I sometimes question the motivations of a director who chooses subject matter such as this as material for a film. There is such a sadistic vent to this that it has kept me thinking for days. This is obviously a retelling of the Richard Speck story where a psychotic ex-Vietnam vet terrorizes and kills a group of nurses in a residential house in Northern Ireland. The movie is pretty well done in that it gets us involved with the women and with their assailant. They are real people with prospects; one is even pregnant. I think that's why this so affected me because when you see those teenage slasher movies you say to yourself that no one could be so stupid. The violence is amplified and unrealistic. This one is so close to home. The business of why people don't defend themselves is an issue, but when you see the connection to terror and to humanity, you see why this could happen. Still, I could never watch this again and I'm not sure it needed telling.
50 Reviews
Failed, but interesting
Phroggy30 September 2006
This could have been some sort of "Taxi Driver". Could, if they just could have pulled it along with Scorcese's skills. After all, low-budgeter "Taxi Driver" had all it took to make an exploitation movie. This one has the gritty realism, the context (Visions of some overall violent world from Ireland to Vietnam, even more relevant nowadays), the disturbing elements
But does not seem to know what to do with them. We had an understanding of what Travis Bickle was up to, even if we were not in his head, we had enough to go with and sympathize (just like in real life actually), which makes even the botched attack on a political candidate an anti-anticlimax. Here, despite Mathieu Carrière's excellent acting, we have only disjointed things : he's a Vietnam vet, his wife cheated on him, he might be impotent and might have a death wish (though his actions denies it). How did it all comes together in one long, violent episode is anyone's guess. M. Carrière manages to keep the character's desperation obvious, but to what end ? It's not really a chain of events that leads him to his horrific deeds. The cheesy dialogue does not really helps, like a reference to lesbianism, fortunately without any moral tut-tutting, that leads nowhere. The whole things feels just like an experience in exploitation with some hints at social comment, or the other way around, if you feel so inclined. It's not bad, but it's one movie that could have been so much better if its various interesting elements have gelled into something coherent.
A terrifying shocker of unforgiving evil with thrills , chills and grisly killings
ma-cortes25 December 2021
A disturbed American war veteran -Mathieu Carrière- arrives in Belfast during the Northern Ireland conflicts , and proceeds to terrorize a household of female nursing students (Debra Berger , Christine Boisson , Myriam Boyer , Leonora Fani , Ely Galleani , Carole Laure , Eva Mattes) and executing tasteless tortures . For these nine young women, opening the door that night meant ending their live ! . Nine scaring young women. One night. Defiled. Tortured. Torn apart . A diabolic shocker that will grip you and hold you Spellbound ! . Don't ever let him enter your house ! No woman can escape him because he was Born for Hell
A grim and thrilling film about a boarding house that is invaded by a heinous visitor , it contains inexplicable disturbing occurrences , shocks, thrills , suspense , chills , hair-rising events and surprising final . Dealing with an eerie story of a stranger who arrives in Belfast and invades a house shared by eight nurses , while carries out a criminal spree and proceeding to kill them . Loosely based on the notorious Richard Speck murders , this starts off at a brief depiction of the Besfast streets , pubs and violent confrontation between IRA members and British cops , as the camera lurks suspensenful behind its actors and beside them and above them and everywhere else . The story is uneven paced , suffering from some weak incidents and of varying quality , packing nice as well as fleeble moments . The main amusement of this slasher results to be to guess the kind of murder to execute by the creepy killer , and discover the young actress to be assassinated by stabbing . A scary and disgusting flick that garnered lousy reception as critics as indifferent reception by the general public . Nowadays , it is a little better considered , in spite of its short budget and the claustrophobic environment , as the picture goes on growing more and more and developing little by little until the unexpected ending . Nice acting by the German Mathieu Carrière as the unsettling Vietnam vet returning home via Belfast resulting in fateful consequences . He's well accompanied a lot of known B-actress from Europe that starred a lot of films at the time and in all kinds of genres , such as : Debra Berger , Christine Boisson , Miriam Boyer, Leonora Fani , Ely Galleani , Carole Laure and Eva Mattes who often played for Werner Herzog .
Atmospheric cinematography , though being really necessary a perfect remastering . Shot on location in Hamburg, Germany , Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (Belfast segments) , Belfast, County Antrimc, Northern Irelandc, UK and Studio Bendestorf, Lower Saxony, Germany . This chilling and obscure terror movie was regularly directed by Denis Héroux and uncredited Géza von Radványi . This nice filmmaker Denis Héroux, was born 1940 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and died 2015 in Montreal . He was a producer/director, and Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1981 . He was awarded the O. C. -Officer of the Order of Canada- on December 19 , 1983 for his services to the film industry in Canada . He was a notorious director and producer , being especially known for The Uncanny (1977) , Atlantic City (1980) , Quest for Fire (1981) , The Bay Boy (1984) , The Park in Mine (1985) . Denis directed some films in all sorts of genres , such as : ¨Born for Hell , Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris , Strikebreaker , Y'a toujours moyen de moyenner! , J'ai mon voyage! , Quelques arpents de neige , Un enfant comme les autres.., fois... par jour , L'amour humain , L'initiation , Valérie , Pas de vacances pour les idoles and Alone or with Others¨ . Born For Hell (1976) rating : 5/10 . Mediocre , though passable terror movie.
A grim and thrilling film about a boarding house that is invaded by a heinous visitor , it contains inexplicable disturbing occurrences , shocks, thrills , suspense , chills , hair-rising events and surprising final . Dealing with an eerie story of a stranger who arrives in Belfast and invades a house shared by eight nurses , while carries out a criminal spree and proceeding to kill them . Loosely based on the notorious Richard Speck murders , this starts off at a brief depiction of the Besfast streets , pubs and violent confrontation between IRA members and British cops , as the camera lurks suspensenful behind its actors and beside them and above them and everywhere else . The story is uneven paced , suffering from some weak incidents and of varying quality , packing nice as well as fleeble moments . The main amusement of this slasher results to be to guess the kind of murder to execute by the creepy killer , and discover the young actress to be assassinated by stabbing . A scary and disgusting flick that garnered lousy reception as critics as indifferent reception by the general public . Nowadays , it is a little better considered , in spite of its short budget and the claustrophobic environment , as the picture goes on growing more and more and developing little by little until the unexpected ending . Nice acting by the German Mathieu Carrière as the unsettling Vietnam vet returning home via Belfast resulting in fateful consequences . He's well accompanied a lot of known B-actress from Europe that starred a lot of films at the time and in all kinds of genres , such as : Debra Berger , Christine Boisson , Miriam Boyer, Leonora Fani , Ely Galleani , Carole Laure and Eva Mattes who often played for Werner Herzog .
Atmospheric cinematography , though being really necessary a perfect remastering . Shot on location in Hamburg, Germany , Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (Belfast segments) , Belfast, County Antrimc, Northern Irelandc, UK and Studio Bendestorf, Lower Saxony, Germany . This chilling and obscure terror movie was regularly directed by Denis Héroux and uncredited Géza von Radványi . This nice filmmaker Denis Héroux, was born 1940 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and died 2015 in Montreal . He was a producer/director, and Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1981 . He was awarded the O. C. -Officer of the Order of Canada- on December 19 , 1983 for his services to the film industry in Canada . He was a notorious director and producer , being especially known for The Uncanny (1977) , Atlantic City (1980) , Quest for Fire (1981) , The Bay Boy (1984) , The Park in Mine (1985) . Denis directed some films in all sorts of genres , such as : ¨Born for Hell , Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris , Strikebreaker , Y'a toujours moyen de moyenner! , J'ai mon voyage! , Quelques arpents de neige , Un enfant comme les autres.., fois... par jour , L'amour humain , L'initiation , Valérie , Pas de vacances pour les idoles and Alone or with Others¨ . Born For Hell (1976) rating : 5/10 . Mediocre , though passable terror movie.
Richard Speck goes to Belfast to kill badly-dubbed Italian starlets
lazarillo11 July 2006
Even though the Richard Speck student-nurse murders took place in America, most of the movies inspired by the incident strangely enough were foreign. These include the disturbing Japanese film "Violated Angels", the relatively shocking ending to the ho-hum Italian giallo/sex romp "Slaughter Hotel", and perhaps to some extent even the Canadian proto-slasher flick "Black Christmas". This movie, however, is probably the closest in circumstances to the actual incident. Not that it doesn't make some unusual choices, especially for what is basically an exploitation film. It's set in Belfast, North Ireland, for instance, during the height of "the troubles" when bombs were exploding and Catholics, Protestants, IRA terrorists and British troops were fighting in the streets. Also, the murderer (played by Mathieu Carrare)is an American Vietnam vet where the real Speck was merely a merchant marine. The movie doesn't do much with this though as the Speck character seems far more motivated by his wife's infidelities than any trauma he suffered in Vietnam, and any on-location realism that is achieved is ruined by the bad dubbing (the Irish and English nurses and American killer all speak in the same stilted continental accents of the usual gang of Euro-idiots that dubbed these things).
