Rating: 
Summary: Brilliance of the unintentional kind!
Review: I was one of the many Brits to run out and get this film as soon as its ban had been lifted, expecting it to be an amazingly gory and violent horror film. Whilst I was disappointed in that area, the film still satisfied me immensely! It has to be one of the most inept and pretentious films I've ever seen. The plot and characters have absolutely no substance, and the performances are beyond bad.Ferrara has created something that me and my friends just love to sit and laugh our heads off at. It's obvious that he intended all his monologues to be deep and profound, but they're just side-splitting! "Whaddyou know about painting? Lemme tell you what you know - you don't know nothin' about painting!"
Rating: 
Summary: I know "Dalton Briggs"
Review: I've seen only scenes of this film because they star my old Film Analysis teacher Harry Shultz!! This is a piece of junk and I found it nauseating to watch. My teacher did it only as a favor to his buddy. But if you like it, great. It's not my taste.
Rating: 
Summary: one of the greatest films ever made
Review: if you want to see a REAL movie of life and desperation and death and love, then look at driller killer. all abel ferrara fans have to see this movie! it`s all here: chaos and hell!
Rating: 
Summary: Gritty, controversial but hollow: 4/10
Review: It's hard to imagine how this film gained its notorious status(especially in the UK). It is poorly shot(reflecting its miniscule budget) and is really no more violent than any other horror film. True, when the disgruntled artist Reno(played by first-time director Abel Ferrara) first goes on a rampage armed with a drill and 'porto-pak', the film does manage to touch a raw nerve, but soon it descends to laboriously-paced repetition and struggles to hold attention. Will be remembered as the debut feature of director Ferrara, who has since never been afraid to court controversy with films like Ms. 45 and Bad Lieutenant; and probably as one of the films that sparked off the 'Video Nasty' hysteria in the UK in the 1980's; but for little else.
Rating:
Summary: A Must HAVE - horror fans only
Review: Oh man i just got this today and iam chuffed to bits - bought from the US Amazon cos i have no clue if there gunna Release this in the UK. anyway Driller Killer is one of my FAV horror movies... I think iam in the minority by saying that, alot of people tend to hate this movie. They hear the title "DRILLER KILLER" and see the cover image of a guy getting his head drilled and expect this movie to be so gross and so shocking... Well sadly it's not like that - what you get is a badly lit, slow pacing, horror / arthouse movie. If you just look past those minor factors you get a gr8 movie about urban alienation - the portrayal of insanity and fear in which viewers are invited inside the frustrations of a city dweller who finally decides enough is enough... ok about the DVD
there have been some really nice prints of this movie one of the best prints was by the Dutch label Extreme, but this version beats it hands down not only do you get the movie in amazing widescreen format you get the trailer and the Porto pack commercial ( fans of the movie will know what that is )
now the best part the short movies of Abel Ferrara - I can not tell you how chuffed iam to finally get to see these shorts by a classic director... THIS IS A MUST HAVE FOR DRILLER KILLER / ABEL FERRARA FANS http://www.cultepics.com/ce_preview.html
Rating:
Summary: Able at the top of his form
Review: Sick - disturbing - and what a unique way (at the time) to dispatch of his victums but with a cordless drill. More a meditation on the insanity of living in close quarters in a large city and the madness that ensues. The artist's descent into madness though crudely portrayed is effective. Goofy stilted dialogue, plenty of gore for genre fans - a true classic. The DVD also brings out the colors of the paintings before hidden in earlier murky transfers. Gorilla NYC fimmaking at it's best.
Rating:
Summary: Ferrera's first major feature is also his worst
Review: Some people seem to like this movie. Some had to because its now in a special editon on DVD. The truth is, this story about a struggling artist living in the dank bowels of New York City, and his developing maddness is one of the most unpleastant films i have ever seen. Not sick upleasant, like "Salo", or "I spit on your grave", but like "this movie is really making my head hurt unpleasant. It seems to drag on for hours, there is not ONE sympathetic character in the entire film, which makes things difficult since it seems Abel Ferrera is trying to get you aquainted with the lead (who he also plays)and his maddness. Gore hounds who have heard the rumors about the bloodshed in this film will be disapointed, aside from one fairly graphic head-drilling, there is very little of the precious red stuff. If your a serious fan of Ferreras then be my guest and view at your own risk. For all else skip this and go to his second feature Ms. 45 which is like a complete polar opposite to driller killer in terms of quality.
