THE DRILLER KILLER (Collector's Edition)

An artist (played by the director, Abel Ferrara, much as Jess Franco did in 'The Sadist of Notre Dame', and Lucio Fulci would later do in 'Nightmare Concert'), living in a run-down New York apartment house with two women, struggles to finish his latest work, a large fresco of a bull. Meanwhile, he observes the tramps, scum and violence all around him. A punk band move into the apartment below him, and start playing music 24 hours a day. Bills arrive that can't be paid, and his agent (who is homosexual) refuses to give him an advance payment. Seeing an advert on TV for a 'Porta-Pak', a transportable electric power supply, he goes out and buys one, then wanders the streets, killing tramps with an electric drill. Eventually, his girlfriend (who is bisexual) leaves him, returning to her former lover. He kills his agent, after pretending to accept his advances, then goes to his ex's house where he kills her lover, before getting into bed (under the covers) to await her. She comes in, turns off the light and gets into bed. The End.

One of the most notorious films ever made, Ferrara's official debut (after the very obscure '9 Lives of a Wet Pussy' and some short films) makes its first official totally intact appearance on any medium. This 96 minute director's cut was never available on video in the UK (see later), although a shorter version was released prior to the Video Nasties debacle (see later), but has been unavailable until recently (see later). This film, along with Meir Zarchi's excellent 'I Spit on Your Grave' are often said to have provided the main impetus to the video nasties movement and the VRA of 1984, mainly as a result of VIPCO's exploitative front cover (a shot from the only really violent murder in the film, a tramp having his head drilled). The film was almost certainly banned as a result of the use of the word 'drill' in its title. The BBFC have a real thing for power tools (don't we all!) and one suspects that this film was banned as a sort of knee-jerk reaction, given their refusal to pass 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (until recently), and also their insistence on the film 'Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers' (Fred Olen Ray) not being released until the offending word 'chainsaw' had been removed from the title. Apparently, the BBFC's view is that if we see films like this, we will all take up our drills/chainsaws and go out and KILL! Somewhat silly, perhaps, but not as silly as the BBFC themselves...

The film undoubtedly deserves a place in any serious horror fan's collection as a result of the above, but there is a lot more to the film than controversy. Ferrara is almost certianly one of the most important modern US directors, and has provided (along with his long-time collaborator Nicholas St John) some of the key films of recent times (this film, 'Ms .45', 'King of New York', and most notably 'Bad Lieutenant'), so seeing this film allows one to get a perspective on his career that would otherwise be lost. The film is often criticised by horror fans for not being violent enough. Obviously, it would probably never live up to its reputation (even the most nasty films tend to look tame when compared to their legends!), but in reality, the film isn't about violence/horror. Misunderstanding the film's aims, people have tended to feel 'cheated' out of the goods, and don't bother to look any deeper into the film's quite complex themes. This film shows that right from the start, Ferrara's inclinations were towards the grander subjects of cinema - redemption, religion, love and despair, things which he would go on exploring in almost all of his subsequent films, but most of all in 'Bad Lieutenant'. I think the Aurum Encylopedia of Horror describes the film's central theme better than any other I've read - Ferrara plays a character tormented by the spectre of destitution, and in his attempts to "avoid the same fate, [he is] yet drawn to observing more closely the down-and-out community".

The opening scenes of the film are particularly reminiscent of Ferrara's later work, with the artist entering a church bathed in light to the sounds of overpowering organ music. The look of this scene, and the use of music recall strongly the scenes in 'Bad Lieutenant' in which Harvey Keitel's character confronts Christ. Ferrara makes considerable use of hand-held camera techniques throughout the film, creating a documentary-style look, although some scenes are clearly quite carefully set up. The acting in the film is overall pretty poor, and Ferrara's laughable 'street talk' (he says 'Man!' about 10 times per sentence!) does get a bit wearing, but if anything these factors simply add to the overall rough feel of the film, becoming assets rather than detractions. Perhaps my only real complaint would be (as Ferrara himself mentions in the commentary) that the film incudes too much footage of the band and of their music. This does get boring and distracts one from the very sombre/depressing tone of the rest of the film. One can see why Ferrara includes the footage though, as he clearly had to make his budget stretch a long way. Perhaps the shorter UK pre-cert video would play better (I don't know, only ever having seen the US tape) in this respect.

It would take forever to summarise the film's history, so I shan't say too much more. As a huge fan of Ferrara myself, and a great admirer of 'Bad Lieutenant' (undoubtedly one of the ten best films of all time), I am bound to be a bit biased towards this film. Anyone who has never seen it should check out this DVD, as it presents the film in its best possible condition. If you have seen it, and don't like it, then this is unlikely to change as the result of seeing a better transfer. If you (like me) do like it and don't have the DVD - what are you waiting for?!? Please don't expect the film to be a gore-fest, or anything of the sort - although the film does feature some graphic violence - but rather a thoughtful, provocative, disturbing meditation on poverty and madness, made by one of the greatest living American directors.