The movie was distributed mostly under the more lurid title "Naked Massace", and after a strangely large amount of character development of both the nurses and the killer, it lives up to that title when they finally meet and he ties them up and starts bumping them off one by one. The real-life Speck only raped one of the nurses (although far more graphically than what is shown here), but the guy here sexually abuses nearly all of them (one of whom, perhaps in a nod to Sharon Tate, is even pregnant). The most lurid scene is when he forces two closeted lesbians to have sex with each other. Although, it's hard to do such a scene sensitively, this scene is handled even less sensitively than the similar scene in the much more infamous "Last House on the Left".
The director, Denis Heroux, interesting enough, is French Canadian and got his start in superior "maple syrup porn" films like "Valerie" and "L'Initiation" but had his career ended when he was made the scapegoat for the failure of hack British producer Milton Subotsky's idiotic horror movie "The Uncanny". This film, made in the middle of his short career, shows an interesting but obviously declining talent. The cast includes Carol Laure and pretty Italian starlet Ely Galeani. I got this as part of a cheap 50 DVD horror collection. If you can find THAT, it's definitely worth watching. Otherwise, well. . .
The movie was distributed mostly under the more lurid title "Naked Massace", and after a strangely large amount of character development of both the nurses and the killer, it lives up to that title when they finally meet and he ties them up and starts bumping them off one by one. The real-life Speck only raped one of the nurses (although far more graphically than what is shown here), but the guy here sexually abuses nearly all of them (one of whom, perhaps in a nod to Sharon Tate, is even pregnant). The most lurid scene is when he forces two closeted lesbians to have sex with each other. Although, it's hard to do such a scene sensitively, this scene is handled even less sensitively than the similar scene in the much more infamous "Last House on the Left".
The director, Denis Heroux, interesting enough, is French Canadian and got his start in superior "maple syrup porn" films like "Valerie" and "L'Initiation" but had his career ended when he was made the scapegoat for the failure of hack British producer Milton Subotsky's idiotic horror movie "The Uncanny". This film, made in the middle of his short career, shows an interesting but obviously declining talent. The cast includes Carol Laure and pretty Italian starlet Ely Galeani. I got this as part of a cheap 50 DVD horror collection. If you can find THAT, it's definitely worth watching. Otherwise, well. . .
I Would Have Felt Less Guilty Watching It If It Had Been a Worse Movie
evanston_dad13 October 2012
"Naked Massacre" made me distinctly uncomfortable and made me feel dirty for watching it. It's competent enough that it's not easy to dismiss and make fun of like any number of other bad movies, but it's not good enough to make any kind of intelligent use of the violence and sadism it traffics in, so it feels like what it is -- gratuitous exploitation.
Supposedly inspired by the the Richard Speck murders (that crime is referenced in the movie), the film is about a troubled Vietnam vet who's stuck in Belfast and takes a house full of nurses hostage, killing them one by one after degrading them sexually. The actual killings aren't graphic, but the torture leading up to them is lingered lovingly over by the director, like he's enjoying it as much as the killer in the film. The film makes some half-assed attempts at providing commentary on the violence of the world (there are numerous allusions to the IRA troubles and to Vietnam), but that commentary never gets more profound than "the world is a violent place" platitudes and feels like an obligatory effort by the film's creators to throw something into the movie that will make us all feel less guilty for watching and enjoying it.
Grade: C
Supposedly inspired by the the Richard Speck murders (that crime is referenced in the movie), the film is about a troubled Vietnam vet who's stuck in Belfast and takes a house full of nurses hostage, killing them one by one after degrading them sexually. The actual killings aren't graphic, but the torture leading up to them is lingered lovingly over by the director, like he's enjoying it as much as the killer in the film. The film makes some half-assed attempts at providing commentary on the violence of the world (there are numerous allusions to the IRA troubles and to Vietnam), but that commentary never gets more profound than "the world is a violent place" platitudes and feels like an obligatory effort by the film's creators to throw something into the movie that will make us all feel less guilty for watching and enjoying it.
Grade: C
Brutal and gritty, but not exploitative enough for my liking.
BA_Harrison28 July 2007
In Denis Héroux's gritty Belfast-set thriller Naked Massacre, Cain, a sexually-confused psychotic switchblade-wielding Vietnam veteran, breaks into a house and submits a group of young nurses to a night of terror, leaving only one survivor to tell the tale.
With a plot offering sexual degradation and brutal violence, the film succeeds in being disturbing thematically, but it is missing either the sense of nerve-wracking tension or the no-holds-barred attitude necessary for it to be a totally effective experience.
Had Héroux added more in the way of creepy atmosphere (a decent score might have helped), or ramped up the sleaze levels by being more explicit with the gore and depravity, then I feel that the film would have been much more successful. Just as it seems the director is about to deliver a classic scene of celluloid nastiness, he tends to bottle it. For example, a scene in which the killer hooks up with an ageing prostitute, promises to be both extremely sordid and potentially very violent (think of Cropsy's encounter with the whore in The Burning and you get an idea of what could have been) but ends with a whimper, with the loony simply pushing the topless crone to the floor and running away.
Likewise, a later scene, in which Cain tries to force a nurse to perform oral sex on one of her house-mates before making the poor girl kill her friend, cheats the audience by neither showing the unsavoury sex act (almost, but not quite) or the gruesome death. Other deaths also wimp out on the good stuff, happening off screen or in the dark.
A film that is bloody scary can afford to be light on the gore; a film that is very gory can afford to ignore atmosphere in favour of stomach churning effects. Naked Massacre is neither. It tries hard, with a fair bit of nudity, an efficient and cold-blooded killer, and a nasty scene at the end which involves a touch of DIY tattoo removal, but in the end I couldn't help but feel that the film would've been so much better if it had gone the extra mile to offend.
With a plot offering sexual degradation and brutal violence, the film succeeds in being disturbing thematically, but it is missing either the sense of nerve-wracking tension or the no-holds-barred attitude necessary for it to be a totally effective experience.
Had Héroux added more in the way of creepy atmosphere (a decent score might have helped), or ramped up the sleaze levels by being more explicit with the gore and depravity, then I feel that the film would have been much more successful. Just as it seems the director is about to deliver a classic scene of celluloid nastiness, he tends to bottle it. For example, a scene in which the killer hooks up with an ageing prostitute, promises to be both extremely sordid and potentially very violent (think of Cropsy's encounter with the whore in The Burning and you get an idea of what could have been) but ends with a whimper, with the loony simply pushing the topless crone to the floor and running away.
Likewise, a later scene, in which Cain tries to force a nurse to perform oral sex on one of her house-mates before making the poor girl kill her friend, cheats the audience by neither showing the unsavoury sex act (almost, but not quite) or the gruesome death. Other deaths also wimp out on the good stuff, happening off screen or in the dark.
A film that is bloody scary can afford to be light on the gore; a film that is very gory can afford to ignore atmosphere in favour of stomach churning effects. Naked Massacre is neither. It tries hard, with a fair bit of nudity, an efficient and cold-blooded killer, and a nasty scene at the end which involves a touch of DIY tattoo removal, but in the end I couldn't help but feel that the film would've been so much better if it had gone the extra mile to offend.
That's why said I was born for hell.
lastliberal-853-25370827 March 2011
Now, this might have been a lot more interesting with actual Irish girls playing the parts of the nurses.
As it is, it is supposed the most accurate movie inspired by Richard Speck, the Chicago murderer. In this case, the events are set in Belfast during the height of the conflict there. The rapist murderer is an American returning from Vietnam and waiting to get home. This is no spoiler as the Speck story is well known.
It's hard to believe that the girls just sat there and waited for their deaths. They could have done something. Maybe fear overcame them.
War, family problems, infidelity; all factors that produce these creatures.
As it is, it is supposed the most accurate movie inspired by Richard Speck, the Chicago murderer. In this case, the events are set in Belfast during the height of the conflict there. The rapist murderer is an American returning from Vietnam and waiting to get home. This is no spoiler as the Speck story is well known.
It's hard to believe that the girls just sat there and waited for their deaths. They could have done something. Maybe fear overcame them.
War, family problems, infidelity; all factors that produce these creatures.
Born for Hell?? No, born TO RAISE hell!
