Luridly titled shocker loosely based on the 1966 Richard Speck murders of eight Chicago nurses, effectively relocated to war-torn Belfast. Matthew Carierre (sporting a Speck-like “Born for Hell” tattoo) tenders an effectively chilling performance as an embittered, unbalanced and misogynistic AWOL Vietnam vet terrorizing and killing a houseful of attractive ladies one by one.
Since this movie is roughly based on the Speck murders, which involve rape and murder of real life like people, with a future and dreams and ambitions that we can all relate to, it isn’t the easiest movie to watch, as it reaks of pure evil in everyday form.
Far from the cheap thrills of the ’80s slashers to come, the situation is played deadly serious here, and the tangible emotional and physical suffering of the victims—combined with the dark, grainy photography—ups the sleaze factor considerably. Strong stuff with a true heart of darkness, a killing cousin to flicks like Last House on the Left, Night Train Murders and I Spit on Your Grave.
