Meatcleaver Massacre

Hi and welcome to my review of Meatcleaver Massacre.

The story gets a 1.5 out of 2: Keith Burns and Ray Atherton produce a solid occult horror story of revenge. It's a shame the production company decided it wasn't enough and tagged on an Intro and Outro by legendary Christopher Lee. And, in all honesty, these segments were not required. What was essential was more substance; in both characters and story. For example, why did the other kids follow the "bad seed" and attack the Professor's family? What hold did the guy have over them? Also, additional scenes with the doomed household would have helped the audience better associate with them. Relating to the family would add extra shock to their gruesome demise. A lot of time is wasted on Mr Lee's segments when it should have bettered the story and film. What a waste.

The Direction and Pace receive a 2 out of 4: Evan Lee is a more than adequate director, though there are a few times when the film suffers from slow pacing. There are some well-composed shots. I especially loved the sequence where one of the killers finds himself alone in the desert. Lee shoots this segment superbly. My favourite shot is of the guy standing up. In the foreground, we have darkened dunes. When he stands up, he's noticeable in his white shirt. While in the background, you have grey and dark grey cacti in silhouette. It's the kind of shot a photographer dreams of snapping. Lee could easily have directed a movie of an hour and a half: Had the story been up to scratch.

The Acting gets a 1 out of 2: Here's a strange thing. Lee doesn't use the best actors and actresses in the right roles. There are minor parts in this film that are stronger in their portrayals than the more major ones. The mismatch is a shame as it adds an awkward feel to the film. I found myself thing a couple of times, why wasn't she playing her? Why was he in that role? Unfortunately, this brings you out of the movie.

And, my Enjoyment level hits a 1 out of 2: I absolutely hate that they used Christopher Lee to boost bums on seats. Because I chiefly sought this movie for the very reason. When I realised what was happening, I was angered and a tad deflated. These feelings doubled when I realised the story wasn't terrible. MM would have been a decent movie, in its own right, had the tome been afforded the proper attention. Along with the issues mentioned above, it made Meatcleaver Massacre a mediocre movie.

These ratings give Meatcleaver Massacre a total of 5.5 out of 10:

For all the filmmakers out there, watch this film and then discard any ideas of carrying out a similar process. It doesn't work. As for all the Horror Flick Fans, MM is a watch once and throw away film. Though, only do this after you've exhausted all your other choices.

Slash your way over to my Chiller Thriller Killer and Absolute Horror lists to see where the Meatcleaver penetrated my rankings. And, to find those better films.

Take Care & Stay Well. Get Inoculated.

I watched this under the title of Hollywood Meatcleaver Massacre but either way you'll struggle to see an actual meat cleaver. I think that possibly one killing involved one but the picture was so dark that it was hard to tell. Vipco released this garbage as The Evil Force on VHS in the UK, I'm sure glad that I didn't waste my cash on it. A bunch of vile college kids break into the home of a professor, attack his family and leave them for dead. The Prof survives, but in a coma, from which he summons a demon called Morak to avenge the despicable deeds. Interesting idea but sadly the execution is simply awful. The script, direction, picture quality, continuity and acting are all bottom of the barrel. One miscreant is out in the desert and is killed by a plant. There are a few gory sights here but the make up is very cheap and anybody hoping for a bloody massacre will be diappointed. The film is infamous for using unauthorised clips of horror legend Christopher Lee waffling on about the occult at the beginning and end. But even that is boring, and this must be the worst movie to bear his name. I like a bad movie and actively seek them out, some are so bad that they are good. This one is just simply bad. Very, very, very bad!

Meatcleaver Massacre (1977)

1/2 (out of 4)

Four students break into the home of their professor with the plan on scaring him but one of them decides to take it a bit further. The professor ends up paralyzed and unable to speak but even worse is that his family were brutally murdered. Soon the four students begin to suffer strange deaths and it turns out the professor is communication with an occult through brain waves.

Also known as Hollywood MEATCLEAVER MASSACRE, this film is best remembered for "starring" Christopher Lee. Apparently Lee provided on screen narration for another film that never materialized so the producer sold the footage to these filmmaker who added it to the beginning and end of this picture. I guess you can understand Lee being upset over this but at the same time you have to wonder why he didn't ask to re-write the dialogue but what he has to speak is quite laughable and it really reminded me of the speech Bela Lugosi had to give in GLEN OR GLENDA? If you're going into this movie for Lee then be warned that he only has two brief scenes.

The rest of the movie is pretty bad as it's clear no one had any movie experience and were just trying to make a cheap horror movie that could hopefully get into theaters and make money. I'm not sure if they succeeded in making money but there's no question that they made a very bad movie on many levels. For starters, the film was shot without much light so the majority of the scenes are extremely dark and to the point where you can't see what's happening. The screenplay really doesn't contain any logic as it's never quite clear why the students would kill the professor and what they do in the aftermath is quite dumb as well.

The film contains some pretty bad performances throughout and if you're just hoping for cheap exploitation due to the title then you'll be disappointed as well. The murder sequences are rather bland and there's certainly not enough gore here to make it worth sitting through. There's really not too many good things that can be said about this picture but I am thankful that it only ran 79-minutes.

This Faux Prequel to Patrick, Old Chief Wood'nhead and Pumpkinhead, was just as you expect and little more. It got confusing at times, but I just kept reminding myself: This is just Patrick, Old Chief Wood'nhead and Pumpkinhead and it's probably not the first of its kind. Never heard about it until this morning and at only 85 minutes, I regret little.

What kind of college curriculum involves lectures on the occult, the professor muttering Satanic incantations in the dark while projecting details from a gory 15th-century painting of the avenging demon Morak, destroyer of destroyers?

Amazingly, Professor Cantrell's rather irregular course on demonology seems to be popular with his students, apart from Mason Harrue (Larry Justin), who isn't happy about being pressured to turn in a term paper on the subject. To teach Cantrell a lesson, Mason and his gang break into the professor's home and slaughter his family, leaving the teacher in a semi-vegetative state, unable to speak.

Mason and his thrill-kill pals think they have gotten away with murder, but they shouldn't have messed with an expert in the occult: even in his debilitated condition, Cantrell is able to summon Morak and send the demon to seek retribution.

Behind this film's sensational title lies a tedious piece of amateurish trash that doesn't even have the good grace to feature a meat cleaver. The opening mean-spirited murders promise something wonderfully gritty and grimy, but the remainder of the film is simply boring, the deaths of the gang members unimaginative and frustratingly lacking in gore. The direction by Keith Burns (going by the pseudonym of Evan Lee) is lifeless, and his actors are, without exception, wooden and unconvincing. According to Wikipedia. Burns was replaced by legendary craptastic director Ed D. Wood Jr, which speaks volumes about Burns' film-making skills.

For movie masochists who decide to give this one a whirl, there are two versions available: the original cut, which goes by the title Hollywood Meatcleaver Massacre, and a shorter, re-released version with the title Meatcleaver Massacre, which features a prologue and epilogue by Christopher Lee, shot for an entirely different movie! Either way, the film sucks.

1.5/10, rounded up to 2 for the hilarious ending in which Morak, depicted as a three-eyed monster with massive fangs in the painting, turns out to be a hairy man covered in green slime.