...E la notte si tinse di sangue

Evident by the lurid, nonsensical title that was most likely slapped on the final print by seedy exhibitors and greedy theater owners, Naked Massacre aims for the profound but falls victim to the basest genre trappings. The film advertises itself as being based on the infamous Richard Speck case. Speck was an American mass murderer in the sixties who killed six female nurses during a home invasion. The film is merely inspired by the story, changing the locale from Chicago to Ireland. The switch works, giving the horror film an interesting backdrop, a war torn country besieged by the IRA, and setting it apart from similar themed movies like Last House on the Left and Last House on the Beach. The main character of the film, not named Richard Speck though he shares certain similarities, is a Vietnam vet trying to return to the United States. Surprisingly for a movie of this ilk, the film spends more time with the killer than with his victims. The nurses are non-entities drawn in broad strokes. The most recognizable actress, Carole Laure, is known for starring in Sweet Movie, a Yugoslavian film much more successful in blending socio-political statements with explicit sex and violence. Once the killing starts the movie devolves into a nasty grindhouse film. Scenes where our main character terrorizes a pregnant victim or forces one woman to perform oral sex on another crosses the line of good taste and belittles the measured film that came before it. Still, the movie is worth a look and recommended because of its unique place among horror films. Though flawed, Naked Massacre deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

"Naked Massacre" is pretty strong stuff; a disturbing thriller definitely NOT for squeamish or faint-hearted people! It's not that gory or exaggeratedly sleazy, like the two key words of the title lead you to believe, but it's truly intense and filmed in such a sober way that you'll feel VERY uncomfortable. The story is something like Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", only in this case it's Eight Pretty Nurses. Actually, that's not funny since this movie is inspired by the murders committed by real-life madman Richard Speck in 1966; Chicago. The setting of this notorious case has been moved, very ingeniously I may add, to Ireland in the mid-70's, when there was the post-Vietnam depression as well as the Irish civil war and bombings. On his way home from Vietnam, a young American soldier ends up in Belfast with no money or acquaintances. He's traumatized, has a very nihilistic world perspective and a petrifying hatred for women. It doesn't take long before he breaks into a mansion and starts terrorizing the eight young nurses that live there. "Naked Massacre" is obviously cheap and poorly edited, yet the atmosphere is constantly grim and the murders are genuinely shocking. The girls are physically abused, emotionally tortured and eventually stabbed to death with a BIG knife. There are no morals, comic reliefs or happy endings here, so only people with an iron stomach will be able to sit through this movie without suffering from nightmares afterwards. The acting performances are pretty decent, despite some of the dialogs being extremely inept and cheesy. Highly recommended in case you're searching for a horror/thriller that will really get under your skin.

Even though the Richard Speck student-nurse murders took place in America, most of the movies inspired by the incident strangely enough were foreign. These include the disturbing Japanese film "Violated Angels", the relatively shocking ending to the ho-hum Italian giallo/sex romp "Slaughter Hotel", and perhaps to some extent even the Canadian proto-slasher flick "Black Christmas". This movie, however, is probably the closest in circumstances to the actual incident. Not that it doesn't make some unusual choices, especially for what is basically an exploitation film. It's set in Belfast, North Ireland, for instance, during the height of "the troubles" when bombs were exploding and Catholics, Protestants, IRA terrorists and British troops were fighting in the streets. Also, the murderer (played by Mathieu Carrare)is an American Vietnam vet where the real Speck was merely a merchant marine. The movie doesn't do much with this though as the Speck character seems far more motivated by his wife's infidelities than any trauma he suffered in Vietnam, and any on-location realism that is achieved is ruined by the bad dubbing (the Irish and English nurses and American killer all speak in the same stilted continental accents of the usual gang of Euro-idiots that dubbed these things).

The movie was distributed mostly under the more lurid title "Naked Massace", and after a strangely large amount of character development of both the nurses and the killer, it lives up to that title when they finally meet and he ties them up and starts bumping them off one by one. The real-life Speck only raped one of the nurses (although far more graphically than what is shown here), but the guy here sexually abuses nearly all of them (one of whom, perhaps in a nod to Sharon Tate, is even pregnant). The most lurid scene is when he forces two closeted lesbians to have sex with each other. Although, it's hard to do such a scene sensitively, this scene is handled even less sensitively than the similar scene in the much more infamous "Last House on the Left".

The director, Denis Heroux, interesting enough, is French Canadian and got his start in superior "maple syrup porn" films like "Valerie" and "L'Initiation" but had his career ended when he was made the scapegoat for the failure of hack British producer Milton Subotsky's idiotic horror movie "The Uncanny". This film, made in the middle of his short career, shows an interesting but obviously declining talent. The cast includes Carol Laure and pretty Italian starlet Ely Galeani. I got this as part of a cheap 50 DVD horror collection. If you can find THAT, it's definitely worth watching. Otherwise, well. . .

