The Driller Killer

Abel Ferara's directoral debut is a gritty piece of independent, late-70's filmmaking. It's certainly an unpolished New York street film. Ferara himself plays, Reno, an artist working on his latest work, living in an apartment with two other women -- his lover, and her sometimes lover. When the bills start piling on and a punk rock band moves in next door, Reno begins to take a dive off of the deep end and offing any bum he can get his hands on with power tools. It's got some definite gore that isn't played for laughs. Fortunately, Ferara's a significantly better director than he is an actor, even though this isn't among his finest films. It's often boring and overly grotesque, and lacks the spiritual power of his later films, but he shows an undeniable promise in his handling of the material.