Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Woodyanders Caustic and sullen, yet crafty and charismatic psychopathic misanthrope Skipper Todd (superbly played with magnetic cool by Robert F. Lyons) kills a few lovely teenage lasses strictly for the sick kick of it in a sleepy small California town. Several severely alienated local youths help Skipp cover up his heinous crimes.Director Barry Shear astutely nails a strong feeling of adolescent malaise, aimlessness, and pure unadulterated nihilism. The bitter and daring script by Joel Oliansky and Dennis Murphy boldly explores the darker aspects of American culture that include fear of aging (Skipper's mom runs an old folks home), obsession with preserving youth for perpetuity (the 23-year-old Skipper refuses to get a job and avidly pursues underage girls in an attempt to stave off encroaching adulthood), misguided (anti)-hero worship, and the impossibly high and unattainable standards perpetuated by the alluring, but frustratingly evasive American dream. The sterling acting by a top-rate cast helps a whole lot, with especially stand-out contributions from Richard Thomas as naive and awkward hang-on Billy Roy, Belinda Montgomery as the saucy and enticing Roberta, Sherry Miles as the ditsy Amata, Holly Near as fawning groupie Norma, James Broderick as perceptive English teacher Sam Goodwin, Barbara Bel Geddes as Skipper's stern mother, Gloria Grahame as the worn-out Mrs. Roy, Fay Spain as the distraught Mrs. Mack, Edward Asner as imposing bigwig Fred Readon, and Michael Conrad as a hard-nosed detective. Leonard Rosenman's moody score further adds to the overall discomfiting tone. Harold E. Stine's sharp widescreen cinematography provides an excitingly vibrant look. Unsettling for sure, but definitely potent and gripping just the same.

Coventry Director Barry Shear here delivers a truly unique and mesmerizing but also sadly unknown and unloved character study about one of the US' most unfathomable serial killers. The film revolves on the mid-60's Arizonian killer Charles Schmid Jr; nicknamed The Pied Piper of Tucson. Schmid was more or less like a crossbreed between Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. Similar to Ted Bundy because he was a good looking, charismatic and eloquent local boy who didn't have the slightest problem luring naive young girls (hence the nickname) and similar to Charles Manson because of the boundary-free hippie setting and because Schmid also had a great influence on his docile friends and involved them in his murderous schemes. Maybe I'm slightly biased, because I'm a big sucker for horror/thriller movies that are based on real-life serial killer cases, but "The Todd Killings" is a genuinely astounding film from many versatile viewpoints. Although the names of the characters were changed to protect the victims (and the guilty!), the script remains very true to the facts as they occurred. It's also a brutally honest film in terms of period setting and atmosphere. "The Todd Killings" shockingly illustrates that the mid-60's weren't all about peace and free love. The clichéd American Dream image of handsome teenagers with all the required capacities to succeed in life gets totally shattered here, because they merely just think about taking LSD and having sex. Robert F. Lyons gives a stunning performance as the unhinged killer protagonist Skipper Todd. He hates and mocks elderly folks, toys around with all the local high school girls that pitiably twirl around him and spends most of his days parading around in shorts at the swimming pool. Skipper eventually falls in love with a sincere girl (the stunningly ravishing Belinda Montgomery) but can't deal with the fact that she disapproves his derailed life-style. "The Todd Killings" is very raw and depressing, with sober cinematography and downbeat set pieces. The film is extremely low budget and doesn't contain a single moment of bloody violence, but the nihilistic ambiance is nevertheless horrifying and the (admittedly gratuitous) sequences of underage nudity form unpleasant confrontations with the wayward world of the 60's. One year after this, Barry Shear directed his most famous film; the stupendous Blaxploitation themed cop-thriller "Across 110th Street". They are two completely different movies proving Shear was a very gifted but sadly underrated filmmaker.

PeteStud If you are a fan of the film look of RACE WITH THE DEVIL check out this fantastic obscurity that has sadly been forgotten also. I wont give too much away but this was based upon a true story of a young hood who influences his peers and is totally nihilistic and misanthropic. Fans of THE RIVERS EDGE should not pass up the chance to see this equally controversial and powerful film. Sure the budget limitations show but the film still evokes a gut punch. Quite sleazy and creepy this was directed by Barry Shear who also directed the fantastic ACROSS 110TH STREET. Seek out this great "bleaker" and if you enjoy it, tell all your friends.I put it in the same depressive bin as TAXI DRIVER, COMBAT SHOCK, CLOCKWORK ORANGE and GOD'S LONELY MAN...just a earlier shoestring TV movie version. I loved it.

lazarillo This is an interesting little time capsule from the early 1970's. I watched it because the video box claimed it was similar to River's Edge (1987), one of my favorite movies. It turned out to be the fictionalized story of a real-life serial killer nicknamed the "Pied Piper of Tucson" who partially inspired the famous Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" (which in turn inspired the movie Smooth Talk with Laura Dern and Treat Williams). While it is a long way from being a classic, it does capture the restlessness and malaise of the period, and like River's Edge is a pretty honest, if extreme, story of wayward youth. As other reviews have noted, the movie contains some surprising nude scenes, especially considering the female lead looks to be pretty underage. (I wouldn't be surprised if these scenes were trimmed when the movie went to video since times are a little less permissive than they used to be). The characters are pretty good, although the Skipper Todd character doesn't really seem to be too much of a genius when he dumb says things like, "But wasn't Herman Melville a fag?", and Robert Lyon doesn't really have the charisma to play a young Charlie Manson type. Still it's nice to see a movie that despite its extreme subject matter honestly portrays the period, and it wasn't all that idealized peace and love crap some aging Baby Boomers would have you believe.