The Mutilator (A.K.A. FALL BREAK) (1985)

An unusual little slasher film fell into my lap recently (in the form of a FedEx package) called 'The Mutilator'. The film was not completely unknown to me, I mean I did pay for it to be delivered to my house after all but the film was not one under my radar for a very long time, due both to its rather limited DVD run and overall obscurity in the sub-genre itself. The story is simple as most slashers tend to be: a young group of college students head to a summer home by the beach owned by one of the young men's father, who vanished after his son accidentally shot his mother to death. What follows is the father enacting his brutal vengeance upon his son and his friends.

And that's really it for the plot, like you really wanted one in a cheap horror flick like this. However, for anyone into the slasher genre such as myself, 'The Mutilator' is certainly one you shouldn't pass up. What it lacks in..well almost everything in a competent film it makes up for with some hilariously bad acting, almost Mystery Science Theater quality if you will. The money clearly all went into the surprisingly well put together special effects and gore sequences, of which there are quite a lot. You get some pretty gruesome shit here, including a man being chopped up with a boat propeller and another chopped in half at the waist. This is a really gory flick even for the genre at the time and in fact until now, almost all of it was chopped out due to its intense nature, but thanks to the new release from ARROW VIDEO, you can see it in all its red-stained glory (and with the original title too).

It's honestly really difficult to review a film like 'The Mutilator' because, it's not a good movie at all. It's slowly paced, it's generic in its execution, and the actors are all unoriginal, stupid, and really annoying. But this is the tradition of these flicks and gives them a charm that I can't explain my appeal to, but its there and its here to stay. What I can review a little better for you is the Blu-Ray/DVD Combo itself, which sports a very nice High Def transfer, in fact it may be too good for a movie like 'The Mutilator'. Everything is real crisp and easy on the eyes, which was a problem on previous home video and DVD releases. The picture on the original release was so dark, you couldn't even see the film half the time, leading to frustration and essentially watching pitch black for almost the entire length.

The film's sound has also been improved drastically. Although its not as noticeable a change as the picture, the film has really high quality audio for such an old film with very few usable prints to work with. Everything from the opening theme song, which sounds like I'm watching a 'Vacation' film, to the killing sequences everything sounds great on here. Special Features were unfortunately not an area I got to explore in its entirety, but what I did check out will please any fan. Audio Commentary from Director Buddy Cooper is a great listen, and another Commentary has him with a few actors from the film, which was even better. I heard a recent interview with Cooper on DEADPIT RADIO and found him very interesting and funny, and with these commentaries you get more of the same, nothing to complain about here.

'The Mutilator' is a terrible movie to be sure, but its still fun to watch especially with friends and a late night snack binge. It's a movie I don't regret purchasing in the slightest, however I find it so funny that a film like this gets such a excellent Blu-Ray treatment. I love ARROW VIDEO's dedication to quality and highly recommend their work if you are willing to shell out a few extra dollars. They bring the best possible presentation of 'The Mutilator' that was ever possible. You will never need another copy of it again.

THE MOVIE: D+
THE DVD: A+

 http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/category/arrow-video/
 http://deadpitradio.blogspot.com/p/deadpit-radio-archives-2013.html (October 2013)