy depiction of the city that way and bemoan the fact that it was cleaned up later on. Sorry, not my thing.In the end I found no enjoyment in watching this movie. I've seen a ton of slasher films and enjoyed many of them. I love horror movies. This one left me longing to go back and watch a good one or at least a passable one. This movie relies on its title and its legendary status to lay claim to fame but as a movie it is one of the worst. Honestly I think I enjoy watching PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE more than this one.All that being said Arrow Video has gone out of their way to provide the best copy of this movie for fans who still love it. They're presenting it in hi def with a restoration from original film elements and extras include audio commentary by Ferrara moderated by Brad Stevens (who wrote ABEL FERRARA: THE MORAL VISION) recorded specifically for this release, a new interview with Ferrara, WILLING AND ABEL: FERRARAOLGY 101 a visual essay guide to the films and career of Ferrara by author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, MULBERRY STREET a feature length documentary portrait of New York by Ferrara and the theatrical trailer.While this may not be my cup of tea it is important that movies of all kinds be kept alive and in the best condition possible. Praise to Arrow Video for making the effort to do so with films like this one.

artpf An artist slowly loses his mind as he and his two female friends scrape to pay the bills. The punk band downstairs increasingly agitates him, his art dealer is demanding that he complete his big canvas painting as promised, and he gets into fights with his girlfriends. When the dealer laughs at his canvas he snaps, and begins taking it out on the people responsible for his pain and random transients in the manner suggested by the title.This movie is simply horrible. I know it has a cult following and I know it used to play at midnight shows to packed houses.It's all meaningless, however because the movie sucks. It's aimless. It rambles. It's incoherent. And it really doesn't much of a plot at all. I love the Bad Leiutenant and think it's a great movie. This film really really honest to God sucks a big one.

tomgillespie2002 When looking at Abel Ferrara's entire body of work, his feature debut (aside from his dabble in porn - 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976)), The Driller Killer, has many of the same themes theme that run throughout his filmography. In a urban, decaying setting, a central character flourishes while simultaneously destroying themselves in the process, physically and/or mentally. Here, artist Reno (Ferrara himself, credited as Jimmy Laine) undergoes a psychological decline brought on by bill and rent troubles, a demanding boss, the loud punk rock band next door, and the depressing, crime-filled area that he lives. After seeing an advert for an electric drill on the television, Reno begins a killing spree, mainly targeting the homeless and drunk.Whereas the likes of King of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992), two of Ferrara's finest achievements, maintained this feeling of grime and general street filth, they were helmed by a far more experienced director, and were anchored by Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel, two of the finest American actors of their generation. The Driller Killer never manages to crawl out of its bargain-basement Taxi Driver (1977) credentials, filmed by a director seemingly more concerned with controversy than creating a serious picture. In fairness, the gore levels are relatively low and features only one scene of full-on blood- shedding - being the iconic moment depicted on the cover that caused so many Daily Mail readers to blow their top in the 1980's video nasty debacle - but it's just so bloody tedious.Ferrara cannot act, but he certainly looks the part. He's always been a strange character in the movie business, which is one of the main reasons why the bulk of his later films are so intriguing. His near- supernatural ugliness and strange mannerisms made me believe that there could be something genuinely wrong with him, that helps to add at least of bit of weight to the film. Yet his screen-time is oddly limited, and the attention frequently shifts to the No Wave punk band The Roosters, who seem to practice endlessly, spout lyrical nonsense, and behave even more bizarrely than Reno. Is this shift of focus Ferrara's way to juxtapose Reno's mental decline with the rise of the New York punk movement, intertwining them somehow? Well, no. You know a film is in trouble when repetitive music scenes primarily there as a diversion is more interesting than the central story of a man drilling into people's skulls with a power tool.The Driller Killer was single-handedly responsible for the video nasties list, so I guess we can 'thank' it for that. Although the films on the list are generally terrible, it created an interesting little story in recent cinema history, and helped save a few titles from absolute obscurity. It's certainly far from the worst nasty on the list (for me, Snuff (1976) holds that title), and is an embarrassing reminder of the nation's reaction to the scaremongering of the 80's, given the film's lack of gore and unconvincing effects. Ferrara would flourish in the 90's, so we all know what he is capable of and how much better this film could have been, but this is repulsive, amateurish film-making.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

super-leeds I'd heard all the hype for years surrounding this movie,been banned,scary,video nasty etc etc...i'd never got round to watching it till last month as i saw it for £1 in discount media store so i thought why not? taking into account it's a film from the 70's so cant have too high expectations,as old movies don't have the best acting and special affects do they? well? i was blown away by how bad this movie was???? i mean it has to go down has one of the worse movies i have ever seen in my entire life! I can appreciate it's age but come on? the acting was shocking and the dialogue was even worse? in fact most of that was drowned out by the awful music the movie had in abundance (or should i just call it a loud noise?) and whats a video nasty about it?why was it banned? a few people got a drill to head? with poor affects? i could have made better effects in that decade using a kids play set,compared to movies in that year such as ALIEN,AMITYVILLE,WHEN A STRANGER CALLS,ZOMBIE etc etc.. OK it was a low budget but so have other movies? right? Blair witch? paranormal activity? there is no excuse for the this crap,all evidence of this movie wants to be buried really deep in the nearest land-fill,to be honest when i finished watching it i took it out the DVD player and Frisbee'd it straight out my back door and i think that was way better fun :D or maybe we could post all the copy's back to the director and he can use em to shade his embarrassment. i advise people to stay away from this movie,it is pure AWFUL.