BLOODRAGE (1980) **
A young man tries to get it on with a hooker. When he accidentally kills her, he takes off for the big city. There, he prowls the streets for more strippers, whores, or anyone he considers to be worthy of killing (or unworthy of living as the case may be). Meanwhile, a concerned cop, who was one of the hooker’s regular clients, searches for the killer.
Bloodrage is barely eighty minutes long. However the pacing is so sluggish that it often feels much longer. Director Joseph Zito (who used the alias “Joe Bigwood”) would go on to bigger and better things (like Friday the 13th Part 4), but if you squint hard enough you can see him developing his style here. The location work is often great and you get a real sense of the scummy New York streets. Zito also gives you a lot of atmosphere as the grimy fleabag apartments and sleazy strip clubs feel pretty spot-on.
The blood and gore is minimal. The opening (mostly) accidental death has the most blood of any of the kills. From then on, the deaths mostly revolve around strangulations, which is a bit disappointing. Another debit is that the killer is totally nonthreatening. He seems like a nerd in an ‘80s teen comedy than a legitimate psycho. Plus, the delivery of his Taxi Driver-esque narration falls a little flat. Still, Zito does manage to work some magic here and there. He also tosses in enough skin to keep you awake throughout the slower passages of the film.
The best part though is the ending. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but it is one of the most abrupt, fitting, and hilarious endings of a horror movie I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it’s worth sitting through the previous seventy-nine minutes and fifty seconds to get to that ten-second bit, but I sure laughed my ass off.
AKA: Never Pick Up a Stranger. AKA: Psycho-Ripper.