Coventry3 June 2006
"Naked Massacre" is pretty strong stuff; a disturbing thriller definitely NOT for squeamish or faint-hearted people! It's not that gory or exaggeratedly sleazy, like the two key words of the title lead you to believe, but it's truly intense and filmed in such a sober way that you'll feel VERY uncomfortable. The story is something like Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", only in this case it's Eight Pretty Nurses. Actually, that's not funny since this movie is inspired by the murders committed by real-life madman Richard Speck in 1966; Chicago. The setting of this notorious case has been moved, very ingeniously I may add, to Ireland in the mid-70's, when there was the post-Vietnam depression as well as the Irish civil war and bombings. On his way home from Vietnam, a young American soldier ends up in Belfast with no money or acquaintances. He's traumatized, has a very nihilistic world perspective and a petrifying hatred for women. It doesn't take long before he breaks into a mansion and starts terrorizing the eight young nurses that live there. "Naked Massacre" is obviously cheap and poorly edited, yet the atmosphere is constantly grim and the murders are genuinely shocking. The girls are physically abused, emotionally tortured and eventually stabbed to death with a BIG knife. There are no morals, comic reliefs or happy endings here, so only people with an iron stomach will be able to sit through this movie without suffering from nightmares afterwards. The acting performances are pretty decent, despite some of the dialogs being extremely inept and cheesy. Highly recommended in case you're searching for a horror/thriller that will really get under your skin.
Boring for Hell is more like it
unakaczynski31 May 2008
Naked Massacre (as it was titled when I viewed Born for Hell) is a thriller from the 70's which dances around not knowing whether it's horror or exploitation. Essentially, it's too weak to be true exploitation (like I Spit on Your Grave), and lacks the proper atmosphere to make a real horror film. So, it's more like a murderous thriller or a slasher film without the usual flair or atmosphere of either said genre.
This film follows an American Vietnam vet fresh from deployment who has been plunked down in England and is looking for a way to get home. Why didn't the Army send him to his actual home? Hey, if character development was a big deal here, we'd probably know the answer. Well, eventually, our poor and generally homeless war vet ends up stalking and killing a house full of nurses and/or nursing students. He kills them in boring ways like stabbing or stranglingthe hallmarks of the movie killer-man, right? The interesting part of this comes from the fact that he forces a lot of the girls to be naked before he kills, humiliates, or slightly tortures them. He forces one to perform oral sex on another with little success. I figured the title (again, it was Naked Massacre when I viewed it) was just to get some attention and that there was likely not much nudity. There actually was a decent amount of nuditynot a ton, but a bit more than I expected. Remember though, I expected very little because films of this nature from the 70's (60's and 80's, too) often had wildly misleading titles that didn't deliver the goods. Essentially, delivering the goods (naked chicks) is about all this movie does well.
The acting is drabnot terrible, but not very interesting. There are no truly interesting characters, the killer included, and the atmosphere is painfully weak. The music is average 70's fare that does a decent job of feeling dated. The film offers little in the way of unique or interesting moments and overall just feels very average. However, the film is inspired (very obviously) on actual events. The place was Chicago, I believe, the 1960's, and the killer was Richard Speck who did kill eight nursing students in a single night in the house/tenement building they all shared (also, I believe, this was lifted as a plot in an episode of CSI as well). So that does add some level of interest to the film. Not really recommended otherwise.
4/10
This film follows an American Vietnam vet fresh from deployment who has been plunked down in England and is looking for a way to get home. Why didn't the Army send him to his actual home? Hey, if character development was a big deal here, we'd probably know the answer. Well, eventually, our poor and generally homeless war vet ends up stalking and killing a house full of nurses and/or nursing students. He kills them in boring ways like stabbing or stranglingthe hallmarks of the movie killer-man, right? The interesting part of this comes from the fact that he forces a lot of the girls to be naked before he kills, humiliates, or slightly tortures them. He forces one to perform oral sex on another with little success. I figured the title (again, it was Naked Massacre when I viewed it) was just to get some attention and that there was likely not much nudity. There actually was a decent amount of nuditynot a ton, but a bit more than I expected. Remember though, I expected very little because films of this nature from the 70's (60's and 80's, too) often had wildly misleading titles that didn't deliver the goods. Essentially, delivering the goods (naked chicks) is about all this movie does well.
The acting is drabnot terrible, but not very interesting. There are no truly interesting characters, the killer included, and the atmosphere is painfully weak. The music is average 70's fare that does a decent job of feeling dated. The film offers little in the way of unique or interesting moments and overall just feels very average. However, the film is inspired (very obviously) on actual events. The place was Chicago, I believe, the 1960's, and the killer was Richard Speck who did kill eight nursing students in a single night in the house/tenement building they all shared (also, I believe, this was lifted as a plot in an episode of CSI as well). So that does add some level of interest to the film. Not really recommended otherwise.
4/10
An horrific historical document of madness and nightmares.
Cinema_Fan21 November 2008
Richard Franklin Speck (1941 - 1991), the killer of eight student nurses living together in a Chicago Community Hospital during 1966. It was to be the night of July 13th - 14th that Specks inadequacies were to come to resurface, killing them one-by-one throughout the night. This was to be another dark night in America's history that was to add his name to the list of serial killers that have tainted its name: Ted Bundy, the Hillside Strangler, the Boston Strangler and David Berkowitz etc, etc.
With typical relish the film industry around the world then immortalised his deeds, within a certain scope, onto celluloid; Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck (2007 V) by Michael Feifer, Okasareta hakui (Violated Angels) (1967) by K. Wakamatsu, Speck (2002) by Keith Walley and 10 to Midnight (1983) by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson as the cop on his tail. The lesser known, and possibly the less seen, of these films portraying the acts of his crime is the actual war zone setting of Northern Ireland during the mid nineteen-seventies that is the Naked Massacre. Giving too, its conjunctive title Born for Hell, this latter title comes from a segment of a tattoo that was on Speck's arm, and in the end, was to be his undoing, the full tattoo reads: BORN TO RAISE HELL.
What is intriguing about Naked Massacre, with its West German production that whilst being shot in Hamburg and Studio Bendestorf, Germany, again, and being dubbed into English, it is the 1970's exterior Belfast locations that sets this film apart to give it an air of historical reference. Ironically, too or just sheer coincidence, as both, then, Germany and Ireland were divided by the political, and with Northern Ireland, religious beliefs. Seeing our protagonist wander the derelict war-torn streets of Belfast, with its IRA slogans and with the English army patrols and armoured vehicles setting an atmosphere of desperation and bleak overtones in an environment were faction Vs. faction and soldier Vs. stone throwing youths. An interesting reflective on harsh times in both English and Ireland's history.
German born Mathieu Carriere is the US' Vietnam vet' drifter Cain Adamson, reprising the role as Richard Speck, who, while trying to get back home, finds himself waiting for a passage back to the States. It is here, while waiting, kicking stones and hanging around the local pub, he finds the dwelling of the student nurses.
Denis Heroux the Montreal born film director, producer and here, writer and director, has our woman hater disturbing these residents with his grudges and psychosis that are brutal and disturbing. While, in general, a film of female degradation, with its grainy film stock and basic environment, these European writers' too, have given us a tale of woes from the perspective of an eroding mind of a war vet' who questions his own existence while very easily blames others for his predicament. This downward spiral of sanity leads to a very claustrophobic and tense world of hate and retribution to those he finds responsible most: the female of the spices.
Whilst being a work of fiction here, one has to remember that the narrative is, loosely, based around fact, and the reality is that this film is hard-hitting and plays testament to the weakness of this male mind and its overpowering of the enduring "weaker sex". As the night progresses, we see the completeness of his insanity; vile, ruthless and completely out of control.
We can see violations of the fairer sex in films as I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Last House on the Left (1972) and in hindsight, Salo; 120 Days of Sodom (1975), this too, Naked Massacre, is not pleasant viewing. One should not fall into the trap of thinking this as macabre entertainment but it being a visual nightmare of a state of mind that in one summer's night in a nurse's dormitory, in the USA, a little piece of it died. Most mercilessly.
With typical relish the film industry around the world then immortalised his deeds, within a certain scope, onto celluloid; Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck (2007 V) by Michael Feifer, Okasareta hakui (Violated Angels) (1967) by K. Wakamatsu, Speck (2002) by Keith Walley and 10 to Midnight (1983) by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson as the cop on his tail. The lesser known, and possibly the less seen, of these films portraying the acts of his crime is the actual war zone setting of Northern Ireland during the mid nineteen-seventies that is the Naked Massacre. Giving too, its conjunctive title Born for Hell, this latter title comes from a segment of a tattoo that was on Speck's arm, and in the end, was to be his undoing, the full tattoo reads: BORN TO RAISE HELL.
What is intriguing about Naked Massacre, with its West German production that whilst being shot in Hamburg and Studio Bendestorf, Germany, again, and being dubbed into English, it is the 1970's exterior Belfast locations that sets this film apart to give it an air of historical reference. Ironically, too or just sheer coincidence, as both, then, Germany and Ireland were divided by the political, and with Northern Ireland, religious beliefs. Seeing our protagonist wander the derelict war-torn streets of Belfast, with its IRA slogans and with the English army patrols and armoured vehicles setting an atmosphere of desperation and bleak overtones in an environment were faction Vs. faction and soldier Vs. stone throwing youths. An interesting reflective on harsh times in both English and Ireland's history.
