"The Driller Killer" (1979)

Piggybacking off the success of the slasher film, Abel Ferrara's Driller Killer is a gory exploitation film about an impoverished painter who simply snaps. While it owes a debt to so many slashers, it's often more subversive and unconventional than the prototypical slasher. Ferrara seems more content indulging whatever interests him, observing underground subcultures and punk scenes, than telling a generic horror film. In fact, the film is more in lock step with other 1970's films like Taxi Driver and Martin about restless loners done in by urban decay and isolation. Though wildly uneven and unfocused, Ferrara creates some startling and vivid, almost hallucinogenic, images out of the trashy violence on display. There's a reckless energy to the film that aligns with its protagonist and his decaying state of mind.

Grade: ★★