★ 6 / 10
**_Mundane study of a Sunday School teacher who
Wuchak
**_Mundane study of a Sunday School teacher who strangles young women in his spare time_** A disgruntled bachelor in Greater Los Angeles (Eli Rich) hops from…
**_Mundane study of a Sunday School teacher who strangles young women in his spare time_**
A disgruntled bachelor in Greater Los Angeles (Eli Rich) hops from job to job while being a faithful churchgoer. He vents his negative energy by preying on females.
Shot on weekends in twelve days, “MurderLust” (1985) wasn’t released to video until 1987. Like the slightly superior “Hitch Hike to Hell” (1977), it’s a prosaic psychological study of a serial killer. That flick used The Co-ed Killer as a template, Edmund Kemper. His victims from 1972-1973 were six female students who happened to be hitchhiking in the vicinity of Santa Cruz County, an hour's drive south of San Francisco. The scriptwriter of this movie researched Ten Bundy and the Hillside Stranglers. Bundy’s reign of terror took place from 1974-78 whereas the crimes of The Hillside Stranglers involved a dozen victims between 1977-78.
Besides being reminiscent of the obscure “Hitch Hike to Hell,” the straightforward tone is similar to "Targets" and maybe "The Toolbox Murders." Yet this isn’t a slasher like the latter since the five victims are all strangled, not to mention there’s very little gore. Being a psychological study, the focus is on the killer’s routine day-to-day life, which will strike many viewers as dull. The no-name actor smacks of a poor man's Jon Voight.
Ashley St. Jon is notable as the too-young blonde prostitute, but her role is too small. She happened to be a dancer in the Los Angeles area and is the only female to appear top nude in the movie, briefly. As the story proceeds, Rochelle Taylor is the one who rises to the fore as the proverbial ‘final girl,’ Cheryl.
While it's easy to look down on these types of films, there are some well-done parts, such as the climax that symbolizes wandering through the desert of this world like a lost zombie, wounded and dying. Additionally, I like the interesting reflection on the masculine spirit, which is very much a positive thing in our world, generally speaking, but if it becomes contaminated by bitterness or what have you, it veers toward self-destruction, abuse, misogyny, and murder.
For anyone who might criticize the film as anti-Christian, it’s not. It’s just showing the reality of mentally troubled (and hypocritical) people hiding their dark side behind a respectable garnishment. For instance, I know faithful churchgoers who brazenly murder people with their tongues every day; sad, but true.
It runs 1 hour, 38 minutes, and was shot in Pomona (the church) and Upland (the pub), which are a 30-35 minutes drive due east of downtown Los Angeles; other scenes were done in the city proper and the Mojave Desert, the latter located 3-4 hours northwest of the city.
GRADE: B-
★ 4 / 10
Another Slasher Film without the Blood
Chainsaw Slasher
Here I am the first to review this film here, I guess it's just that difficult to find. but I'm honored to be the first, although maybe only five people may…
Here I am the first to review this film here, I guess it's just that difficult to find. but I'm honored to be the first, although maybe only five people may read this within the next 5 years. Well I heard of the film from a book, sounded like a slasher film, so I thought i'd buy it. I finally tracked the darn film down.I put on the film, expecting some blood, a couple of slashings, but got none of that. Just got a film about a depressed guy out to kill a couple of prostitutes. Nothing bloody there. But the most surprising moment is when i saw Bonny Schnieder in the film, me being from long island, i watch channel 12 News. Bonny Schneider is one of the weatherwoman on the channel. I was shocked to see her play a prostitute in this film. I'm guessing she was helping out a friend while in college who was studing film, or maybe she tried the acting, even though this was her only film. Oh well, I found that quiet interesting. I always find it interesting to find a film that is so rare and no longer watched by anyone. When i find films such as these, I see them as a time capsule, caputuring the beauty of the slasher rise in the 80's. Although this movie wasnt anything special, we should all dig them all up and start worshipping them, they deserve it:)
★ 5 / 10
Great title. Mediocre movie.
BA_Harrison
On Sundays, Steve Belmont (Eli Rich) works at his local church as a teacher for the Department of Christian Education; the rest of the week he earns a meagre…
On Sundays, Steve Belmont (Eli Rich) works at his local church as a teacher for the Department of Christian Education; the rest of the week he earns a meagre crust as a security guard, and spends his spare time picking up and killing women (mostly hookers), disposing of their bodies in the Mojave Desert.Murderlust is a low budget mid-'80s serial killer flick that isn't grimy, gory or sleazy enough to get under the skin in the way that a classic like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer does. Eli Rich is fairly effective as the killer, effortlessly switching from concerned, upstanding citizen to worthless scumbag, and his relationship with unsuspecting blonde Cheryl (Rochelle Taylor) is nicely developed, but the pace severely drags in places, with the frequent appearance of his nosy cousin Neil (Dennis Gannon) being particularly dull.The most exploitative scene comes when Steve forces one of his young victims, a rather plain looking schoolgirl, to fellate him at gunpoint; the act is suggested rather than shown, but it still proves to be the film's most memorable moment for at least attempting to push the envelope.
4.9/10
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