SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Leofwine_draca This sick quickie earned its notoriety thanks to its high gore content, taking bloody special effects to a new sickening level of realism thanks to the work of master craftsman Tom Savini. Other than the gore, it's a grim, on-the-street style film, brought to gritty life by director William Lustig (a major film fan himself). It often recalls other films like TAXI DRIVER (a film in which Spinell had a bit part) in its depiction of a New York filled with litter, sleaze and low-lives and it has to be said that this is a depressing, non-entertaining ride through some of the lowest quarters imaginable.The plot is routine, a series of murders as in a slasher film, interspersed with disturbing moments inside Frank Zito's flat, where he talks to his dead mother and imagines that the mannequins around him are real people. It certainly is a sick film, one for those with strong stomachs only; Savini outdoes himself with the gore here, from graphic impalings to throat slashings, garrottings and stabbings. The film is also notorious for a head explosion by shotgun blast (Savini contrived to pull the trigger and shoot himself, in a small role as Disco Boy) which is more graphic than the one in SCANNERS! Yet the worst bits are the scalpings, played out in excruciating slow motion, as we get to see every detail as Zito slices the hair off his victims with a straight razor. Spinell sweats and grimaces as the disturbed psychopath, haunted by memories of childhood torture at the hands of his mother. Yet he also provokes pathos thanks to his plight, and you end up feeling sorry for this monster despite the horrendous acts he commits. Although Spinell starred in many productions this will forever be remembered as his most defining moment. The only other star name is glamour queen Caroline Munro (who re-teams with Spinell after Italian sci-fi epic STARCRASH). Munro isn't much of an actress but she is pretty, so her relationship with Spinell is the result of a bit of artistic license, I think. The film is full of tension and suspense, with the highlight being the lengthy stalking of a nurse, which literally had me on the edge of my seat throughout; fingernail-biting stuff. Things are definitely weird at the finale, where there's a scare copied from CARRIE and a final mutilation which looks to have been copied in DAY OF THE DEAD.

GL84 Still affected by his mother's death, a psychotic serial killer begins stalking the streets of New York for potential targets only to find a potential romance that might quell his vicious streak and struggles to control his murderous urges before they return to affect his quest.This here was one of the more overrated slasher efforts of the time. The main problem here is the fact that the movie focuses on the killer more than the victims he goes after, being a character study rather than a truly enjoyable body count hacking. This is the real crime of the movie since he isn't one of the more fascinating serial killers in cinema history, so it can become boring if you're not in the right mind-frame. There are long stretches between kill scenes where you are just begging for something to happen, and all we get is watching him wander around looking for nothing or simply focusing on some old guy who keeps a part of his victims around and talks to them. That really loses the dread in the killer, since it either looks ridiculous and we laugh at him now or it's a trait that isn't very accurately represented throughout the whole movie. Here, it doesn't really invoke terror when a man scalps women to use their hair to dress up mannequins, then he begins talking to then while he's administering the hair to the mannequin. That looks silly instead of terrifying and when it comes into play as often as it does here with the utterly clichéd and wholly overused motive of childhood abuse from his parents as the catalyst for the rampage just making the whole thing even more problematic. There's also the utterly ridiculous romance angle that comes into play here that's incredibly difficult to rationalize why that occurs as it does here since there's very little about it that's believable why someone in her position would fall for an overweight, grimy person like him in the condition she does and it simply reeks of being there for envious purposes only. These here are really damaging and hold this back so much that the few positives here aren't that worthwhile. For the most part, nearly everything enjoyable with this one involves the gory killings which makes out nearly every single wound is like cutting through an important artery in the body. We get a slew of graphic kills here, mutilating the body with a series of intense work full of incredible effects work that gets featured. From the early random attacks, including the rather chilling stalking scene in the subway station to the attack in the friends' apartment to the gruesomeness of the utterly savage finale that ends this on a strikingly vicious moment, these here are quite good. Still, there's way too many flaws here to really mean anything here.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Brief frontal-full Nudity, and Language.

Python Hyena Maniac (1980): Dir: William Lustig / Cast: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper, Rita Montone: Graphic and disturbing horror film with a title that examines the psychology and mindset of the mentally insane. Joe Spinell is an ominous presence with eyes full of intensity and a trail of scalped females. He plays Frank Zito and his apartment is decorated with an assortment of mannequins topped with scalped hair nailed to their heads. A shrine exists with candles and a picture of his mother where he wails in anguish with memories of abuse. To answer this pain he stalks women by night hoping to find the best hair piece. Caroline Munro beautifies the film as a photographer whom Zito makes contact with. His ability to approach and communicate with her becomes a curios element in the film. After a gruesome yet effect start, structure is repetitious with a pointless sequence involving Kelly Piper as a brainless nurse who manages to corner herself in a subway washroom before having a knife lunged into her back. Among other victims are Abigail Clayton as a model who was being photographed by Munro and eyed by Zito. Rita Montone plays a hooker strangled by Zito. With graphic effects by Tom Savini and William Lustig giving eerie paranoia in Zito's apartment where reality is overcome with mannequins taking the form of the victims and issuing a grisly consequence. Score: 7 ½ / 10

Uriah43 Abused as a child, a psychopath named "Frank Zito" (Joe Spinell) relieves his sexual frustration and anger by killing women and then taking their scalps which he displays on mannequins in his apartment. Although he disdains his actions immediately after killing them he continues to do so under the belief that he will eventually meet the "right" woman and only then will he be able to stop. Then one day he sees a young photographer named "Anna D'Antoni" (Caroline Munroe) and the idea suddenly dawns on him that she may hold the key to his problems. Anyway, rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that I was mildly disappointed by the fact that so much of it centered on the mental turmoil surrounding Frank Zito when there were several other characters which could have used more character development. For example, in one particular scene there was a "nurse" (played by Kelly Piper) who appears and then after a moderately suspenseful chase scene is killed. Now, while it was a decent scene, it could have been better if some effort was made to allow the audience to identify a bit more with the victim. Same thing with all of the other characters. Likewise, although the aforementioned scene contained some suspense the absence of it from the rest of the movie was quite noticeable. In short, while this movie wasn't terribly bad it could have used some improvement and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.