Night Killer

Melanie Beck (Linda Hamilton look-a-like Tara Buckman) is the only surviving victim of a killer-rapist who wears a Freddy Kruger-esquire mask and claw. Despite having seen the killer's face, Beck has blocked it from her memory. Becoming suicidal, she tries to kill herself on the beach but is saved by Axel (Peter Hooten), another rapist sleazeball who keeps her locked in his hotel room. All this builds to a mind blowing conclusion that actually has a pretty clever and dark twist. I had higher hopes when I saw this billed as an "ELM STREET ripoff directed by Claudio Fragasso." Sadly, this is no TROLL 2 or ZOMBIE 4. The film is pretty ordinary for the genre and features the requisite gore and nudity. To its credit, it might be the only non-porn film in history to feature the "Little Red Riding Hood" inspired line, "Oh, grandma, what a big schlong you have!" The real surprise here for me is that this was filmed about 45 minutes from me in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, VA in 1989. Sadly, I wasn't living here at the time, but it is comforting to know that Fragasso and I have walked the same streets.

Claudio Fragasso's "Night Killer" features masked Freddy Krueger-inspired serial killer who murders women with a glove with finger blades.Melanie Beck is the only surviving victim of this homicidal maniac,but she suffers from amnesia and is suicidal.She tries to kill herself on the beach but is saved by mysterious man named Alex who may be Night Killer."Night Killer" is obviously inspired by Italian gialli and American slasher movies like "Halloween" or "Nightmare on Elm Street" series.There is gore and nudity plus some jaw-droppingly absurd plot twists that almost made my head spin.I enjoyed "Night Killer" even more than infamous Claudio Fragasso's "Troll 2".6 deadly gloves out of 10.

I think that's all the information you need. Must be seen to be believed.

Alright, the monumentally bad acting from everyone involved in this project is only the icing on the cake. The much-ballyhooed "added gore" is essentially one effect. This killer definitely has a favorite method. All the added footage by another director is poorly shot, so it sticks out like a sore thumb. Director "Clyde Anderson" (Claudio Fragasso) is big on the uncomfortably close close-ups in this, and the scenes go on forever! The soundtrack is off the rails. Wacky twist. If you're a fan of bad cinema, Night Killer is a goldmine.

Extras: Make sure to check out the interviews on the Severin edition, particularly the one with the director. He is a real freaking windbag, but also fairly insightful! He is incessantly name-dropping great directors when describing his own work, and actually refers to himself as an "underappreciated auteur." Make what you will of that. Interesting to learn that the movie husband and wife did not like each other. It really comes through in some scenes, where I'm assuming it's not supposed to.

Night Killer was released as a sequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Italy for some bizarre reason and it makes no sense, because with its burnt faced killer with razor fingers, it'd make much more sense as a sequel to Nightmare on Elm Street. That's besides the point, because as many similarities as Night Killer has with other films, it's really its own beast.

It involves a woman who is attacked and raped by a serial killer and she loses her memory completely and ends up getting abducted by a random guy who may or may not be the killer who's still murdering women around the city.

Night Killer is poorly made from top to bottom with awful performances, unconvincing gore effects, and a script that seems to have been made up on the spot, but it's oddly compelling in its own bad movie way.

... because as cinema with a coherent plot and convincing acting it fails completely. Let me also say that Chris Stuckmann's video review of this is what caused me to watch it ,and I can't unhear what he said, so I may repeat points that he made.

This thing had to initially be a porno film that the backers/makers decided would make more money as a horror film in the tradition of Cannon Films. There were scenes added by the backers to give the film more gore, although overall, in the gore department, it is nothing severe.

This film is about a homicidal maniac who dons a Freddy Krueger like mask and just one claw on one hand - in the tradition of Michael Jackson??? - and goes about killing random women by...punching a hole through them? Help me out here medical students, but wouldn't things like muscle and internal organs and a spinal cord make that rough going for a flimsy plastic claw? Plus the "Night Killer" is definitely a day killer. Not once did I see him strike at night. But then those kind of scenes cost money.

So the film opens on some kind of dance routine rehearsal for a show that is being overseen by a woman who initially has perfect diction but then in just one scene transitions to having some kind of speech impediment that makes her incomprehensible. So the Night Killer does some killing in and around the rehearsal involving characters we know nothing about and then the film just leaves that behind to never return there again.

The film then moves on to Melanie Beck, a mid 30s author (??? her frantic bra-less typing is never explained) who ends up being Night Killer's next victim. Except she lives. But the trauma causes her to forget everything about what happened including what the attacker looked like and the details of her own life including her name and the fact that she has a daughter. If you want to know what happens, then watch and find out.

This thing is just a treasure trove of bad inexplicable filmmaking, from the decision to score a man walking a child to school with 80s hardcore porn music, to scoring the suspense scenes with soft core porn music, to Melanie Beck deciding to get into a conversation and argument with an obscene phone caller, to the Night Killer, when he is shown from the back in street clothes, having the wrong build and hair color to be the person who turns out to be the actual culprit. Oh, and then there is Melanie's daughter who is the world's tallest pre-pubescent child who is constantly being referred to as "just a baby".

If you are looking for quality horror, don't watch this. But if you are just in the mood to say "What the...???" then you are in the right place.