Driller killer [DVD]

In retrospect, the notoriety surrounding Abel Ferrara’s early feature might have had more to do with the film’s provocative title than the content itself. At the time however, “Driller killer” became the scapegoat for the 80s ‘Video nasty’ hysteria, which saw the film unfairly lumped with other exploitation films such as “I spit on your grave” and “Blood sucking freaks.” Subsequently the film was either banned outright in some countries (including the UK), or severely modified for many years. Over the years however the film has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts mainly due to Ferrara’s growing reputation as a filmmaker. The grungy low budget look and punk sensibility of “Driller killer” is a perfect match for this story of a New York artist (played by Ferrara under the pseudonym Jimmy Laine) gradually driven insane. His only recourse from the insistent noise and chaos of the New York streets is to power tool anyone that gets in his way. Ferrara’s films, full of spiritual torment and redemption through bloodletting have seen the director compared to fellow New Yorker Martin Scorsese. With “Driller killer” however, its spiritual doppelganger ends up being Roman Polanski’s disturbing tale of madness, “Repulsion.” There’s even a perverse homage to the skinned rabbit from that film. Cast includes: Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day and Harry Schultz.