User reviews

Ulli is without a doubt the worst director is cinematic history. This mess of a movie proves that without any argument. Perhaps if he would actually try to make a real movie instead of "art house trash", he would make something watchable. The only good thing about his movies is that one can hit fast forward for at least 60% of each film and get done faster and therefore waste less time out ones daily grind. Ulli's movies are so bad, that "Plan 9 From Outerspace", the deliciously bad movie and "Attack of the Killer Tomato(e)s", would have a uncontested win in the Best Picture category at the Oscars! Ulli's movies are so bad that Uwe's films look like masterpieces.

The continual shots of the Satanic rituals got old after the first one. Each one making less and less sense. The shots of "Son of Sam" just wondering around became so nonsensical after the first two times.

Somebody please keep this man from wasting any more of our lives by making any further films!

This movie portrays the story of David Berkowitz in a dreamlike nature complete with haunting voices, star lens effects and twisting camera work going in and out of color/focus.

Save yourself some time and just watch the first 20 minutes of this train wreck of a movie. Everything else is simply a repeat, both in style and form as they go from one murder to another. There must have been 10 shots of David just staring into the NY skyline experiencing schizophrenia which all appeared to be shot on the same day. Fortunately, nothing is graphic or too bloody and the murders are implied. From wooden acting to Karo syrup blood effects, the film is amateurish.

Lastly, you would think that someone would at least run some of the text through a spell checker as the concluding text contained typos.

Stay away from this "film." I am unable to give a thorough, comprehensive review because I could not get beyond the first 22 minutes. It was really that bad. The first 22 minutes consisted of David walking around NYC gazing off into space interspersed with scenes of a bunch of people chanting at a Satanic cult. The special effects were awful and clearly low budget. The acting was amateurish. You can't fault the actors completely, because they clearly had little to work with in the way of dialogue, lighting, or quality recording equipment. If I were them, I would keep this part of their career a secret. I would not put my worst enemies through this.

David Berkowitz, son of Sam, (played in a near-catatonic state by Yogi Joshi) recounts his story to his public defender, a tale that gets extremely repetitive fairly quickly. This deathly boring film by Ulli Lommel takes an somewhat avent-garde approach to the true life crime story, but all that does it make the redundancies all the more unbearable (Berkowitz kills, scene of satanic cult, talks to public defender, wanders around looking vacant, repeat, repeat, repeat) Also this film is not even noteworthy to those that are fascinated by the case, as the facts are played with loosely by Mr. Lommel. Speaking of which, this guy has made what, 5 or 6 'based on true life' serial killer movies so far(?!?!!) One would think he'd actually learn to make one that's even competent, alas perhaps it's just out of his grasp, poor guy... But he still shouldn't churn out such awful product.

My Grade: F

Totally inaccurate. The writer didn't totally research the actual events. The writing was horrible and the acting was even worse. Bad direction and very poor production round out the worse film that I have ever seen. I don't know why this was even released, this was a total waste of film. I had trouble staying awake for this movie and I was watching it in the afternoon. Further, I think that it is an embarrassment to Lion's Gate to have anything to do with this film. To the people who are considering buying this film, Save your money! Buy Summer of Sam, it is far more entertaining. At least in Summer of Sam they have big name actors that give a far better performance.

wow! I'm actually playing the DVD right now and it is soooo freakin' awful! I don't even have to wait for it to end to write my review. It's like a sub-par student production. The writing is unbelievably bad. And the acting... well, I seriously think I saw better acting in my daughters elementary school play. If these are serious actors trying to build an acting career, I really feel bad for them, it would really have to suck to be associated with this film. If I were them, I'd make sure to leave this horrid film out of their resume. I'm not all that picky when it comes to films either. I always try to find something good about a production. But this.. I just can't find the silver lining on this film. I think this Ulli Lommel fella should maybe consider looking for another line of work.

...this movie is so horrible David Berkowitz should sue Ulli Lammel for using his story without permission. Satan himself should sue Lammel for damaging his reputation. Avoid this movie! I'm sorry I added it to my collection. Just how bad can this be? The neighbors talking dog turned in the best performance. I watched Woods of Evil AND Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters, this was worse than WOODS but not quite as insufferable as HUNTERS. I believe if Berkowitz had known this movie would be made he would do things differently. This is so horrible it couldn't even win a Razzie for BAD films. The movie had a budget of like $2k and it shows. Just please, friends won't let friends watch this movie.