German born Mathieu Carriere is the US' Vietnam vet' drifter Cain Adamson, reprising the role as Richard Speck, who, while trying to get back home, finds himself waiting for a passage back to the States. It is here, while waiting, kicking stones and hanging around the local pub, he finds the dwelling of the student nurses.
Denis Heroux the Montreal born film director, producer and here, writer and director, has our woman hater disturbing these residents with his grudges and psychosis that are brutal and disturbing. While, in general, a film of female degradation, with its grainy film stock and basic environment, these European writers' too, have given us a tale of woes from the perspective of an eroding mind of a war vet' who questions his own existence while very easily blames others for his predicament. This downward spiral of sanity leads to a very claustrophobic and tense world of hate and retribution to those he finds responsible most: the female of the spices.
Whilst being a work of fiction here, one has to remember that the narrative is, loosely, based around fact, and the reality is that this film is hard-hitting and plays testament to the weakness of this male mind and its overpowering of the enduring "weaker sex". As the night progresses, we see the completeness of his insanity; vile, ruthless and completely out of control.
We can see violations of the fairer sex in films as I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Last House on the Left (1972) and in hindsight, Salo; 120 Days of Sodom (1975), this too, Naked Massacre, is not pleasant viewing. One should not fall into the trap of thinking this as macabre entertainment but it being a visual nightmare of a state of mind that in one summer's night in a nurse's dormitory, in the USA, a little piece of it died. Most mercilessly.
Are We Having Fun Yet?
Steve_Nyland14 November 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is reprehensible - My Worst Movie Experience Of 2005, No Contest. I totally hated it, do not understand why it was made aside from the shrewd rationale that it would probably earn money, and have zero interest in ever seeing it again to try and figure out what is going on. I don't want to understand this movie, I want to forget it. It lacks any kind of artifice of design or creativity, existing only as a document meant to mortify or titillate it's audience depending on whether or not they are vicarious sex criminals, and look trendy (circa 1976) while doing so. Spare me next time.
The idea has potential and somebody spent a lot of time scripting the intense, brooding dialog recited by the cast members. The formula sounds sure fire: Cross two parts Richard Speck with one part the IRA in Northern Ireland, trot out a cast of attractive looking young ladies and abuse them in the cloistered, claustrophobic confines of their dormitory with ample nudity. The idea has worked before -- Fernando di Leo's SLAUGHTER HOTEL was "inspired" by the Speck murders and is ten times more graphic & sleazy as NAKED MASSACRE (the version I found myself watching, oh the joy) but has a moral standpoint and was FUN. This movie is long, it is mostly boring, and what isn't is about as enjoyable as chewing on a mouthful of thumbtacks.
THE PLOT: An emotionally scarred former soldier (who has lost his wife & child *AND* served in Vietnam, injecting the plot with a terminal case of heavy-handed "social resonance overkill") arrives in a glum suburb of Belfast to watch the British soldiers mugging for the camera behind their barbed wire as they try to keep the people from killing each other, or whatever they were doing there, and cope with his personal loss of humanity. The guy is, in short, a basket case. Meanwhile, a boarding house full of scantily clad young nubile nurses at the local veteran's hospital is celebrating some holiday or another and the soldier (played with dull affection by Mathieu Carrière, who isn't bad actually) crashes the gig once all the lights are off & holds the nightgown clad nurses hostage with just a switchblade even though the girls I know would have bumrushed and pummeled the scumbag en mass into a lifeless pulp. But I digress -- He then proceeds to debase, humiliate, slap around and murder the girls in turn to further some general payback-against-humanity scheme as a counterpoint to war, the British occupation, global warming, the use of Styrofoam containers by McDonalds, teenage smoking, or any other handy social issues lying about. And eventually, the movie is over. ARE WE HAVING FUN YET??
I won't give away the ending but it was infuriating and suggests that this was supposed to have some sort of message about war, hatred, evil, suffering, murder, sex, death and the blurring of right and wrong within those who have been traumatized by carnage & suffering. If the film did have such a genuine message I might forgive it for being a sleazy, voyeuristic exercise in murder, debasement and humiliation. But whatever message is there is never made clear and the film seems to be using elements like Vietnam or the Irish Rebublic vs the British for their trendiness & topicality. The guy saw horror in Vietnam and sees it back home in Ireland, disguised by public policy. Well, so what? The movie could have been set anywhere, since most of the "plot" takes place indoors: The Ireland angle is just a contrivance. What's especially distasteful is knowing damn well that by condemning it people will be intrigued to find out why it pushed my buttons. Better to say nothing and just flunk it by saying it sucks.
The film is well-made to be sure but is almost pure exploitation, with minimal exposition, lots of gloomy discussion scenes and about a half hour of the girls screaming, grimacing, crying, suffering, hurting, begging and finally dying their way through the middle section of the film while Mr. Carrière sneers and drools over it all with a blasé detachment that suggests that he and/or the director saw OPEN SEASON with Peter Fonda first, which also shares the distinction of being fun compared to this. And don't be titillated or fooled by the USA "X" rating, it sure wasn't for graphic sexual content and makes CALIGULA seem erotic in comparison, and, amazingly, shorter than this. NAKED MASSACRE is not particularly provocative, not particularly gory or excessively violent, filmed with an unimaginative documentary style that lends nothing to the story while trying to appear topical, and can be easily missed by anyone who does not gain pleasure by watching humans suffer.
For anyone else shame on you, and I will take great pleasure in stating that this movie SUCKS.
1/10: To be avoided.
The idea has potential and somebody spent a lot of time scripting the intense, brooding dialog recited by the cast members. The formula sounds sure fire: Cross two parts Richard Speck with one part the IRA in Northern Ireland, trot out a cast of attractive looking young ladies and abuse them in the cloistered, claustrophobic confines of their dormitory with ample nudity. The idea has worked before -- Fernando di Leo's SLAUGHTER HOTEL was "inspired" by the Speck murders and is ten times more graphic & sleazy as NAKED MASSACRE (the version I found myself watching, oh the joy) but has a moral standpoint and was FUN. This movie is long, it is mostly boring, and what isn't is about as enjoyable as chewing on a mouthful of thumbtacks.
THE PLOT: An emotionally scarred former soldier (who has lost his wife & child *AND* served in Vietnam, injecting the plot with a terminal case of heavy-handed "social resonance overkill") arrives in a glum suburb of Belfast to watch the British soldiers mugging for the camera behind their barbed wire as they try to keep the people from killing each other, or whatever they were doing there, and cope with his personal loss of humanity. The guy is, in short, a basket case. Meanwhile, a boarding house full of scantily clad young nubile nurses at the local veteran's hospital is celebrating some holiday or another and the soldier (played with dull affection by Mathieu Carrière, who isn't bad actually) crashes the gig once all the lights are off & holds the nightgown clad nurses hostage with just a switchblade even though the girls I know would have bumrushed and pummeled the scumbag en mass into a lifeless pulp. But I digress -- He then proceeds to debase, humiliate, slap around and murder the girls in turn to further some general payback-against-humanity scheme as a counterpoint to war, the British occupation, global warming, the use of Styrofoam containers by McDonalds, teenage smoking, or any other handy social issues lying about. And eventually, the movie is over. ARE WE HAVING FUN YET??
I won't give away the ending but it was infuriating and suggests that this was supposed to have some sort of message about war, hatred, evil, suffering, murder, sex, death and the blurring of right and wrong within those who have been traumatized by carnage & suffering. If the film did have such a genuine message I might forgive it for being a sleazy, voyeuristic exercise in murder, debasement and humiliation. But whatever message is there is never made clear and the film seems to be using elements like Vietnam or the Irish Rebublic vs the British for their trendiness & topicality. The guy saw horror in Vietnam and sees it back home in Ireland, disguised by public policy. Well, so what? The movie could have been set anywhere, since most of the "plot" takes place indoors: The Ireland angle is just a contrivance. What's especially distasteful is knowing damn well that by condemning it people will be intrigued to find out why it pushed my buttons. Better to say nothing and just flunk it by saying it sucks.
The film is well-made to be sure but is almost pure exploitation, with minimal exposition, lots of gloomy discussion scenes and about a half hour of the girls screaming, grimacing, crying, suffering, hurting, begging and finally dying their way through the middle section of the film while Mr. Carrière sneers and drools over it all with a blasé detachment that suggests that he and/or the director saw OPEN SEASON with Peter Fonda first, which also shares the distinction of being fun compared to this. And don't be titillated or fooled by the USA "X" rating, it sure wasn't for graphic sexual content and makes CALIGULA seem erotic in comparison, and, amazingly, shorter than this. NAKED MASSACRE is not particularly provocative, not particularly gory or excessively violent, filmed with an unimaginative documentary style that lends nothing to the story while trying to appear topical, and can be easily missed by anyone who does not gain pleasure by watching humans suffer.