DVD Specification
Original year of release - 1979
Approximate running time - 96min.
Aspect ratio - Full frame (4:3)
System - NTSC (colour)
Rating - Unrated, though back cover states '18 Years and Over'
Sound - Dolby Digital Mono (1.0)
DVD release - Cult Epics
Region Coding - Region 0 (code free)

DVD Extras
Audio Commentary by Abel Ferrara, recorded at the Chelsea Hotel 19/5/99
Original Theatrical Trailer
Director Filmography
Spanish/Dutch/French subtitles

DVD Ratings (out of 5)
Picture - 3
Cult Epics utilised an original negative provided by Rochelle Weisberg (the film's producer) to create a new print. The result is the best looking that you are ever likely to see the film. However, that's not to say that the quality is all that good! You have to bear in mind that the film is 20 years old, and was only shot on a very low budget with (mainly) hand-held cameras. There's a lot of print damage, and the image is very grainy. It is much better than my old bootleg of the US tape, though! Really, I don't think that more could be expected of the transfer, and Cult Epics have done as good a job as possible. If Anchor Bay were to release the film, then perhaps it could look better, but failing this, this is sure to be the definitive version of the film for the foreseeable future. If you've seen the DVD of 'Zeder', this is about the same quality. Overall, a '3', as I think that the image is as good as it'll ever be.
Sound - 4
DD Mono. What do you want? A 5.1 remix!?! The sound is fine, adequate for the job. Not too much hiss or crackle after the initial crackling, and everything seems quite clear. The music is certainly loud enough! As it says at the beginning of the film, "This film should be played loud!"
Extras - 3
A trailer, a filmography and a commentary. I would usually have given this a '4', but the commentary is the most bizarre, rambling and incoherent I've ever heard! It's not recorded very well, so it's difficult to hear Ferrara in the first place. He speaks in a strong drawling NY accent, and just basically rambles on. Most of what he says makes no sense, and he offers no insights into the making of the film, or even its notoriety. Some may find it funny, but the joke wears thin after an hour and a half! Apparently, he made the film just so he could be close to a girl he fancied (one of the Roosters' singers), and film a lesbian shower scene! Seriously, though - at least it has a commentary. It's the only one Ferrara has so far done, so Cult Epics should probably be congratulated on getting him to do it! The trailer isn't very good quality, but it's interesting historically, and the filmography is a good, complete one.
Overall Rating - 4
An important, rare film is given a good, uncut release by a small independent company. The price of this DVD is somewhat higher than that of the Anchor Bay or Image exploitation releases, but not as high as the Criterion Collection - it costs about $25. Anyone who's a fan of the film or of Ferrara or who is interested in horror film history will want a copy. This is probably going to be the definitive release of the film, and probably won't be available much longer, so get it while you still can. The quality of the transfer isn't brilliant but is about as good as you can expect on a film of this age/type.

Film Tag Lines
"The blood runs in rivers... and the drill keeps tearing through flesh and bone!" (VIPCO video release)
"It will shatter you!"
"The most controversial film of the decade!" (Cult Epics DVD)

AKA
'The Driller Killer'

Alternative versions
As you'd imagine with a film of this sort, there's quite a few!
The original (banned) UK video release on the VIPCO label was uncut in terms of violence, but was missing a 6 minute 3 seconds section of dialogue/story. This cut occurs at around 37 minutes in. The tape ran 85 minutes 35 seconds at 25 fps (89 minutes at 24 fps). Noted Ferrara fan Brad Stevens, in his Choice Cuts column in The Dark Side magazine Issue 56, suggests that this cut was probably made so that VIPCO could fit the film onto an E-90 video cassette. The tape is also missing the three credit cards at the beginning of the film.

The US video, on the Magnum label, was totally uncut (running 94 minutes and 16 seconds), but was missing 1 minute and 20 seconds of the end credits.

The Dutch release, on the Video For Pleasure label, was a transfer of the US tape, similarly missing part of the end credits

Interestingly, the US and UK tapes also differ in their fade-outs used after the murder of the art dealer and the closing shot. The UK tape uses black fades, whilst the US tape uses red fades. This DVD uses the red fade-outs.

Recently, the film was re-released in the UK on both video and DVD by 'Visual Entertainment'. The film wasn't cut by the BBFC, but was pre-cut by the distributors by 54 seconds. The cut scenes are the first drill murder (37 minutes in), the murder of the guy at the bus stop (55 minutes in), and the scene (mentioned above) in which Reno sticks his drill into the top of a tramp's head (58 minutes in). The source print used for these UK releases is inferior to that used for the Cult Epics DVD, being the US Magnum print mentioned above. These new releases therefore suffer from the same problem mentioned for the Magnum release (and the VFP Holland release), namely that of missing end credits. The 6 minute section cut from the old VIPCO release is restored, though. The UK DVD doesn't feature the commentary, but does have a newly recorded introduction (not by Ferrara, though).

The film is to be shown on UK TV on the 3rd April 2000 by Channel 4. This will be the pre-cut version released to tape/DVD.

Movie Facts
The film is one of the original 'video nasties' and was banned in the UK from 1984 until last year (see above).

Director Abel Ferrara plays the main character under his pseudonym 'Jimmy Laine' (sometimes credited as Jimi Laine, or even Jimmy Lane!). He is also to be found in his own 'Ms .45', in which he plays the second rapist, and his debut film NINE LIVES OF A WET PUSSY, in which he plays the old man.