A disturbed American war veteran -Mathieu Carrière- arrives in Belfast during the Northern Ireland conflicts , and proceeds to terrorize a household of female nursing students (Debra Berger , Christine Boisson , Myriam Boyer , Leonora Fani , Ely Galleani , Carole Laure , Eva Mattes) and executing tasteless tortures . For these nine young women, opening the door that night meant ending their live ! . Nine scaring young women. One night. Defiled. Tortured. Torn apart . A diabolic shocker that will grip you and hold you Spellbound ! . Don't ever let him enter your house ! No woman can escape him because he was Born for Hell

A grim and thrilling film about a boarding house that is invaded by a heinous visitor , it contains inexplicable disturbing occurrences , shocks, thrills , suspense , chills , hair-rising events and surprising final . Dealing with an eerie story of a stranger who arrives in Belfast and invades a house shared by eight nurses , while carries out a criminal spree and proceeding to kill them . Loosely based on the notorious Richard Speck murders , this starts off at a brief depiction of the Besfast streets , pubs and violent confrontation between IRA members and British cops , as the camera lurks suspensenful behind its actors and beside them and above them and everywhere else . The story is uneven paced , suffering from some weak incidents and of varying quality , packing nice as well as fleeble moments . The main amusement of this slasher results to be to guess the kind of murder to execute by the creepy killer , and discover the young actress to be assassinated by stabbing . A scary and disgusting flick that garnered lousy reception as critics as indifferent reception by the general public . Nowadays , it is a little better considered , in spite of its short budget and the claustrophobic environment , as the picture goes on growing more and more and developing little by little until the unexpected ending . Nice acting by the German Mathieu Carrière as the unsettling Vietnam vet returning home via Belfast resulting in fateful consequences . He's well accompanied a lot of known B-actress from Europe that starred a lot of films at the time and in all kinds of genres , such as : Debra Berger , Christine Boisson , Miriam Boyer, Leonora Fani , Ely Galleani , Carole Laure and Eva Mattes who often played for Werner Herzog .

Atmospheric cinematography , though being really necessary a perfect remastering . Shot on location in Hamburg, Germany , Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (Belfast segments) , Belfast, County Antrimc, Northern Irelandc, UK and Studio Bendestorf, Lower Saxony, Germany . This chilling and obscure terror movie was regularly directed by Denis Héroux and uncredited Géza von Radványi . This nice filmmaker Denis Héroux, was born 1940 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and died 2015 in Montreal . He was a producer/director, and Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1981 . He was awarded the O. C. -Officer of the Order of Canada- on December 19 , 1983 for his services to the film industry in Canada . He was a notorious director and producer , being especially known for The Uncanny (1977) , Atlantic City (1980) , Quest for Fire (1981) , The Bay Boy (1984) , The Park in Mine (1985) . Denis directed some films in all sorts of genres , such as : ¨Born for Hell , Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris , Strikebreaker , Y'a toujours moyen de moyenner! , J'ai mon voyage! , Quelques arpents de neige , Un enfant comme les autres.., fois... par jour , L'amour humain , L'initiation , Valérie , Pas de vacances pour les idoles and Alone or with Others¨ . Born For Hell (1976) rating : 5/10 . Mediocre , though passable terror movie.

This could have been some sort of "Taxi Driver". Could, if they just could have pulled it along with Scorcese's skills. After all, low-budgeter "Taxi Driver" had all it took to make an exploitation movie. This one has the gritty realism, the context (Visions of some overall violent world from Ireland to Vietnam, even more relevant nowadays), the disturbing elements… But does not seem to know what to do with them. We had an understanding of what Travis Bickle was up to, even if we were not in his head, we had enough to go with and sympathize (just like in real life actually), which makes even the botched attack on a political candidate an anti-anticlimax. Here, despite Mathieu Carrière's excellent acting, we have only disjointed things : he's a Vietnam vet, his wife cheated on him, he might be impotent and might have a death wish (though his actions denies it). How did it all comes together in one long, violent episode is anyone's guess. M. Carrière manages to keep the character's desperation obvious, but to what end ? It's not really a chain of events that leads him to his horrific deeds. The cheesy dialogue does not really helps, like a reference to lesbianism, fortunately without any moral tut-tutting, that leads nowhere. The whole things feels just like an experience in exploitation with some hints at social comment, or the other way around, if you feel so inclined. It's not bad, but it's one movie that could have been so much better if its various interesting elements have gelled into something coherent.