For anyone else shame on you, and I will take great pleasure in stating that this movie SUCKS.
1/10: To be avoided.
Nasty and disturbing thriller.
HumanoidOfFlesh5 May 2003
"Born for Hell"/"Naked Massacre" takes place in Belfast,Northern Ireland during civil war and IRA terror.A group of eight young innocent nurses are sharing a house with no men to protect them.Mathieu Carriere is an ex-Vietnam soldier,with a pathological hate for all women.In a night of bloody horror he stalks the nurses,murdering them one by one until all meet their demise at the hands of this madman.The film is truly unsettling with some nasty scenes of misogynistic sexual violence.It is apparently based on actual events(Richard Speck - mass murderer of eight innocent nurses in 1966),what makes it even more disturbing and grim.The acting is very good and it's nice to see Leonora Fani("Giallo a Venezia"-1979)as Jenny.The film is extremely hard to find,so grab the copy and treasure it.Still it's a pretty strong stuff and definitely not for everybody.
Part Character Study, Part Exploitation Film
coolranchdavidians26 January 2016
Evident by the lurid, nonsensical title that was most likely slapped on the final print by seedy exhibitors and greedy theater owners, Naked Massacre aims for the profound but falls victim to the basest genre trappings. The film advertises itself as being based on the infamous Richard Speck case. Speck was an American mass murderer in the sixties who killed six female nurses during a home invasion. The film is merely inspired by the story, changing the locale from Chicago to Ireland. The switch works, giving the horror film an interesting backdrop, a war torn country besieged by the IRA, and setting it apart from similar themed movies like Last House on the Left and Last House on the Beach. The main character of the film, not named Richard Speck though he shares certain similarities, is a Vietnam vet trying to return to the United States. Surprisingly for a movie of this ilk, the film spends more time with the killer than with his victims. The nurses are non-entities drawn in broad strokes. The most recognizable actress, Carole Laure, is known for starring in Sweet Movie, a Yugoslavian film much more successful in blending socio-political statements with explicit sex and violence. Once the killing starts the movie devolves into a nasty grindhouse film. Scenes where our main character terrorizes a pregnant victim or forces one woman to perform oral sex on another crosses the line of good taste and belittles the measured film that came before it. Still, the movie is worth a look and recommended because of its unique place among horror films. Though flawed, Naked Massacre deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Social Decay in Cinematic Form
kakasqid29 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I have never been more convinced that, like the Ouroboros feasting on its own flesh, this movie is both symptomatic of and inspiration to the very worst in society. Allow me to correct many of the comments made by other posters for this black hole of a movie.
1. This movie is not a thriller. At no point are you held in suspense nor actually scared. There is no good music, very poor dramatic presentation, and no element of the unknown, which can form the basis of suspense. The main character makes Ted Bundy seem like Mr. Rogers, while simultaneously the overall piece leaves the viewer yearning for Freddy vs. Jason, simply because the jump to an actual suspense piece or thriller would be such a leap forward as to bend-space itself, potentially ending existence as we know it (then again, half way through this movie, this option does not sound too bad.) 2. This movie is disturbing, but not in an artistic, Hieronymus Bosch-type way where there is thought behind the disturbance. The predictable and tasteless imagery does not make you think about some deeper truth or put life in perspective or serve any of the multitudinous purposes disturbing imagery can serve in film or art. The movie is no more artistic than if I actually left my handycam recording as I raped and mutilated body after body for no reason other than a bad case of the "crazies." Sure, it would be pretty disturbing as my rape victim's tears mingle with her own blood, both of which cause me great sexual satisfaction. But artistic? You show me a person who thinks so, and I'll show you a person who sexually gratifies himself to German drum-bass and portraits of a youthful Adolf Hitler. No lie, I got his business card!!! As I want this posting to be available to people before they see the movie, I am desperately trying to avoid spoilers (although spoiling this movie would be the greatest gift anyone could have given me last night at around 2am). With that in mind, I decide to end my comment here, although the true "review" would be much longer as I really really do not want anyone to see or even talk about this movie ever again. The people behind it should be shunned in both cinematic and general social circles, and we, the damned who have seen the piece, should be granted subsidized brain surgery to remove it from our memories. Email me with comments or concerns.
1. This movie is not a thriller. At no point are you held in suspense nor actually scared. There is no good music, very poor dramatic presentation, and no element of the unknown, which can form the basis of suspense. The main character makes Ted Bundy seem like Mr. Rogers, while simultaneously the overall piece leaves the viewer yearning for Freddy vs. Jason, simply because the jump to an actual suspense piece or thriller would be such a leap forward as to bend-space itself, potentially ending existence as we know it (then again, half way through this movie, this option does not sound too bad.) 2. This movie is disturbing, but not in an artistic, Hieronymus Bosch-type way where there is thought behind the disturbance. The predictable and tasteless imagery does not make you think about some deeper truth or put life in perspective or serve any of the multitudinous purposes disturbing imagery can serve in film or art. The movie is no more artistic than if I actually left my handycam recording as I raped and mutilated body after body for no reason other than a bad case of the "crazies." Sure, it would be pretty disturbing as my rape victim's tears mingle with her own blood, both of which cause me great sexual satisfaction. But artistic? You show me a person who thinks so, and I'll show you a person who sexually gratifies himself to German drum-bass and portraits of a youthful Adolf Hitler. No lie, I got his business card!!! As I want this posting to be available to people before they see the movie, I am desperately trying to avoid spoilers (although spoiling this movie would be the greatest gift anyone could have given me last night at around 2am). With that in mind, I decide to end my comment here, although the true "review" would be much longer as I really really do not want anyone to see or even talk about this movie ever again. The people behind it should be shunned in both cinematic and general social circles, and we, the damned who have seen the piece, should be granted subsidized brain surgery to remove it from our memories. Email me with comments or concerns.
Some background on this film
lor_28 January 2009
I've enjoyed reading the many comments on IMDb about this obscure film, which I saw on video back in 1986. Here's some background about its production (I advise you to just click on the personnel for further info): it was made at a time of very liberal tax shelter laws for international co-productions, with Canada making several arrangements with European nations and even Israel.
The writeoffs available to investors, often 200% or more, encouraged backing many oddball films that would not have been made normally -for example a lot of German and British-backed pictures I remember fondly like The Internecine Project (w/James Coburn), Inside Out (w/Telly Savalas), Paper Tiger (w/David Niven) or the weird robot movie Who? (w/Elliott Gould). Born for Hell was structured as a a complicated co-production, based in Germany with a veteran German producer (GEORG RUETHER), an up-and-coming French Canadian director DENIS HEROUX, plus story and script co-written by veteran director GEZA VON RADVANYI (who made one all-time classic neo-realist film, Women Without Names, way back in 1950).
When I saw Born for Hell ten years after it was made I was shocked by the unbelievable cast of European greats and near-great talents that had been rounded up. Quota systems meant that actors from each co-production country had to be chosen, and in this case we have quite a lineup:
MATTHIEU CARRIERE from Germany is the lead; he's starred in many top-notch features, back to Schlondorff's Young Torless and some fine films by Andre Delvaux, Erich Rohmer, Marguerite Duras (classic India Song), the title role in the memorable Egon Schiele, Robert van Ackeren's A Woman in Flames and even some U.S. and Canadian assignments.
His female costars are: CAROLE LAURE, French Canadian, the star of Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie, Gilles Carle's excellent The Head of Normande St. Onge and later on Bertrand Blier's Get Out Your Handkerchiefs;
CHRISTINE BOISSON, the French star who had been featured in the mega-hit Emmanuelle, but blossomed as the star of Antonioni's Identification of a Woman, while also working for Miklos Jancso, Alain Robbe-Grillet and other top helmers;
MYRIAM BOYER, French character actress who had already been in a Claude Sautet hit Vincent, Francois... but in 1976 was part of the ensemble of the breakthrough Swiss picture Alain Tanner's Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the year 2000;
EVA MATTES, German star of many classics by Fassbinder, notably Jail Bait, Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and In a Year of 13 Moons, Herzog's brilliant Stroszek and Woyzeck, plus her best assignment in the title role of Percy Adlon's Celeste (about Proust's loyal servant);
DEBRA BERGER, an Austrian starlet with nutty credits, going from a Hawaii Five-O episode (!) to starring in one of Marcel Carne's last films The Marvelous Visit (a fascinating, forgotten movie), one of the discoveries (alongside Isabelle Huppert and Kim Cattrall) in Otto Preminger's flop Rosebud and finishing her career by toiling in 5 Cannon productions in a row, ranging from sexploitation Nana to sci-fi Invaders from Mars;
LEONORA FANI, underage-looking Italian sex goddess whose best of many '70s assignments was Salvatore Samperi's beautifully-shot Nene;
ANDREE PELLETIER, young French Canadian actress who showed promise in Gilles Carle's Les Males, and went on to work mainly in Canada in the Craig Russell cross-dressing hit Outrageous!, Micheline Lanctot's sensitive The Handyman and Teri McLuhan's unjustly forgotten The Third Walker;
and ELY GALLEANI, an Italian actress who never made the big time but did everything from giallos to comedies for top directors like Dino Risi, Carlo Lizzani, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci before joining the Joe D'Amato stock company.
