Leofwine_draca Out of all the cheesy, godawful, low budget exploitation thrillers that hit grindhouse cinemas in the US in the 1970s, THE LOVE BUTCHER has to be one of the funniest – albeit unintentionally. This laugh riot offers an unusual spin on the PSYCHO storyline, which is no surprise: the Hitchcock thriller enjoyed something of a renaissance during the decade, with filmmaker after filmmaker riffing on its plot when making their own sleazy versions of the story. I've seen a fair few of these now and THE LOVE BUTCHER stands head and shoulders above the rest purely because it's so entertainingly bad.In an outstanding performance, Erik Stern essays a dual performance as Caleb the gardener and Lester the lady killer. Caleb is a self-confessed, self-loathing gimp, crippled and half-blind; he's scorned by the women whose gardens he tends throughout the day. By night, Caleb turns into the smooth, suave and physically perfect Lester, a man who beds beautiful women before offing them with a series of deadly garden implements. Yes, this is a story of schizophrenia packed with scenes of somebody talking to himself, very effective scenes I might add and years before Peter Jackson got the same idea when he turned Gollum into a split-personality psychopath in his LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The finger-twirling musical interlude in the mirror is hands-down the funniest thing I've seen in years.The theme is over done and the film itself far from boring, indeed it's actually very well paced with good interplay between time spent with the murderer and his victims and the traditional police procedural investigation. There are some shocks and surprises along the way, along with a little gore and nudity, although the film has surprisingly little of the latter two qualities that are usually plentiful in such films. While Stern is scene-stealing unforgettable in one of the most over-the-top performances of all time as the titular psychopath, he's assisted by some other fine talent: the unknown Kay Neer in her single screen appearance as a lovely, warm-heated potential victim; B-movie veteran Robin Sherwood (DEATH WISH II) as a man-hater and character actor Richard Kennedy as the cop hot on Stern's heels.Director Donald Jones made something of a career out of quickly forgotten exploitation quickies. His first film was ABDUCTED, also known as SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS, which explored very similar territory to this one: in essence it was another PSYCHO type film about insanity and women getting murdered. He later made THE FOREST, another insanely rare movie, this time a backwoods slasher that has a certain atmosphere to it. His career ended with the 1993 softcore comedy HOUSEWIFE FROM HELL, which is a shame, as although his films may not be exactly high quality, they're certainly fun to watch.

Scott LeBrun Erik Stern earns himself a place in the annals of cult cinema with his deliciously demented performances in this somewhat obscure mid-70s exploitation-horror film. He plays Caleb, physically impaired gardener-for-hire who is dominated by his "brother" Lester, a smooth ladies man. Lester is also a lady killer, and detectives are stumped as to figuring out who is behind the murders. Annoying, schmucky reporter Russell (Jeremiah Beecher), who's somehow scored himself a hot girlfriend, Flo (Kay Neer), gives the detectives a hard time while doing some investigating of his own.Essentially, Sterns' performances ARE the movie, which is, for the most part, not that distinguished. There's the requisite gore and titillation, but not that much of it. Directors Don Jones and Mikel Angel do get some credit for their canny choice of soundtrack music. There are some familiar exploitation genre faces among the cast, such as Richard Kennedy ("Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS") as a cop and John Parker ("Schoolgirls in Chains") as a minister. Lovely Robin Sherwood ("Tourist Trap", "Death Wish II") is set up as one of a number of potential victims.Stern, who went on to do a fair amount of TV work, is a fun guy to watch do his thing, especially when he's trying to adopt different ethnic identities. Kennedy is good, and the ladies are all quite attractive. At approximately 85 minutes long, "The Love Butcher" doesn't overstay its welcome, and offers ample entertainment for drive-in movie lovers who want something they don't want to take all that seriously.Eight out of 10.

BA_Harrison Everyone has heard of movie maniacs Michael Myers, Norman Bates and Hannibal Lector, but mention the name Lester in regard to the pantheon of cinematic psychos and the most likely reaction will be looks of utter bewilderment. It's a shame, because Lester deserves better: he's just as bats••t crazy and as unpredictably dangerous as his better known contemporaries, has his own catchphrase (But of course!), and even gets to bed some of his attractive female victims before offing them.As a child, Lester is responsible for the accidental death of his disabled brother Caleb, for which his mother never forgives him; years later and guilt has resulted in Lester (now played by Erik Stern) adopting his dead sibling's personality as well as his own. When dressed as Caleb, he is a short sighted, balding gardener with a manky hand, but when he becomes Lester, he is a be-wigged ladies man who punishes any female who has treated his 'brother' with contempt.The film is low budget and exploitative, with any excuse for a spot of bright red gore or cheap titillation, and many scenes verge on the comical, but it still qualifies as a genuinely powerful experience thanks to Stern's intense dual performance, pitiful as Caleb, but completely menacing and merciless as Lester. In the film's most memorable scene, he does away with the film's only sympathetic female character, stripping her naked and repeatedly bashing her with a serrated hoe—it's a real shocker of a moment, a brave move that makes this film all the more impressive, and all the more deserving of recognition.

EyeAskance From Mirror Releasing, the same outfit that unleashed the grindhouse masterpiece SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS, comes this crude little enterprise about a docile gimp yard-worker and his strapping, confident "brother", who is, in actuality, his physically transposed alter ego. It should be no big surprise that the meek, challenged persona is frequently a defenseless pigeon for heartless cruelty and degradation, and that the studly alpha-male persona emerges as his bloody avenger.Raunchy little killer-thriller clearly culls its gist from the cinema realm of PSYCHO, HORROR HIGH, and similar titles dealing with Jeckyll and Hyde-type shenanigans. This is one of the more far-flung examples of that well-worn idea, but as basal entertainment goes, it delivers the goods with that wonderfully wacked-out 70s magic...a sickie-quickie favorite from the bygone days of the "big box" VHS.