The Sex Killer

Some vintage smut peddling from prolific T&A king Barry Mahon. One of many, assembly line productions Mahon made around Times Square in the 1960s. The Sex Killer arguably paved the way for much NYC sleaze to come, be it Headless Eyes, Forced Entry, Sex Wish or Maniac, with this tale of Tony (Bob Meyer) a maladjusted loner who works in a mannequin factory and soon graduates from peeking at girls through binoculars to becoming smitten with a mannequin's head to strangulation and (offscreen) necrophilia. "He balls her after she'd dead...at least she's still warm" quips one of Tony's callous workmates. Mahon's notourous indifference towards filmmaking is all present and correct, so what if dem broads can't act...if the camera jitters wildly during the scene set on a NYC subway train or whether machinery drowns out dialogue at the mannequin factory ...as long as there was film in the camera Mahon didn't seem to care less. If you wanted to get all chin strokery about The Sex Killer, it could be argued that setting the film at a mannequin factory- with Tony's chauvinistic workmates lumbering around the factory floor all day with female torsos -was some kind of commentary on the commercialisation of women's bodies...then again maybe it was just cheap for Mahon to film in there. Mahon was at least savvy enough to realise that the real star of his film was Dirty o'l New York itself, and The Sex Killer doubles as a travelogue of the mean streets that Mahon knew well...on rare occasions he even manages to film them in focus too.

Mention the name "Barry Mahon" to film buffs and most of the time you will get a blank stare. Students of the Adults Only subgenre might bring up THE BEAST THAT KILLED WOMEN and hopefully soon people will be discussing THE DEAD ONE, a serious terror thriller that has just been rediscovered. Barry is also responsible for this film, a moody black and white drama that had a lot of potential which went unrealised. The plot (oh yes there's a plot) centers on Tony, a quiet guy who works in a warehouse that makes mannequins for department stores. Tony appears to be a shy fellow who seldom says three complete sentences in a whole day and lives a Spartan existence in his barely furnished apartment. One day Tony asks his boss if he can take a mannequin home. When he is turned down Tony "borrows" a head and actually takes it on a date! He takes it to a bar and talks to it while the bartender looks on and shakes his head. (The bar, like all other locations in this film, is a real one and that was probably the real bartender playing himself. The look on his face is meant to apply to Tony, the character in the film but you can imagine he was watching the scene being filmed and thought "The things some guys will do for a job.") Tiring of his bodiless date Tony buys some binoculars and sneaks into a high rise apartment to spy on women sunbathing topless on the roofs of the walkup apartments nearby. This is an interesting look at how much easier life was when this was filmed. The apartment we see has no doorman and it is relatively easy for Tony to sneak in a side door and go up to the roof. In fact he does it several times in the movie and is never stopped even once! This is where Mr. Mahon separates us from reality a little too well. Reel-istically all of the women Tony spies on are attractive but notice how the camera angle changes frequently as he spies on them. We are supposed to see what Tony is seeing through his binoculars, so how can the angle of his vision keep changing? Just keep saying "It's only a movie." Even spying is not enough after a while and Tony starts stalking the women he spies on and strangles them to death. Of course since he never bothers to cover his tracks it is only a matter of time (and not much time either, this movie runs less than one hour) before Tony comes to the end of the road. You can see that for yourself though; I won't spoil the end for you. I wondered how this movie would have looked had it been done without dialogue (qv., DEMENTIA (a/k/a DAUGHTER OF HORROR)). The dialogue really adds nothing to the plot except something to laugh at; it is the visuals that hold our interest. Not a classic, but not wholly unwatchable either. The nudity and violence blend into the plot well and even the abrupt ending does not seem to be contrived. Nicely done, but not the sort of movie you can watch over and over.

The Sex Killer is a movie so daring and so shocking it dares to make it look like all the women in New York sunbathe topless in heels on top of the buildings. A peeping tom loner who listens to Mr. Happy searches the skyline for love and ekes out a living in a mannequin factory. Ah yes, this boys got issues. From slovenly caressing couches to romantic rendezvous' with bodiless plastic heads. The boy needs some loving and will stop at nothing to get it. The film is mercifully short and the occasional strangulation and bits of flesh keeps the film on track as our boy continually looks for love in all the wrong places. A laughable presentation that is mostly a harmless time passing oddity, you can't fault them they tried.

From the sick sixties comes this little film, concerning Tony, a frustrated loner who works in a mannequin factory and uses binoculars to spy on topless sunbathing women. To stave off his loneliness, Tony steals a mannequin head from a beauty salon and takes it to a bar. From there it's on to killing women and having sex(off screen)with their corpses. In between the various murders we're treated to various women lounging around topless and changing clothes, along with lingering, fetishistic shots of rows of naked mannequins in the factory. Of interest to students of grindhouse cinema and people who like their nudies gritty and grim.

Poor Tony (Bob Meyer). A lowly employee in a mannequin factory, he's shy, lonely, and awkward. His co-workers are able to gab about their sexual escapades, but not him. Completely inept around women, Tony resorts to a pretty drastic move. Then something is set off inside him, and he begins to strangle the voluptuous young beauties of Times Square.

This is one of the lesser movies to be found on Something Weird multi-movie sets, to be sure. Undemanding devotees of the sexploitation genre may find some appeal in ogling bare breasts for the better part of one hour, and not care whether there's an actual story or not. The girl watching can only do so much for a tale with no real style, a limited amount of depravity, and characters who are all ciphers.

The truth is that not very much ever happens in "The Sex Killer". Even though this thing runs a mere 56 minutes, there's notable padding, as we see Tony and others go through the motions at work, and as Tony spends ample time leering at topless rooftop sunbathers through his newly purchased binoculars.

"The Sex Killer" doesn't really have anything to distinguish it other than the spectacle of seeing Tony take a mannequin head on a DATE. The acting is actually fairly decent, especially from Meyer, and the persistent rock soundtrack is pretty groovy.

While this viewer commends those folks at Something Weird for unearthing as many trashy obscurities like this as possible, not all of them can be winners.

Five out of 10.