555

Well, I didn't know what to expect from 555. Matter of fact, I had never even heard of it until a few months ago. But, being a collector of just about all types of horror I figured I would go ahead and grab this obscure 80's slasher.

Basically the storyline has to do with a killer that kills every 5 years for 5 nights in a row. What the third 5 in the title means... nobody knows. Anyway, the killings start as the killer searches for young teenagers fooling around in obscure places. He decapitates the men and brutally knifes the woman to death. After this, he proceeds to rape the dead corpse. The police think they have a lead on the killings but really have no idea what is going on. How will they find the killer? Does anybody care?

This movie is filled with some of the worst actors I have ever seen. No wonder none of these actors went on to do anything else, literally. The three lead actors consist of two detectives and a "sexy" female reporter. I am being sarcastic when I say sexy, she is about as un-sexy as it gets. The two detectives are like watching tweedle dee and tweedle dum. One of them underacts his part and the other one may have gone to the Shatner School of Acting. The acting is so bad that it almost forces you to lose your interest in the movie, thus almost putting you to sleep.

The only thing holding this terrible movie together is a few decent gore scenes. For a movie on this budget the makers must have put all of there money into the special effects, which still aren't that great.

Unless you are like me and have to own every single horror movie out there, I would suggest steering clear of this movie. 4/10

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.

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.

555. The VHS I never tried to rent. I still blame the perfectly framed pink and blood splattered cover. This is a dangerous film. My mother would never let this flick fly.

Flash forward twenty years. Making my own ends meet, I finally had enough scratch to get a DVD copy of 555. I feel both dirty and naive. With a dash of admiration.

555 is ambitious, but limited. While my childhood recalled a dark, slaughterhouse of decapitations and vomit inducing hallucinating gore set pieces, the real 555 film was a cheaply made detective thriller.

While delivering some bloodthirsty set pieces, the movie is mostly known for its VHS cover. And while I respect the filmmakers addition to the VHS splatter film videography, some experiences are better left on the rental store wall display.

My review was written in February 1989 after watching the show on King video cassette.

Aimed squarely at the gore market, "555" is a competent video thriller made in Chicago.

Storyline, in the vein of '50s B pictures, has a serial killer operating by the lakeside who preys on couples, decapitating the man while mutilating and sexually assaulting the woman.

Mara-Lynn Bastian is the feisty reporter on the case, with various police and other officials as possible suspects. Jeffrey Lyle Segal and Maureen Kalagian's special makeup effects are interesting, and duly repeated at the end as "highlights".

Acting is a bit stiff while Lamar Bloodworth's video camera captures vivid-looking bloodletting presumably for hardcore fetishists.