I've gone on at this length to demonstrate why the 1970s are so fondly remembered -it wasn't about big budgets and big box office in those days, especially before Jaws and Star Wars changed everything. It was a period of productivity: Ken Russell and Robert Altman cranking out 3 films a year, and European filmmakers as busy as the Hollywood film factories of the '30s -not all of it good (Born for Hell is nobody's classic) but most of it interesting, even 30 years later.
Current strategies of romantic comedies, comic book adaptations and torture-horror films, mostly made on huge budgets, are yielding ephemeral results -junk like the recent The Spirit which has a shelf life measured in weeks not decades. The current slump is nothing new; I noticed a remarkable resemblance to today in the Warner Bros. 1961 lineup: consisting of mainly romantic vehicles for young contract talent: Warren Beatty, Connie Stevens, Diane McBain and Troy Donahue (all fun to recall but of no lasting interest) plus the inevitable gimmick film: the Canadian hit The Mask (...put on the mask now!), in 3-D.
The writeoffs available to investors, often 200% or more, encouraged backing many oddball films that would not have been made normally -for example a lot of German and British-backed pictures I remember fondly like The Internecine Project (w/James Coburn), Inside Out (w/Telly Savalas), Paper Tiger (w/David Niven) or the weird robot movie Who? (w/Elliott Gould). Born for Hell was structured as a a complicated co-production, based in Germany with a veteran German producer (GEORG RUETHER), an up-and-coming French Canadian director DENIS HEROUX, plus story and script co-written by veteran director GEZA VON RADVANYI (who made one all-time classic neo-realist film, Women Without Names, way back in 1950).
When I saw Born for Hell ten years after it was made I was shocked by the unbelievable cast of European greats and near-great talents that had been rounded up. Quota systems meant that actors from each co-production country had to be chosen, and in this case we have quite a lineup:
MATTHIEU CARRIERE from Germany is the lead; he's starred in many top-notch features, back to Schlondorff's Young Torless and some fine films by Andre Delvaux, Erich Rohmer, Marguerite Duras (classic India Song), the title role in the memorable Egon Schiele, Robert van Ackeren's A Woman in Flames and even some U.S. and Canadian assignments.
His female costars are: CAROLE LAURE, French Canadian, the star of Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie, Gilles Carle's excellent The Head of Normande St. Onge and later on Bertrand Blier's Get Out Your Handkerchiefs;
CHRISTINE BOISSON, the French star who had been featured in the mega-hit Emmanuelle, but blossomed as the star of Antonioni's Identification of a Woman, while also working for Miklos Jancso, Alain Robbe-Grillet and other top helmers;
MYRIAM BOYER, French character actress who had already been in a Claude Sautet hit Vincent, Francois... but in 1976 was part of the ensemble of the breakthrough Swiss picture Alain Tanner's Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the year 2000;
EVA MATTES, German star of many classics by Fassbinder, notably Jail Bait, Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and In a Year of 13 Moons, Herzog's brilliant Stroszek and Woyzeck, plus her best assignment in the title role of Percy Adlon's Celeste (about Proust's loyal servant);
DEBRA BERGER, an Austrian starlet with nutty credits, going from a Hawaii Five-O episode (!) to starring in one of Marcel Carne's last films The Marvelous Visit (a fascinating, forgotten movie), one of the discoveries (alongside Isabelle Huppert and Kim Cattrall) in Otto Preminger's flop Rosebud and finishing her career by toiling in 5 Cannon productions in a row, ranging from sexploitation Nana to sci-fi Invaders from Mars;
LEONORA FANI, underage-looking Italian sex goddess whose best of many '70s assignments was Salvatore Samperi's beautifully-shot Nene;
ANDREE PELLETIER, young French Canadian actress who showed promise in Gilles Carle's Les Males, and went on to work mainly in Canada in the Craig Russell cross-dressing hit Outrageous!, Micheline Lanctot's sensitive The Handyman and Teri McLuhan's unjustly forgotten The Third Walker;
and ELY GALLEANI, an Italian actress who never made the big time but did everything from giallos to comedies for top directors like Dino Risi, Carlo Lizzani, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci before joining the Joe D'Amato stock company.
I've gone on at this length to demonstrate why the 1970s are so fondly remembered -it wasn't about big budgets and big box office in those days, especially before Jaws and Star Wars changed everything. It was a period of productivity: Ken Russell and Robert Altman cranking out 3 films a year, and European filmmakers as busy as the Hollywood film factories of the '30s -not all of it good (Born for Hell is nobody's classic) but most of it interesting, even 30 years later.
Current strategies of romantic comedies, comic book adaptations and torture-horror films, mostly made on huge budgets, are yielding ephemeral results -junk like the recent The Spirit which has a shelf life measured in weeks not decades. The current slump is nothing new; I noticed a remarkable resemblance to today in the Warner Bros. 1961 lineup: consisting of mainly romantic vehicles for young contract talent: Warren Beatty, Connie Stevens, Diane McBain and Troy Donahue (all fun to recall but of no lasting interest) plus the inevitable gimmick film: the Canadian hit The Mask (...put on the mask now!), in 3-D.
Very unpleasant but well done...
MailCrapHere26 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This film is competently shot, well written and for the most part it is well acted. The problem is that what has been written and acted is so damned unpleasant. It's obviously based on the Richard Speck case which is a spoiler in itself if you are holding your breath to see how it comes out...
An American Vietnam vet with psychological problems and a pathological hatred of women has apparently been working his way home as a merchant seaman. He arrives in Belfast in the middle of a time of violence where armed soldiers move about the streets and Protestant and Catholic factions are shooting people daily. All of this is apparently intended to make some greater social comment but it would seem a bit obvious to state that violence begets violence or some such.
The nastiness of the film begins early with the young man's encounter with an aging whore whom he forces to dance nude in all her sagging wretchedness.
When the sick bastard finally enters the house occupied by eight young nurses he witnesses one of the girls making lesbian overtures to her friend. This leads him, later, to force the pair into performing sexually for him. I do not consider this a homophobic scene, as stated by a previous viewer, but it is a part of the intensely unpleasant sequence of rape, torture and murder which makes up about half the film.
The women are very passive and this makes the whole thing even nastier to watch. You want them to fight back. But I don't think any of Richard Speck's victims fought either, and their murderer was similarly armed with only a knife.
The violence is not terribly gory and there are no prosthetic blood-spurting wounds. The most graphic bit of gore comes almost at the end as the killer cuts his own wrist in a suicide attempt.
An American Vietnam vet with psychological problems and a pathological hatred of women has apparently been working his way home as a merchant seaman. He arrives in Belfast in the middle of a time of violence where armed soldiers move about the streets and Protestant and Catholic factions are shooting people daily. All of this is apparently intended to make some greater social comment but it would seem a bit obvious to state that violence begets violence or some such.
The nastiness of the film begins early with the young man's encounter with an aging whore whom he forces to dance nude in all her sagging wretchedness.
When the sick bastard finally enters the house occupied by eight young nurses he witnesses one of the girls making lesbian overtures to her friend. This leads him, later, to force the pair into performing sexually for him. I do not consider this a homophobic scene, as stated by a previous viewer, but it is a part of the intensely unpleasant sequence of rape, torture and murder which makes up about half the film.
The women are very passive and this makes the whole thing even nastier to watch. You want them to fight back. But I don't think any of Richard Speck's victims fought either, and their murderer was similarly armed with only a knife.
The violence is not terribly gory and there are no prosthetic blood-spurting wounds. The most graphic bit of gore comes almost at the end as the killer cuts his own wrist in a suicide attempt.
Feckin' grim
Bezenby23 October 2015
Hard to be upbeat and funny about this one! This is pure 100% seventies grimness, what with it being some sort of comment about being a disturbed Vietnam vet or something.
Set in grim Belfast during the grim troubles, complete with grim troubles, grim bombings and such like, our Vietnam vet only wants to get back to the states, and tries to do so by visiting a horrific middle aged Irish prozzy, begging for food, and torturing and killing eight or nine nurses for some reason.
So if you're all up for a cheesy film night, then avoid this one. While devoid (thank feck!) of anything particularly grim, this film will still leave a bad taste in your mouth, as our killer is so very polite with his victims (it's all 'please take of your clothes' and 'don't worry') but before long he's stumbling over the bodies.
