Review of The Driller Killer (1979) by Squalid J — 15 Oct 2009

This film has languished in my collection, unwatched and unloved, for at least two years, and in all that time I was somehow convinced that it was a dreadful piece of shit. It's strange how these ideas get lodged in the brain, isn't it? Then again, nobody ever expects low-budget slashers with rhyming titles to be legitimately good films.

Actually, and despite the film's "video nasty"* status, and occasional moments of outright gorey nastiness, Driller Killer is less a slasher than an arthouse movie about the growing madness of a struggling artist called Reno who sets to work on his "masterpiece", all the while living off subs from his agent and struggling to pay the rent. This, his failing relationship with his girlfriend and their wasted female roommate, and the constant practice of the terrible punk band living in the next apartment eventually gets to him. So he kills people. With a drill.

Look, it's no masterpiece. The low-budget shows in nearly everything and despite its arthouse ideals, it doesn't contain a whole lot that's visually striking. What it does have, despite the D.I.Y gimmick, is surprisingly strong characterisation, not just for Reno but for the two women in his life. I was genuinely surprised at one point to find that I really cared whether or not he would kill either of them.

As for Reno himself, he eventually gets cleaned up, starts dressing sharp, gets himself an electro-magnetic rod and a job with Shinra Inc and by the time AC rolls round, he's basically just comic relief. I love a happy ending.

* We all know what video nasty really means. It means some over-sensitive pricks somewhere decided it would corrupt its audience. Because they were oversensitive pricks.