Schizophren

It was the early nineties and me and my 2 stoner flatmates loved hiring dodgy horror movie at the local video shop. From time to time i would pick up this whilst trying to choose a rental in the store, and sing the title to the tune of "The Love Boat" to my whacked mates - I'd usually get a laugh. One day i showed up at home with this under my arm. We blew a joint and watched in awe/horror/hysterics. The 3 of us all found the last scene quite disturbing. So much so that whilst the the credits rolled, one of my flatmates stood up from his chair, walk to the video player, ejected the tape, placed it under an upturned milk crate in the middle of the living room, and left.

This movie is gold.

From Mirror Releasing, the same outfit which unleashed the soul-corrupting masterpiece SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS, comes this crude little enterprise about a docile gimp yard-worker and his strapping, confident "brother", who is, in actuality, his physically transposed alter ego. It should be no big surprise that the meek, challenged persona is frequently a defenseless pigeon for heartless cruelty and degradation, and that the studly alpha-male persona emerges as his bloody avenger.

Raunchy little killer-thriller obviously culls its gist from the cinema realm of PSYCHO, HORROR HIGH, and similar titles dealing with the psychogram of Jeckyll/Hyde duplexity. It's a patently rollback production, and it shows, but that shabby quality only enhances the film's old-school sleazy goodness. THE LOVE BUTCHER is miles away from "classic" and it probably shouldn't be labeled "high priority" on your watchlist...it's a decent enough little side-order, all the same, a quickie-sickie which more-less delivers, up to its ears in glorious grindhouse lubricity. 5.5/10

Someone is killing young women with gardening tools.The police are baffled.Eric Stern,the star of "The Love Butcher" displays a dual personality which is truly fascinating.One character is Caleb,a crippled,bald and ugly gardener whom his women customers pick on.The other character is Lester,Caleb's handsome dead brother.When a woman puts down Caleb,Lester pays her a lethal visit."The Love Butcher" is perhaps the best horror film made by Donald M.Jones,the man behind watchable exploitation flick "Schoolgirls in Chains" and worthless slasher "The Forest".It certainly offers some twists and turns plus a little bit of violence.Eric Stern is quite believable in the dual role and the script is refreshing.Give it a chance.

This is a very funny ,albeit gruesome, slasher movie. While the characters seem to be taking themselves very seriously, the audience has little choice but to chuckle with every over the top scene. It's gotta be satire don't you think? I guess the only saving grace is that there don't seem to be any copies readily available. In any case, a humorously morbid little diversion.

The Love Butcher is undoubtedly a piece of trash, but it's a hell of a lot better than a lot of the trash released in the seventies and anyone who enjoys this sort of movie will definitely enjoy this one! The film takes obvious influence from the king of all psycho movies - that being Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece - and could be pigeon-holed in somewhere between the slasher and exploitation genres. Whether or not the film was intended to be humorous is unclear - but the film certainly is very funny in places and director Donald M. Jones has also managed to pack the film with plenty of gore and kill scenes, which is what anyone tuning into this film will want to see. The plot focuses on Caleb; a deformed gardener. Because of his deformity, Caleb is often pushed around by women; and unfortunately for him, most of his employers happen to be slutty examples of the fairer sex. However, Caleb is also Lester; his womanising alter-ego. Lester is a 'ladies man', but also a murderer; and after charming the woman with his good looks, he kills them.

The film is lead by an excellent dual performance from Erik Stern. Of course, the performance is a bit on the silly side; but that fits in with the nature of the film and he plays both of the wildly different sides of his character very well and the scenes between 'them' actually have quite a haunting edge to them. It's clear that the film was made on a low budget and as such it all feels very cheap. However, while it's obvious that the kill scenes etc are fake; the low budget gives the film some real charm and the filmmakers get round this restraint excellently. The plot plays out well although it does feel like ideas are lacking somewhat as the first few kills are mainly just the same thing repeated with a different woman. However, it's done well and the way that the alter-ego charms his victims works well. Aside from the central plot, we also get a police investigation running throughout and this is fairly interesting even though we know who the killer is from the outset. The way that the police discover his identity is a bit suspect; but there is a good resolution to the main plot. Overall, this is a very nice little seventies flick and comes recommended.