It took me ages to get round to watching this one. It's not a bad film, but the subject matter is well nasty. It's not that gory until the end (when someone opens a vein) but, it's horrible
Set in grim Belfast during the grim troubles, complete with grim troubles, grim bombings and such like, our Vietnam vet only wants to get back to the states, and tries to do so by visiting a horrific middle aged Irish prozzy, begging for food, and torturing and killing eight or nine nurses for some reason.
So if you're all up for a cheesy film night, then avoid this one. While devoid (thank feck!) of anything particularly grim, this film will still leave a bad taste in your mouth, as our killer is so very polite with his victims (it's all 'please take of your clothes' and 'don't worry') but before long he's stumbling over the bodies.
It took me ages to get round to watching this one. It's not a bad film, but the subject matter is well nasty. It's not that gory until the end (when someone opens a vein) but, it's horrible
Badly dubbed and pretty sick
preppy-321 November 2009
Revolting exploitation flick based on the Richard Speck murders. It takes place in Belfast where a seriously deranged Vietnam vet (Mathieu Carriere) breaks into a house where eight nurses are staying. He degrades and/or tortures them and kills them all. That's about it for plot. I have nothing against violence or nudity and this has plenty of both BUT this was going too far. There's nothing interesting, scary or fun about seeing a bunch of innocent young women being tortured and killed. There's no real point to any of this. Halfway through I got the uncomfortable feeling that the filmmakers were enjoying showing this to us. Each torture scene was dragged out to a sickening degree. Also the film was horribly dubbed and badly acted. This is only for people who get off seeing innocent young women killed. A sickening exploitation film. A 1.
Born for Hell
Scarecrow-8818 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A deeply troubled American Vietnam soldier, enters a violence-plagued Belfast from Saigon, where he encounters a house with nurses who share let, besieging them at night, binding their hands, gagging their mouths, promising not to hurt them. Cain(Mathieu Carrière)a cold, dark-hearted man, whose wife was impregnated by a soldier pal of his, is haunted by a terrible upbringing thanks in part to his mother. So the central female members of his life wronged him, and adding the weight of Vietnam and being left with next to nothing, no monetary means to sustain him, finding it difficult to get home, an unstable Cain is bound to snap, and the nurses will feel his quiet rage as he sexually humiliates them, while also often plunging his switchblade knife into their bodies. The film, while not as violent as it could've been, is extremely unsettling and depressing. The innocent victims do not deserve their fates and Cain removes each woman one by one, seeming harmless, only to run them through a series of emotionally and physically damaging acts. His methods are cruel and demeaning. Carrière presents his homicidal sadist with a calm exterior, trotting his pretty lambs to the slaughter as the other nurses await their doom in a bedroom, tied and frightened. While we perhaps aren't partakers to actually seeing the knife sticking into the bodies of his victims, the actions themselves are just as chilling, as is Cain's ways of conducting them. It doesn't seem to bother him. He orders the nurses to commit embarrassing sexual acts, either with him or each other. He strangles one female nurse with his belt when she wouldn't beg for his sexual embrace. One nurse, so distraught at what has happened to her friends and associates, uses Cain's knife to stab herself in the chest..watch his multitude of reactions to her collapsing body, it's a very unpleasant sight. Cain has "Born for Hell" tattooed on his arm and he proudly shows it off to the nurses. At first, it seems, he merely wants their money, but as he remains it's obvious that Cain succumbs to the sick, depraved desires that are going through his mind. "Born for Hell"(Also known as the "Naked Massacre")is in the same mold as "Last House on the Left", "The Night Train Murders" & "The House at the Edge of the Park", a twisted psycho with uncontrollable urges lashing out against vulnerable women. This film plays completely straight with no humor whatsoever creating an even more distressing tone. The environment of the setting where the killer commits his deeds only adds to the overall impact of this unflinching tale of hopelessness, despair and savagery.
Despite being both powerful and haunting, I wouldn't call it entertaining, and I will probably never watch it again. Many will find it hard to sit through because the killer shows no mercy, leading his victims to certain death.
Despite being both powerful and haunting, I wouldn't call it entertaining, and I will probably never watch it again. Many will find it hard to sit through because the killer shows no mercy, leading his victims to certain death.
Vile exploitation
Thorsten-Krings14 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This really is avile exploitation movie, one of the worst I have ever seen. What makes the film so hard ro stomach for me is that it actually starts pretty well. German leading man Mathieu Carriere depicts a Vietnam soldier gone AWOL ending up in Belfast. He is a drifter who swaped "one hell for another". The depiction of violence in Northern Ireland is grim and realistic particularly one scene in which children play "execution". The sectarian violence is shown in a naturalistic way. This however then ends after about 40 minutes when the deranged protagonist holds a group of nurses hostage and sadistically kills them one by one. This is pure voyeuristic exploitation with a very sick mix of sex and violence. These torture scenes are among the worst and most repulsive I have ever seen.
"The spirit of uncontrolled violence loose in the world today"
Jonny_Numb24 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
(Spoilers) Wes Craven's 1972 feature debut "Last House on the Left" stormed onto screens with a vengeful ferocity few films have ever matched; not only did Craven's epic re-structure Ingmar Bergman's "The Virgin Spring" against the chaotic Vietnam era--it also weaved elements of jaw-dropping humor, the generational divide, an out-of-place musical score (performed by star David Hess), and extremely personal violence into an unsettling Molotov Cocktail. This firebrand also influenced the likes of William Fruet's "Death Weekend" (1976), Meir Zarchi's "I Spit on Your Grave" (1979), and Ruggero Deodato's "House on the Edge of the Park" (1980), among countless others. "Naked Massacre" is definitely one of the more obscure "Last House" imitators, but comes closest to matching the grim discomfort of Craven's film, even finding more overt threads of socio-political commentary for us to chew on.
Cain Adamson (the Hess-ian Mathieu Carriere) is an American soldier heading home from Vietnam, but is dumped in Belfast (in the middle of The Troubles) with no contingency plan; he befriends a similarly stranded Vietnamese, is accused of homosexuality by an old hooker, and decides to take a house full of young nurses hostage in hopes of getting enough money to return to the states. But it turns out Cain has an ulterior motive--he is a raging, violent misogynist who subjects his female victims to torture, humiliation, and murder. Like "First Blood," "Naked Massacre" is another film that doesn't present veterans in the most positive light, and its exploitation of that stereotype is a flaw.
The film does not dwell on any extensive exposition of charactermore or less, we're left to know victim and victimizer through their actions and scattered bits of dialog. In a conversation with the Vietnamese, Cain reveals that he had sex with his sister; also, that his best friend in Vietnam got sent home before him, and impregnated his wife; and that one of the women in his life told him he was "born for hell" (echoed on a forearm tattoo) because he never attended church. Interestingly enough, these shadings of character only provide an incomplete portrait of an Everyman-turned-Madman, and by the time "Naked Massacre" reaches its close, we are still left wondering "why." Similarly, the 8 nurses are presented in a static mannersome are quickly dispatched, while others are subjected to slow torment: a lesbian-curious couple, a pregnant girl, the mature 'leader,' the catatonic. There is a grim realism to these performances that garners our sympathy and hope.
As the film's setting and era suggests a time of political turmoil, the imagery of violent insurrection in the streets of Belfast, accompanied by grisly TV-news footage of bloodshed, is appropriate. Cain's background as a veteran, coupled with his hatred of women, adds another layer to the multi-faceted levels of madness within (an American who fought in Saigon, now jettisoned to another violent section of the world); his relative indifference to the violence around him (and, indeed, the ability to perpetuate violence) is indicative of his own desensitization. His character is not a simple psycho, and while the subtler nuances of his psyche go unexplored, Cain's uncontained misanthropy brings to mind characters from Gaspar Noe's filmography (The Butcher in "I Stand Alone"; La Tenia in "Irreversible"), and is just as unpleasant to watch.
But like the films of Noe, "Naked Massacre" (exploitation-title pedigree be damned) is more than meets the eye. Whereas "Last House" juxtaposed gritty lower-class America against upper-middle class, and reflected the extremes that each side was capable of, this film brings a cultural displacement to the mix; not only is interpersonal violence portrayed in graphic detail, but the more impersonal and faceless cultural conflict raging in the background. There are several scenes that are poignantly disturbing in their subtlety, and also show the deeper effects of violence at large: a nurse kneeling next to a man shot dead in the street by insurgents; an explosion that levels half a church; andperhaps the most jarring imagea policeman carrying a milk jug across a floor busy with chalk outlines and spilled blood, indifferently feeding a cat while watching a news report detailing the massacre.