My cousins decided to see this on pay per view, and we definitely wished that we could refund it. After seeing the whole movie, we felt that we could have made a better movie with nothing but a camcorder (which is probably what these people used as well). The filming style is crappy, as is the acting and the effects. The Satanic worship sequences are anything but scary and are more hilarious than anything else. The main actor should probably stay away from acting as should the rest of the actors in this film. At times, they used the same actors from an older scene in a different scene. Stay as far away from this trash if you value your time.

Terrible in every way...Elementary students could have done better making it up as they go along. Acting? None I picked this up in one of the Movie Vending machines where i thought at least they were studio movies. This proves that wrong. Guess someone got a camera with a few special effects and made a movie. This was done with really actors (Ok they're is no way these people take their selves seriously as acting as a career). No i am not watching this movie all the way through. I decided to just write this to spare someone from even putting this in there DVD player. I didn't even go into the sounds of all the mumbling people! What is up with that. Was that supposed to be scary or disturbing. It is just horrendous.

Son of Sam is another release from Ulli Lommel's Hollywood House of Horror. The film chronicles the murders committed by psycho David Berkowitz. We watch David walk around New York, listening to the voices in his head and shooting several people. He's apprehended and tells his lawyer about the cult he was involved in, the voices and a chocolate Labrador named Sam. How or why he killed, you'll have to watch and find out.

Lommel shot this on DV and used members of his acting troupe Cassandra Church, Elissa Dowling, Gunther Ziegler, Nola Roper, Christian Behm and Ulli Lommel himself as Father Duncan. An entertaining film that'll have you either laughing , shocked or fascinated. Kudos for Lommel for trying to keep the film's wardrobe and hairstyle 70's style.

This to me is just an awful depiction of a real life horrible murderer. I did not feel I was watching a story that explained what really happened, instead I felt I was watching a triple z -rated made-up story horror film - yes it's that bad.

The actors were fine to me - I do not have any beef with them. It was the story and the way it was filmed that got to me. Just to much focus on a satanic-cult that David (Son of Sam) keep envisioning and crap like that.

First of all, police are still doubting the claim of a satanic-cult involved. Even if there was one involved, how it was depicted in this film was just wrong - I felt the way it was shown was just wrong. It was like a horrible fictional cheesy triple z-rated film.

Secondly, I didn't like the 'distorted' look as we saw what David saw... (When David saw his victims it looked like some type of a cheap distorted effects).

Third, The priest at the end - looking more like a cheap rip-off of The Exorcist than a realist priest helping David.

This version of "Son of Sam" is a triple z-rated horror film instead of a film that tells us the story of what really happen. The true life story of what happened was horrible - there was no need to ham-it-up and make the real life horror into some cheap story.

I'm sorry - I hate giving bad reviews - but this film really is an awful depiction of a real life horror story.

I would give this film a 1 - but I will give it one extra point for the actors... they were not the problem with the film.

2/10

I once read a book entitled The Ultimate Evil, whose main claim was that David Berkowitz wasn't THE .44 killer but one of a revolving series of murderers sent out by a satanic offshoot of Scientology that called itself The Process! The book was very thick and detailed it's conspiracy theories told very convincingly, detailing very strange stories about this shadowy cult and it's connections to other killings including those of the Manson family! It also talked about suspicious deaths of acquaintances of Berkowitz.

I thought it was very far-fetched but then I saw an hour long A&E show where David Berkowitz himself said it was all true! The reason I'm telling you this is that the whole son of Sam affair is an exploitation goldmine that has yet to be properly mined!

Son Of Sam is better than Ulli Lommel's other serial killer video productions but that's not saying much. This is probably due to the fact that the David Berkowitz story is better suited to the cerebral stylings of our pal Ulli. However, this could have been a helluva lot better with a traditional script and a conspiracy theory angle detailing all the whacked out stories of The Church Of The Process, alleged snuff film of of one of the murders, etcetera.

For more information on why I bothered to watch this, please read my review entitled: Battered Lommel Syndrome in the comment section for Dungeon Girl.

