555

555 is an extremely rare, SOV (shot on video) slasher flick from the 80s that brings something a little different to the table. The plot concerns a cross-dresser serial killer who kills his victims on the 5th day, of the 5th movie, of the 5 year. Hence the title 555. Back in the 80s and even today, rarely are there slasher films that boast a cross-dresser killer. Hide and Go Shriek and Unhinged immediately come to mind. Despite it's low budget, 555 manages to deliver. It has decent plot and a nice body count to boot. The gore and violence is brutal and very well-done for the budget they had. The ending was predictable but nonetheless entertaining. The only thing that really hampers the film is the poor video camera it was filmed on. The color balance seems off and a bit hazy. Nevertheless, it's a fun low budget horror flick that is underrated and almost impossible to get ahold of. If you manage to come across a copy on ebay (good luck) pick it up. It makes a nice addition to any horror completionist's collection.

Shot on video, this mystery serial killer would seem pretty typical of the '80s slasher genre, except for the cheap sets and the horrendous acting and bad writing. And I do mean seriously bad, but strangely enough that's what adds the charm to this little ditty. And, of course, its got sex and nudity and graphic bloody killings and even an attempt at a twist ending,(like anybody cares who the killer is)....

Absolutely horrid shot-on-video slasher effort which has absolutely nothing to make you want to not destroy it on sight. A true snoozer with a painful pace, weak "gore" which is pretty much girls getting blood splashed on them (from the *offscreen* kills of their boyfriends), ugly nude women, and acting so horrid it isn't even funny. Nothing can save this film from it's incredibly boring and awful status, even the decapitation pictured on the video box (even though it looks cool). There are no redeeming factors here. It's not even so bad it's good... It's that boring. Skip it or feel the pain.

Well well, I had seen a lot of reviews on this one, and a lot of promo always showing the decapitation scene. But this flick is a tough one. And I mean it by all ways. It's hard to find a copy, because it was a low budget independent release and because MPAA was on the hunt for every copy on VHS, it came out unrated but it had to be rated for the MPAA. So copies disappeared into the underground scene. All people involved in this flick never did anything else in the biz. So it made this flick unique. VHS copies almost never pop up on ebay or other sites and if they do you will pay over a 100$ to get one. But due US connections I was able to catch a release on DVD sold worldwide. Limited but it was to be a sort of official one. Now and then there are still some screenings of this splatterfest. But is it worth all the hype surrounding it? As said earlier, it is a tough one to catch but also to sit through. There are gory killings, there is necrophilia, there is nudity but there is also a lot of talking between the coppers. And to be honest, if you would like to see the movie in 5 minutes watch the ending, it's a flashback in the killer's mind. The blood flows and indeed it's a splatterfest but not the full 80 minutes, splatter galore for 10 minutes. The quality of the movie is okay, sound okay, no hiss, colors okay, black is black and not blue as in many low budgets. It's okay to watch it but you never will be frightened but it's one to watch with your friends having a beer and a pizza I guess. 555, naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah 333.

555 is one of the best SOV movies I have ever seen. It's very gory and violent and there are a couple of scenes that are almost unbearable to watch (like when the killer is rapeing a dead girl and when it gets a close up of the knife going into a young girl). The movie trys to be violent and gory and it really is. The acting isn't exactly the greatest, either. This isn't a movie for the little ones nor for the people who are weak in the stomach to unsettling things.

2 out of 4 stars.

Contains adult language, adult content, extreme violence, and sexual situations.