Murderlust

My review was written in June 1987 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.

"Murder Lust", a B-feature originally titled "Mass Murderer" during production two years ago, takes a rather interesting premise (i.e., treating a deranged serial kill sympathetically) and wastes it via poor production values and execrable acting. Filmmaker Donald Jonesco-directed (with Mikel Angel) the more successful black comedy version of this theme, "The Love Butcher", a decade ago.

Eli Rich, a stone-faced thesp, portrays Steve Belmont, a seemingly okay guy who works as a security guard and does Sunday School volunteer work as a teacher. Twist is he covers up his impotence with women by picking up prostitutes, strangling them and throwing the bodies down a ravine out in the desert.

Besides his psychosis, Steve is burdened with numerous other problems: falling behind in his rent, losing his job when he's nasty to a woman, harassed by his mean cousin (Dennis Gannon) who hires him as a janitor in his store, etc. He's also trying to get away with faking his nonexistent college degrees to land a cushy job running an adolescent crisis unit at the Sunday school, which his girlfriend (Rochelle Taylor) rightly figures could be a focal point for the serial killer to seek out victims.

He's pushed over the edge when she gets the crisis unit's funding delayed until the killer is apprehended, putting Steve into a Catch-22 situation since he's the killer.

Painting such a monster as an outwardly kindly, community service-oriented chap is an effective story ploy, most tellingly esayed by Richard Attenborough in "10 Rillington Place". Here topline Rich is woefully inadequate, reading most of his lines as if reciting the phone book. Supporting cast, including several of the crew members in dual assignments, is nondescript. Tech credits are threadbare, not helped by a shrill synthesized musical score by writer-producer James Lane.

On Sundays, Steve Belmont (Eli Rich) works at his local church as a teacher for the Department of Christian Education; the rest of the week he earns a meagre crust as a security guard, and spends his spare time picking up and killing women (mostly hookers), disposing of their bodies in the Mojave Desert.

Murderlust is a low budget mid-'80s serial killer flick that isn't grimy, gory or sleazy enough to get under the skin in the way that a classic like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer does. Eli Rich is fairly effective as the killer, effortlessly switching from concerned, upstanding citizen to worthless scumbag, and his relationship with unsuspecting blonde Cheryl (Rochelle Taylor) is nicely developed, but the pace severely drags in places, with the frequent appearance of his nosy cousin Neil (Dennis Gannon) being particularly dull.

The most exploitative scene comes when Steve forces one of his young victims, a rather plain looking schoolgirl, to fellate him at gunpoint; the act is suggested rather than shown, but it still proves to be the film's most memorable moment for at least attempting to push the envelope.

This dull and practically bloodless "thriller" tries hard to draw a smart and ambitious portrait of an atypical serial killer, but fails - and painfully - on every level. The main reason why "Murderlust" is unable to convince (or convince me, at least) is because the contrast between the two personas of the murderer/protagonist is too enormous and far too implausible. The guy, Steve Belmont, supposedly is a conservative Sunday school teacher and a respected member of a small catholic community during the weekend. But from Monday to Friday he lives - in that same small catholic community - in a flat that looks like a sleazy motel room, gets fired from simple security guard jobs and cruises around in a B.A. Baracus van to pick up prostitutes and wayward teen girls, so that he can strangle and dump them in the Mojave desert. Seriously, who believes that?

Other reviewers referred to "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" already. Why is that movie so effective and considered to be a cult/horror classic? Simple, because Michael Rooker - as Henry - is genuinely petrifying. Steve is never menacing, not even when he puts a gun against an innocent girl's head and forces her to cure his impotence. If this isn't bad enough already, "Murderlust" is also boring, monotonous, slow, and most of the amateur cast members can't even properly articulate.

I liked to watch the film that is portraying the behavior of the main character Belmont from a point onward when he already had become a serial killer and depicting his struggle between his lust for murder, working life and a love that had confessed her feelings for him ways too late to halt his unstoppable demise and the murders of women he commits. A well done acting , a very good cast, good pace, fairly good camera but gradually too low otherwise good music tells more about the odd mind of a killer and skips all odd police proceedings and crime investigation which is actually refreshing in 2020 overload of crime series. Also with the Australian Clermont killer being convicted for similar acts that movie has some actuality otherwise.

Here I am the first to review this film here, I guess it's just that difficult to find. but I'm honored to be the first, although maybe only five people may read this within the next 5 years. Well I heard of the film from a book, sounded like a slasher film, so I thought i'd buy it. I finally tracked the darn film down.

I put on the film, expecting some blood, a couple of slashings, but got none of that. Just got a film about a depressed guy out to kill a couple of prostitutes. Nothing bloody there. But the most surprising moment is when i saw Bonny Schnieder in the film, me being from long island, i watch channel 12 News. Bonny Schneider is one of the weatherwoman on the channel. I was shocked to see her play a prostitute in this film. I'm guessing she was helping out a friend while in college who was studing film, or maybe she tried the acting, even though this was her only film. Oh well, I found that quiet interesting.

I always find it interesting to find a film that is so rare and no longer watched by anyone. When i find films such as these, I see them as a time capsule, caputuring the beauty of the slasher rise in the 80's. Although this movie wasnt anything special, we should all dig them all up and start worshipping them, they deserve it:)