Review of Murder-Set-Pieces (2004) by Joshua E — 01 Jan 2008

When it comes to defending this movie I really am going to have my task cut out, no fuck it, Murder Set Pieces cannot be defended it really is as simple as that. I have not seen many films that are this misogynistic and depraved. This is a movie that womens libbers are going to like as much as the animal rights mob loved Cannibal Holocaust and Ferox. The serial killer slasher movie has always centred itself on the hacking up of ladies and none other than Dario Argento commented that he would much rather see a beautiful woman dismembered in front of the camera than a man. This was something that countryman Lucio Fulci believed as well and his violent 1982 movie The New York Ripper was testament to this doctrine. I believe there are 30 murders in Murder Set Pieces and apart from a couple of men who basically get in the way, everyone of them is exacted in excruciating detail on the fairer sex.

Nick Palumbo may well be a name recognized from his 2000 debut Nutbag, a movie which saw a crazed serial killer stalking the streets of Las Vegas. Well the plot here is basically the same although there is no hiding the killer involved here, this is no guess the villain type Giallo but a straight ahead riot of visceral butchery which garishly drags the viewer from one nauseating set piece to the next. The special effects are some of the best and most lifelike I have seen in a movie for a long time and that is not surprising as they are done by ToeTag pictures maestro Fred Vogel who is the (ir)responsible miscreant behind August Underground and Mordem.

There are pages of hyperbole about Murder Set Pieces on the net, I have neither the time or the inclination to trawl through them and feel it would take away thoughts of my own about this movie. One thing I have noted however is that this is a movie which has really divided the critics and even hard horror gorehounds have at times expressed condemnation at the scenes of depravity that are contained within. One thing is certain this is most definitely not a film that you should approach without severe caution it is about as nasty as nasty gets.

We are quickly introduced to The Photographer (Sven Garrett) an Aryan son of a bitch who is the son of a dead whore and descended from an SS Officer. One wonders if Nick Palumbo is justifying this killers actions here and perhaps by using a German as the slasher stating that these are the actions that are beyond the atrocities that an American would perpetrate. To be fair he would have a point here as this goes way beyond the realms of John Mcnaughton's Henry Portrait Of A Serial Killer. The first scene goes straight for the kill showing a hacked up victim in a blood drenched room, looking like she has been cut up and tortured with a razor for hours but still somehow clings onto life. We are introduced to a sub plot of sorts as The Photographers girlfriend thinks the sun shines out of his arse (despite being constantly stood up) but her young sister Jade knows something is wrong and takes the role of sleuth.

One has to raise a guilty smirk as The Photographer excuses himself from a dinner date as he "has to go out and shoot some girls". I believe that Palumbo had no problems getting hold of plenty of willing participants to be hacked up from downtown Las Vegas, some of their acting talents may well be from another type of genre as many have that porn star look about them.

Littered throughout the movie are many scenes that nod toward other classic horror movies. For a start there are some flashback scenes that really remind of Dario Argento's 1982 Tenebrae There are also plenty of cameos here and there, we have Ed Harris (Croptop) popping us as a good samaritan to Jade, Gunnar Hanson (Leatherface) as a redneck nazi mechanic and best of all Tony (Candyman) Todd as a porn shop owner who gets on the wrong side of both The Photographer and Fred Vogel's would be stick up man (is there money to be made out of robbing a porn shop one has to wonder, surely you would pop along to one to leave a deposit rather than make a withdrawal)? At times and particularly in this scene there is a grim pervading sense of humour, at others it is horribly absent. The brutal sex scene with the Photographer pounding a stripper before leaving her tied up and cut up in the corner is shown with no remorse. This also gives him scope to righteously rant at her about the wrongs of the world, this is done in a biblical sense but unlike similar eulogies by Samuel Jackson (Pulp Fiction) and Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver) this dialogue sounds false and has me cringing. Another scene has our favourite sleazeball getting head from, well a head, just like the scene in Haute Tension. As both films were made around the same time I am not accusing MSP of scene stealing besides here it is done with horror films favourite rent a ghouls Necrophagia playing in the background. Images of childhood innocence are used to heighten the tension and effects. In one murder scene off camera we hear the razor slicing flesh as a lullaby theme plays to the close up image of a doll. There is no denying the film maker has a flair and a vision here that is difficult to critique, it is just the acting that lets this down at times. However how do you act out a sociopathic maniac with no conscience? Perhaps stilted and wooden is the way to go one could also look at Joe Spinell and his exemplary performance in William Lustig's 1980 Maniac a film that I feel this is likely to be compared to on many levels.

As we delve deeper into The Photographers den of torture it the nauseating depths of his vice become more noticeable. These are scenes that trip through the grim tableaux of the ugly domain of Jörg Buttgereit's Schramm 1993 and even the torture chamber portrayed in Hedeshi Hino's Flowers Of Flesh And Blood 1985.

One of the most problematic scenes is where The Photographer corners a young girl in a public toilet and guts her in full view of the voyeuristic camera.

This will most definitely be a shocking scene as well as a real taboo breaker. Certainly it is not uncommon for children being the protagonist of murder, for instance Young Michael Myers in Halloween or Mario Bava's seminal Blood Bath but it is not common to abruptly end a young innocent life in such close up detail for mere audience titillation. This is one scene that has fueled rumours about the movie being rejected by various film labs and the director and producer being arrested by the FBI. The marketing hype around this is an essay unto itself. Another disturbing image particularly to the American audience is the destruction of the Twin Towers depicted as part of the killers mania and attempt to use the imagery as metaphor for the killing spree.

The morality of using a distressed baby in one scene as the killer strikes another victim (who we discover is his wife) is also dubious in its exploitative manner and may well have calls of child abuse coming from some quarters and this is the icing on the top of many scenes that many will find completely reprehensible.

Turning into a slightly more conventional narrative it is the young Jade Risser (11 at the time of filming) who convincingly wins all acting awards with a totally believable performance at the movies climax (but I wont spoil that for you here).

Murder Set Pieces is a good and challenging bit of work. I found myself torn between two factions not knowing whether to enjoy the film or be disgusted by it but at the end of the day that is exactly what horror movies should be all about.