Based on the Richard Speck murders, Born for Hell, or Naked Massacre as the film I watched was titled, doesn't live up to the hype that surrounds this supposed exploitation movie. It seems to me that more people have "heard" about this movie then actually seen it. I was included in that group up until a few months ago. With a name like Naked Massacre I expected creepy music, bare breasts and copius amounts of blood. It does not deliver.
German born actor Mathieu Carriere plays Cain, an American soldier who seems to have gone AWOL from the Vietnam war and arrives in Belfast looking for a ride back to the states to be reunited with his wife and daughter. Carriere's portrayal of a very disturbed individual is the only saving grace in this film. I genuinely felt uncomfortable watching him interact so oddly with the locals. Through various interactions we learn that Cain harbors plenty of anger towards women as they remind him of his wife's own infidelity with his "hung like a horse" best friend. This brings us to a Nurse's dormitory that Cain has taken an unhealthy interest in lately. Most of the movie is this rather dull build-up to the eventual massacre.
This is where my complaint lies. This has to be one of the weakest massacres in history of film. Cain manages to subdue a house of eight women with no more than a switchblade. The fact that these nurses don't fight back is an insult to women everywhere. The murders range from the unimaginative (strangulation) to the downright laughable (self immolation). The most disturbing scene in a film about rape, torture and murder is one with Cain getting a dance from the oldest hooker in the known universe. With all of the beautiful women in this film to show naked why does it have to be her? It is fairly obvious that the retitled Naked Massacre was to get the unsuspecting dupes to think they were getting more than what they were paying for. Too much time is spent on building the tension between Cain and his eventual criminal act that when the payoff finally comes you are left seriously unsatisfied. This bad puppy is all bark and no bite!
German born actor Mathieu Carriere plays Cain, an American soldier who seems to have gone AWOL from the Vietnam war and arrives in Belfast looking for a ride back to the states to be reunited with his wife and daughter. Carriere's portrayal of a very disturbed individual is the only saving grace in this film. I genuinely felt uncomfortable watching him interact so oddly with the locals. Through various interactions we learn that Cain harbors plenty of anger towards women as they remind him of his wife's own infidelity with his "hung like a horse" best friend. This brings us to a Nurse's dormitory that Cain has taken an unhealthy interest in lately. Most of the movie is this rather dull build-up to the eventual massacre.
This is where my complaint lies. This has to be one of the weakest massacres in history of film. Cain manages to subdue a house of eight women with no more than a switchblade. The fact that these nurses don't fight back is an insult to women everywhere. The murders range from the unimaginative (strangulation) to the downright laughable (self immolation). The most disturbing scene in a film about rape, torture and murder is one with Cain getting a dance from the oldest hooker in the known universe. With all of the beautiful women in this film to show naked why does it have to be her? It is fairly obvious that the retitled Naked Massacre was to get the unsuspecting dupes to think they were getting more than what they were paying for. Too much time is spent on building the tension between Cain and his eventual criminal act that when the payoff finally comes you are left seriously unsatisfied. This bad puppy is all bark and no bite!