Rating:
Summary: a controversial film
Review: This film was infamous for years and years for being one of the most controversial ever. But why? The film is filled with cold blooded killings, but only one happens in any graphic nature. The sound quality of it is very poor, you can constantly hear the crew shufferling their feet off screen and. Much of the camera work has been underlit or lit very badly so the actors disaper into the darkness or are parshally bathed in a nasty orange tungston light as well as being out of focas at times. There is a solid story in this movie, but the troubble is its hidden beneith the Bad camera work and crappy sound job. It also feels like there where big chunks missing from the final edit. Able ferra made this film over a couple of years, Directing and acting in it himself (under the name Jimmy Lane), and to his credit the actings not to bad, i mean his not Marlon Brando or any thing but he is passable. As an acivement Driller Killer has to be praised, because although i do not enjoy the film it did get able ferra into the limelight and he did got on to make some great films like King of new york and Ms. 45. But as film i would say aviod Driller Killer and watch King of new york.
Rating:
Summary: interesting - but not for everyone
Review: well, first of all let me point out that this is NOT A HORROR FILM. there is precious little gore or suspense and a low body count. well what is it then? Hmm . . it's a strange mixture of a film. For the most part the film is a Warhol-esque depiction of a troubled artist (Fererra under the pseudonym Jimmy Lane) descending into madness and paranoia, padded out with art-lessly shot footage of drugged out punks and all set against a heavy rock soundtrack. However the film is not without its artistic moments - the opening scene in a church, the reccuring television advert driving our artist insane, the almost freudian dream-like images of him covered in blood drilling an un-seen victim, and the soundtrack relentlessly crying 'Reno' as his madness takes its toll. While not entirely devoid of violence, this film is definitely one for the obscure art-house film-buffs, not for the gorehounds. And, incidentally, don't bother getting this supposed 'special edition' dvd - the director's commentary is absolutely dreadful. Just get hold of some cheap nth generation VHS - the picture/sound is going to be terrible whatever.
Rating:
Summary: Came to see a horror movie and a soap opera broke out...
Review: What an absolute abysmal excuse for a horror movie. I cannot beleive some of the other reviewers here. They must be Driller Killer cult worshippers who's brains have been replaced by some congealed matter, melted by to many hits of battery acid. I read nice little tea cup accolades about what a lovely snapshot of the 70's punk scene this is, how mulitple viewings will somehow turn this turd from brown to pink etc...YO! If I wanted a snapshot of 70's punk, I'd get a Sex Pistols concert DVD! I don't care what a wonderfull director's commentary we have, Its about the film. Not what some yokel with 2 cents and a camera has to say. This things was awful. I even read its not really a horror movie and we shouldn't look at it as such. With a title like 'driller killer', what are we supposed to think it is? Mary Poppins! SO where to I begin to really take this dog to the park?
1. It looks like crap. No amount of DVD remastering can save something filmed in such a terrible way. The colours looked sprayed on by some mad arthouse wannabe. Thats the colour you could actually see if some hint of light actually hit a surface. The lighting here was the worst I have ever seen. The movie was to dark. I couldn't see anything!
2. The live punk bands sucked and since they WERE the soundtrack(other than that one sythn bassline that played over and over...)this was not a good thing. I could make a better score on some cheap kids casio keyboard.
3.Biggest sin of all. This was supposed to be a horror movie (don't be making excuses and saying it was not!) so where the heck is the horror? Wheres the sauce? I think it was there as I could hear the drill from time to time but I couldn't really see anything. Sometimes its good not to see anything, suspense means something too but in this case, it was just bad camera work, effects and lighting.
4. The acting, directing and screenplay. I know. Its supposed to be a horror film so we shouldn't expect much except here they actually try to make an intelligent script, focusing on the character as a man instead of just a killer. Except they fail miserably. Probably because the guy couldn't act out a childrens fairy tale. The directing was of the most amateur kind. There were no scares, no suspense, the kills were poorly set up, the camera work was of the worst kind and the editing was non existant. I just can't convey enough what an utter waste of 90 minutes this thing was. I will never get those precious minutes back. I either like a straight good horror film or one that really stinks but has spirit. This one was like some 2 cent hobo trying to pass himself off as royalty. It didn't know that it was supposed to be a low budget horror film, it tried to pass itself off as an arthouse flick. Crap. For those who haven't seen this, stay away, far away. It has a cool title and that it. It doesn't deliver.
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