83 mins.
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Oft called "the king of the roughies", this rape porno/slasher film is a hard but rewarding watch. A Vietnam vet played unforgettably by porn icon Harry Reems, works at a small gas station. When ladies come through to gas up, he uses their credit card information to stalk them in their homes, rape and murder them. There's your plot, but that's all you're gonna need!
The rape scenes in this film are extreme and disgusting. They grant the audience a sincere sense of dread and compassion for the clearly doomed victims. The actresses are sometimes so convincing that at moments the scenes feel real. The murders that follow are simply but aptly executed, and the focus is more on the killer's crumbling mental state, rather than expensive gore effects. During the rapes, he verbally taunts the victims in a wholly debasing manner, whilst simultaneously flashbacking to atrocities he committed during the war. Stock footage and sounds are used for these flashbacks, and the juxtaposition between them and the hardcore penetration is strikingly affective.
There is no humor here, it does glamorize rape (looking at you Hollywood), and this is not a movie filmed for pleasure; it is meant to disturb, and accomplishes its goal with gusto. This all leads to an excellent climax that has a positive message about how the free love moment can conquer the war industry. Given the era in which it was made this is an extremely interesting medium in which to channel that message.
The movie is downright frightening. The soundtrack is awesome. The film stock is grainy, scratched and the editing and sound is amateur, yet somehow this adds to the tension and atmosphere, making this a forgotten horror mindfuck of a movie that more serious horror fans should know about. It's a shame it doesn't sit on a higher tier in the horror echelon. It needs to be rediscovered. 8/10
I should also mention that this movie has been remade TWICE. Once two years later as a theatrical release with an R rating and again in 2002 as a loosely-based porn.
Obviously I can't post a link to this one. You can find it. I have faith.
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