As directed by Denis Heroux, "Naked Massacre" offers a lot more than the exploitative thrills its title promises. Like "Last House," this is tough viewinga film so unpleasant and oppressive that any prurient thrills are non-existent. Yet at its core, it is a thing of social, political, and intellectual significancewhile most will dismiss it for its unsettling violent and sexual content, more adventurous viewers will be rewarded.
Cain Adamson (the Hess-ian Mathieu Carriere) is an American soldier heading home from Vietnam, but is dumped in Belfast (in the middle of The Troubles) with no contingency plan; he befriends a similarly stranded Vietnamese, is accused of homosexuality by an old hooker, and decides to take a house full of young nurses hostage in hopes of getting enough money to return to the states. But it turns out Cain has an ulterior motive--he is a raging, violent misogynist who subjects his female victims to torture, humiliation, and murder. Like "First Blood," "Naked Massacre" is another film that doesn't present veterans in the most positive light, and its exploitation of that stereotype is a flaw.
The film does not dwell on any extensive exposition of charactermore or less, we're left to know victim and victimizer through their actions and scattered bits of dialog. In a conversation with the Vietnamese, Cain reveals that he had sex with his sister; also, that his best friend in Vietnam got sent home before him, and impregnated his wife; and that one of the women in his life told him he was "born for hell" (echoed on a forearm tattoo) because he never attended church. Interestingly enough, these shadings of character only provide an incomplete portrait of an Everyman-turned-Madman, and by the time "Naked Massacre" reaches its close, we are still left wondering "why." Similarly, the 8 nurses are presented in a static mannersome are quickly dispatched, while others are subjected to slow torment: a lesbian-curious couple, a pregnant girl, the mature 'leader,' the catatonic. There is a grim realism to these performances that garners our sympathy and hope.
As the film's setting and era suggests a time of political turmoil, the imagery of violent insurrection in the streets of Belfast, accompanied by grisly TV-news footage of bloodshed, is appropriate. Cain's background as a veteran, coupled with his hatred of women, adds another layer to the multi-faceted levels of madness within (an American who fought in Saigon, now jettisoned to another violent section of the world); his relative indifference to the violence around him (and, indeed, the ability to perpetuate violence) is indicative of his own desensitization. His character is not a simple psycho, and while the subtler nuances of his psyche go unexplored, Cain's uncontained misanthropy brings to mind characters from Gaspar Noe's filmography (The Butcher in "I Stand Alone"; La Tenia in "Irreversible"), and is just as unpleasant to watch.
But like the films of Noe, "Naked Massacre" (exploitation-title pedigree be damned) is more than meets the eye. Whereas "Last House" juxtaposed gritty lower-class America against upper-middle class, and reflected the extremes that each side was capable of, this film brings a cultural displacement to the mix; not only is interpersonal violence portrayed in graphic detail, but the more impersonal and faceless cultural conflict raging in the background. There are several scenes that are poignantly disturbing in their subtlety, and also show the deeper effects of violence at large: a nurse kneeling next to a man shot dead in the street by insurgents; an explosion that levels half a church; andperhaps the most jarring imagea policeman carrying a milk jug across a floor busy with chalk outlines and spilled blood, indifferently feeding a cat while watching a news report detailing the massacre.
As directed by Denis Heroux, "Naked Massacre" offers a lot more than the exploitative thrills its title promises. Like "Last House," this is tough viewinga film so unpleasant and oppressive that any prurient thrills are non-existent. Yet at its core, it is a thing of social, political, and intellectual significancewhile most will dismiss it for its unsettling violent and sexual content, more adventurous viewers will be rewarded.
Another "Blame the Veteran" Era Movie
nebula-370299 January 2022
For about a decade, whenever you wanted a disturbed murderer, screenwriters (none of whom ever served) would play the "Crazed Vietnam Vet" card. Cop shows on TV would have "There's a sniper on the roof shooting innocent people; he must be a Vietnam Vet." This movie carries this further, my having this deranged Vet terrorize a houseful of nursing students. This stereotype harmed the lives and job opportunities of millions of young men, and this film is a notorious example. Also, in case you need more reason to not watch it, the acting was bad and the dialog trite.
Instant personal classic with flaws.
punishmentpark15 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I didn't know anything about this film prior to watching it, except that it was supposedly a grim tale, and the (English) title gives away plenty, too. Though based on the Richard Speck murders, the best part of this movie is mostly an artistic interpretation when compared to the facts of the case. So, it is 'inspired by', but this cinematic treatise is inspiring all by itself.
'Naked Massacre' begins in Belfast, Ireland, at the time of 'The Troubles', which provides a bleak and harsh background for the events (as opposed to the Speck case, which took place in Chicago, and also, the main character differs substantially from Richard Speck). Protagonist Cain Adamson (Cain, son of Adam...?) is an army man who just returned from serving in Vietnam and he gets stuck (temporarily, he hopes) in Belfast. There are not many events for some time, but something is brewing. He wanders through the streets, looking for money to continue his journey, and meets with some peculiar characters, one of whom is an Asian man who reads him like a book; the viewer understands that Cain has a lot going on inside him - but up until he visits the nurses' house, the director pretty much keeps us guessing (it's as if even Cain keeps himself guessing).
Then he enters the nurses' house and Cain begins to unravel as much as the story does. Both him and his victims are given such a human touch (by both the writing and the actors) it is hard to take, let alone comprehend. This should be all I give away about it, if you are a(n amateur) student of (extreme) human behaviour, or simply a fan of exploitation films, you can not, may not, miss this one. It reminded me at times of the work of Alan Clarke.
Too bad about the voice-dubbing and some parts of the film that had lesser impact (the civil war setting in Belfast to me was unnecessary, some acting, scenes and characters were a little too clichéd and / or below par). I would give the greater part of the film 7 or 8 out of 10, but the 'main course' should be worth 10 out of 10, so I feel it deserves at least a small 9.
'Naked Massacre' begins in Belfast, Ireland, at the time of 'The Troubles', which provides a bleak and harsh background for the events (as opposed to the Speck case, which took place in Chicago, and also, the main character differs substantially from Richard Speck). Protagonist Cain Adamson (Cain, son of Adam...?) is an army man who just returned from serving in Vietnam and he gets stuck (temporarily, he hopes) in Belfast. There are not many events for some time, but something is brewing. He wanders through the streets, looking for money to continue his journey, and meets with some peculiar characters, one of whom is an Asian man who reads him like a book; the viewer understands that Cain has a lot going on inside him - but up until he visits the nurses' house, the director pretty much keeps us guessing (it's as if even Cain keeps himself guessing).
Then he enters the nurses' house and Cain begins to unravel as much as the story does. Both him and his victims are given such a human touch (by both the writing and the actors) it is hard to take, let alone comprehend. This should be all I give away about it, if you are a(n amateur) student of (extreme) human behaviour, or simply a fan of exploitation films, you can not, may not, miss this one. It reminded me at times of the work of Alan Clarke.
Too bad about the voice-dubbing and some parts of the film that had lesser impact (the civil war setting in Belfast to me was unnecessary, some acting, scenes and characters were a little too clichéd and / or below par). I would give the greater part of the film 7 or 8 out of 10, but the 'main course' should be worth 10 out of 10, so I feel it deserves at least a small 9.
A downbeat and unusual exploitation flick
Red-Barracuda3 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Naked Massacre is an exploitation movie, or more specifically a house-invasion film. Like most of the pictures of this sub-genre, it's pretty disturbing and offensive. But it isn't an ordinary film of this type. For one thing, it's based on a true story about a disturbed man who invaded a nurse's dormitory, killing them one by one over the course of the night. And this is basically the synopsis of the latter half of this film. This material is handled in a fairly traditionally exploitative way, with sexual assault and violence being the order of the day. What sets this film apart from others of its ilk – aside from the basis in reality – is it's setting. Mid-70's Belfast is the backdrop for the narrative. At this time the city was at the height of The Troubles, and it was not a very nice place at all. Bombings and sectarian killings were common-place, while the British Army patrolled the streets. All of this is depicted in the film, adding considerable grimness to the overall atmosphere. It's certainly a very well chosen and unusual locale and is used to great effect.
The film takes an unusually long while to get to the nasty stuff. It spends its first half setting the scene and developing the central character, who is a Vietnam veteran. So the film does throw a lot at its audience and certainly is not quite the mindless slasher film that you could understandably expect with a title like Naked Massacre. It's really an unremittingly downbeat and depressing tale. I'm not sure if it's extreme enough for fans of house-invasion films, but it was disturbing enough for me
The film takes an unusually long while to get to the nasty stuff. It spends its first half setting the scene and developing the central character, who is a Vietnam veteran. So the film does throw a lot at its audience and certainly is not quite the mindless slasher film that you could understandably expect with a title like Naked Massacre. It's really an unremittingly downbeat and depressing tale. I'm not sure if it's extreme enough for fans of house-invasion films, but it was disturbing enough for me
Born to be mild
Zeegrade27 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
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!
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