| Luther the Geek (1989) Directed by Carlton J. Albright |
| If you were to cross Foghorn Leghorn with Hannibal Lecter, you�d have a twisted and deranged individual very much like Luther the Geek. Our story begins waaayyy back in 1938. Hitler is preparing to storm through Europe. The great depression is just winding down. And somewhere in the boonies of Buttf**k U.S.A, an impressionable young tyke by the name of Luther is being enthralled by the chicken biting antics of a sideshow geek. As the geek bites off the chicken�s head with more fervor than an allegedly satanic heavy metal rock god, Luther has a little accident at the scene and knocks out all his little pearly whites. Clearly, Luther�s parents aren�t on the greatest dental plan in the world. His teeth are replaced with metal dentures ala Russian serial killer Andre Chicalito. Inspired by one of the most questionable role models since Townes Van Zandt, Luther becomes an apprentice geek. His new metal choppers are ideal for excising chicken heads from their still twitching bodies, and even better for tearing out the throat of an odd human or two. It isn�t long before the young geek offs three innocent people, and swaps his gig at the sideshow for a long term gig in the big house. Which is probably a pretty good place for him to be. This yard-bird seems convinced that he is in fact a chicken. They say that you are what you eat, and Luther is no exception. When he isn�t tearing out throats be it poultry or man, he spends his time clucking away, crowing, and moving in a jerky chicken-like manner. But that doesn�t stop Luther from becoming a model citizen. Perhaps the parole board mixed up this clucky headcase for the birdman of Alcatraz. You can fool some of the people all of the time, but it seems that as far as prison psychiatrists are concerned (especially in exploitation movies), you can fool ALL of the shrinks ALL of the time. As is so often the case in real life, the bleeding heart parole board make the blunder of deciding that one of their most unbalanced prisoners has paid his debt to society, and should be freed from the chicken coop so that he can go and scratch around in the dust out in the real world. Before you can say �seven secret herbs and spices�, our boy Luther is terrorizing supermarket employees, and tearing out the throat of a darling little old lady. Then apparently realizing that he�s creating a scene, Luther flees to an isolated farmhouse and takes a single mother, her oversexed daughter, and her daughter�s Jan Michael Vincent look-alike boyfriend hostage. Can a crusading cop show up in time to save the day and blow Luther the Geek into a squillion chicken Mc Nuggets with a riot gun? Or will the whole thing degenerate into a �Last House on the Left� or �Fight for Your Life� inspired revenge fest? This film was a bit of a Holy Grail for me. One of those hard to get classics that I�d read about in Fangoria way back before the days of reliable overseas online ordering. Thankfully, Stomp Visual have just released Luther locally on DVD as part of their Troma collection. The disc includes an interview with director Carlton J. Albright (any relation to Madeline Albright?), his son who played little Luther, and some bona fide Edge T.V geeks. So was it worth the wait? Kind of. I think that I�ve built this up to be the cat�s a**e over the years, so it was never going to be as good as I hoped. But still, this one�s an intelligent slasher film that�s head and shoulders above your �Friday the 13th�s� (and their clones). Luther is a very three dimensional character (it�s just a pity the rest of the cast weren�t), and one of the more memorable villains in exploitation history. I think that he may have even inspired 'Bad Boy Bubby'. One to be enjoyed with a bucket of KFC. Entertainment : 3 out of 4 Watchability : 2.5 out of 4 Overall : 2.75 out of 4 Reviewed by Blake |