The Love Butcher (1975)

Best movie ever!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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.

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.

Stephen Thrower's bible of American exploitation highlights – entitled "Nightmare USA" – is rapidly becoming the most expensive spending I ever made! Not just the book itself is quite costly, but the way he extendedly glorifies certain obscure and incredibly rare movies simply make you crave to own them yourself and you unwarily start browsing the Internet for copies. But hey, so far all purchases were worth every single penny I spent on them and Thrower's reviews – albeit sometimes a little over-enthusiast – are always 100% reliable if you too are into demented and raunchy 70's cinema as well. "The Love Butcher" sounded like one of those titles I simply couldn't afford to miss and indeed it certainly didn't disappoint. This is a wondrous example of cheap, sleazy, grainy and tasteless exploitation madness, with a simplistic but effective plot and a handful of shockingly misogynistic scenes of violence. The creators looked for inspiration in Alfred Hitchcock's notorious horror film "Psycho" (like many aspiring horror directors did around that time) and unscrupulously imitated the concept of a schizophrenic killer. However, this film doesn't keep it a secret until the end. The crippled Caleb works as a gardener in a fancy neighborhood where a lot of pretentious and bored housewives spend their days twirling around in sexy outfits. Caleb is a quite pathetic figure with a shiny bald head, exaggeratedly thick glasses and a malformed hand, so he's usually the target of mockery for his obnoxious female customers. But when Caleb returns home, he talks to his brother Lester – a black foam mannequin wearing a blond wig – and then suddenly becomes him. Self-confident Lester is, and I quote, "the great male Adonis of the universe" and he pays a charming visit to each woman that mistreated his "brother". The result of these visits is a disturbing murder spree that baffles the local police, even though the victims all live on the same block and have the same gardener. I wonder how they could overlook that pattern… As far as I'm concerned, "The Love Butcher" is vintage and delightfully prototypic exploitation stuff. The atmosphere is thoroughly unpleasant, the male characters are despicable yokels (ending every sentence with "yes, ma'ammmm) and the overall tone of the film is extremely women-unfriendly to say the least. The murder sequences aren't as repulsive as I expected (or hoped) but there nevertheless are a couple of highly memorable bits of nastiness, like the creative use of various gardening tools and a brutal butchering in an outdoor swimming pool. Besides, the slight and already forgivable lack of bloody carnage is widely compensated by the awesome and over-the-top demented use of dialog! The conversations between Caleb and his alter ego Lester, and particularly the latter's monologues, and indescribably entertaining to listen to and they even single-handedly uplift "The Love Butcher" to the level op pitch black comedy. The supposedly heart-breaking flashback near the end, clarifying what tragic event overcame Caleb and Lester at young age, is literally the cherry on an already delicious cheesecake. It has to be said the film owes a lot of its powerful impact to the performance of Erik Stern as the schizophrenic. Stern is stupendous and maintains the exact right balance between comical and disturbing during the numerous sequences where he just talks against a foam mannequin or empty gardening outfit. The male supportive cast is pretty forgettable, but the female victims give good performances, most notable Eve Mac (as a lewd Texan co-ed), Robin Sherwood (as the cocky rebellious chick) and Kay Neer (as the cherubic good-hearted woman you really wish she survives the ordeal).

The Love Butcher is undoubtedly a piece of trash, but it's a hell of a lot better than a lot of the trash released in the seventies and anyone who enjoys this sort of movie will definitely enjoy this one! The film takes obvious influence from the king of all psycho movies - that being Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece - and could be pigeon-holed in somewhere between the slasher and exploitation genres. Whether or not the film was intended to be humorous is unclear - but the film certainly is very funny in places and director Donald M. Jones has also managed to pack the film with plenty of gore and kill scenes, which is what anyone tuning into this film will want to see. The plot focuses on Caleb; a deformed gardener. Because of his deformity, Caleb is often pushed around by women; and unfortunately for him, most of his employers happen to be slutty examples of the fairer sex. However, Caleb is also Lester; his womanising alter-ego. Lester is a 'ladies man', but also a murderer; and after charming the woman with his good looks, he kills them.The film is lead by an excellent dual performance from Erik Stern. Of course, the performance is a bit on the silly side; but that fits in with the nature of the film and he plays both of the wildly different sides of his character very well and the scenes between 'them' actually have quite a haunting edge to them. It's clear that the film was made on a low budget and as such it all feels very cheap. However, while it's obvious that the kill scenes etc are fake; the low budget gives the film some real charm and the filmmakers get round this restraint excellently. The plot plays out well although it does feel like ideas are lacking somewhat as the first few kills are mainly just the same thing repeated with a different woman. However, it's done well and the way that the alter-ego charms his victims works well. Aside from the central plot, we also get a police investigation running throughout and this is fairly interesting even though we know who the killer is from the outset. The way that the police discover his identity is a bit suspect; but there is a good resolution to the main plot. Overall, this is a very nice little seventies flick and comes recommended.