Son of Sam (2008)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

German director Ulli Lommel is back once again with yet another true life serial killer flick. This time out we travel to New York in 1977 when David Berkowitz (Yogi Joski) would have the entire city in terror and become known as the Son of Sam. As of me writing this Lommel had done thirteen of these films and this here is the tenth one that I've seen. Lommel has also gone outside the serial killer mode in the past few years with ZOMBIE NATION and THE TOMB but no matter which film you look out it's going to be pretty bad, which is a shame since this is the same guy who delivered the cult classic THE BOOGEY MAN. This film here is actually one of Lommel's best in years and certainly ranks higher than many films in this series but there are still way too many problems for the film to work. On a technical level the movie is a step up as it appear Lommel actually took his time to film it. Previous films were full of errors but at least those aren't here. The performances are all stale to say the least but Joski isn't too bad. The low-budget nature of the film is all over the place with the lack of any real special effects and some of the silly camera shots. If you've never seen any of these serial killer films before then you're probably going to be thinking this is an extremely poor movie. If you've seen previous ones and walk into this expecting something horrid, you might surprise yourself with a bad movie but one that's a step up from the others. The real nail in the coffin comes during all the scenes dealing with the devil worshipping and possession. These scenes are just repeated throughout the movie and they become quite tiresome after a while. Had the director stayed more focuses on the killer and his attorney things might have been even better.

He kept churning out crap until he came to "Son of Sam". Let's start with the choice of Yogi Joshi to play David Berkowitz. Brilliant choice, Uli! Of course! When I think of Berkowitz, I automatically think of an Arab. In fact, every time I order a kebab, I wonder if Berkowitz is behind the counter cooking! Honestly, the only similarity I see between Joshi and Berkowitz is that they both have... eyes?

The performances in this movie... Oh my God! I've seen chunks of wood with more emotional range. The last time I saw such stellar performances was when my 4-year-old niece put on her shadow puppet show in the living room.

And speaking of the satanic ritual scenes, did anyone else feel like they were watching a failed attempt at a neighborhood Halloween party? It looks like the result of what happens when you give a group of hyperactive kids a can of cola and leave them alone with carnival costumes.

The "narrative", if you can even call it that, is a jumble of poorly stitched-together scenes, as if Lommel had decided to put all his ideas into a blender, hit the button, and say: "Done, this looks like cinema!"

The real mystery here isn't "Son of Sam", but how someone could hand Lommel a camera and say, "Yes, go ahead, make another movie." It's the kind of movie that makes you want to ask someone to rip out your eyes so you don't have to see something like that ever again.

In short, if you're looking for a way to torture yourself or maybe want a new method to keep unwanted guests out of your house, "Son of Sam" is the movie for you!

All the other reviewers are holding Ulli's other films against him. This one is easily his best in a long time and maybe the best attempt at capturing the real berkowitz on film.

If you saw Spike Lee's Summer of Sam then you know it did a pretty bad job at portraying Berkowitz and focused more on the community and the fear and hysteria that it had to deal with. This may be relevant to Spike Lee having grown up out in 1970s New York but I don't see how that was more important than David Berkowitz himself and how many people are going to relate to a film more so aimed at capturing the 70s in New York.

Ulli got it right this time and he must have done some homework as there are a few things that happen in this film(wont reveal the spoilers) that have definitely never been in a son of sam film and are directly from his life. I know its not perfect by any means but the Satanic cult backdrop and the use of the talking dog clearly showed an ambitious attempt at portraying Son of Sam correctly versus making him look like a brainless idiot (like Spike Lee's version) and if your a horror fan I don't see how you would think Lees film is better as its a bad drama. I'd like to see a studio do a film on Berkowitz and if they do they should definitely check this out for reference.

As far as a movie for entertainment value goes, it is bad. But, as a true crime buff watching this movie, I will say that it is closer to fact than any other movie that tries to depict the Son of Sam. Yes, the cult scenes go a little further than they should, but it is much closer to the reality of the situation that Berkowitz was in back in 1976 than to think that a dog barked and he killed people amazingly unabated and that was conveniently it. I've discounted Maury Terry long ago, but there is too much evidence to support the fact that the NYPD knowingly let murderers free to clean their books of this lunacy. Use Terry's book as a guideline and do your own research. If you are really interested in this case, you might wonder if your 60 year old neighbor that grew up in Yonkers just might be a killer.