A deliciously grimy and dirty debut from Abel Ferrara ('Bad Lieutenant'), 'Driller Killer' follows an artist (played by Ferrara himself) whose frustrated attempts to make ends meet and find creative satisfaction against a backdrop of urban decay and the interminable punk-rock cacophony of a band in the apartment above him eventually get the better of him and lead him to emotional breakdown and maniacal, grisly homicide.

The story of a city-dweller (New York, no less) who can't take it any more and snaps clearly owes much to 'Taxi Driver' but, in contrast, 'Driller Killer' is distinguished by an almost total lack of the psychological and technical finesse so characteristic of Scorsese's film and makes its point through a relentless inarticulate bludgeoning of the viewer which could be said to be an (ahem) acquired taste. Having said this, the film isn't as gory as its cult status on the list of "video nasties" compiled by the Director of Public Prosecutions in England in the early eighties would lead you to believe and in lacking both the searing transgression of films like 'Cannibal Holocaust' or the all-out gore of films like 'The Beyond' or 'Evil Dead' some may well be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about.

However, all things considered the film is an enjoyable psychotic romp (in a masochistic sort-of-way) and I have always found its limitations to be an indispensible part of its appeal as the low budget and technical bludgeoning are central to evoking a genuine sense of the stifling degeneration of New York at its nadir. What's more, the films depiction of the psychosis such milieus engender walks a perfect line between a partly distanced comic-book presentation and a crushingly claustrophobic and authentic sense of madness made manifest.

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Public domain movie. Watch it free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaQLbLJiA50

Watch short trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Dn57QgvRw

Watch extended trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFobdamXZvo

"This film should be played LOUD," insists the pre-credits card at the beginning. And not simply to feel the full force of The Roosters, or the squeal of the titular murder weapon, but also because Abel Ferrara's zero-budget slasher is all about anger in need of expression.

Ferrara himself plays Reno, a struggling artist desperate to complete a painting that will earn him enough to pay the rent. He lives with a couple of girls, one of whom is kind of his girlfriend but neither of whom particularly likes him, and he's being driven mad by those damn Roosters downstairs. All his repressed rage and his inability to empathise with fellow humans is taking its toll. Then he sees his release: take it out on the New York homeless using a power drill and a Porto-Pak(TM).

Reno's disgust of transient men betrays a profound male anxiety: the inability to provide. Furthermore, his "masterpiece" is a painting of a bison – both a icon of masculine power as well as a symbol of hunter-gatherer sustenance. He barks impotently at his indifferent girlfriend, who later turns to their female flatmate for her physical satisfaction.

Moreover, Reno is unable to communicate with his artist peers. Even the members of the band who aren't musicians are full of extrovert self-expression. Reno, meanwhile, is a wholly internalised recluse, harbouring a growing loathing of other people.

Then there's Dalton Briggs (Harry Schlutz II), a gallery owner who, like a Roman emperor, holds the power to give a thumbs-up or down to Reno's future. In the deliberately theatrical Dalton scenes (a realist style is employed elsewhere) Ferrara scores with Clockwork Orange- style electronic classical music; and indeed there is a hint of Kubrickian absurdity in the juxtaposition between Briggs' high art pretensions and Reno's degenerate world.

That world, shot on location around Ferrara's own haunt, is at times as potent a snapshot of post-Vietnam New York's underbelly as Scorsese's Taxi Driver. The depiction of madness and desperation amongst the homeless is pretty broad, although it doesn't stray into the sort of farcical territory we would later see in J. Michael Muro's Street Trash.

The Driller Killer is one of the original "video nasties" – a select group of films banned from UK home video in the 1980s for fear of corrupting malleable minds. Apparently, the complaints were based solely on the poster, depicting the famous head drill victim. To be fair, the actual content here more than lives up to that marketing promise. This is a grotty and gory film, the cheapness of whose effects is offset by being shot mostly at night.

Smart directorial choices, neat editing, dark humour, and a unique setting elevate The Driller Killer above many of the slashers of the late-70s/early-80s period. It may not be the most fun – think of the intense grimness of Maniac or Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer – but it's surely one of the more memorable.

In New York, the painter Reno Miller (Abel Ferrara) shares a loft with his girlfriend Carol (Carolyn Marz), who left her husband Stephen, and their roommate Pamela (Baybi Day). Reno is having difficulties to pay his bills, while is obsessed painting his masterpiece, a buffalo with a hypnotic eye. When a punk band moves to his building playing day and night, Reno cannot sleep and drives insane, going to the streets with a driller, killing homeless derelicts. When the art dealer calls his painting a mockery, and Carol returns to her husband, leaving him alone, Reno goes totally mad.

"The Driller Killer" is polemic, forbidden in England in the 80's, but it is a good low budget slash movie. The red color very alive prevails in most of the scenes, and together with the nervous camera, provoke a sort of discomfort sensation in the viewer. The characters and the insanity process of Reno are very well constructed, and the story also captures the punk wave of that moment in New York. There is a good and worth explanation for the church scene in the beginning of the movie in IMDb Message Board written by SyZombieLoserKid. Although indicated for specific audiences, "The Driller Killer" is a good film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Assassino da Furadeira" ("The Driller Killer")