The Love Butcher

source: The Love Butcher

Out of all the cheesy, godawful, low budget exploitation thrillers that hit grindhouse cinemas in the US in the 1970s, THE LOVE BUTCHER has to be one of the funniest – albeit unintentionally. This laugh riot offers an unusual spin on the PSYCHO storyline, which is no surprise: the Hitchcock thriller enjoyed something of a renaissance during the decade, with filmmaker after filmmaker riffing on its plot when making their own sleazy versions of the story. I've seen a fair few of these now and THE LOVE BUTCHER stands head and shoulders above the rest purely because it's so entertainingly bad. In an outstanding performance, Erik Stern essays a dual performance as Caleb the gardener and Lester the lady killer. Caleb is a self-confessed, self-loathing gimp, crippled and half-blind; he's scorned by the women whose gardens he tends throughout the day. By night, Caleb turns into the smooth, suave and physically perfect Lester, a man who beds beautiful women before offing them with a series of deadly garden implements. Yes, this is a story of schizophrenia packed with scenes of somebody talking to himself, very effective scenes I might add and years before Peter Jackson got the same idea when he turned Gollum into a split-personality psychopath in his LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The finger-twirling musical interlude in the mirror is hands-down the funniest thing I've seen in years. The theme is over done and the film itself far from boring, indeed it's actually very well paced with good interplay between time spent with the murderer and his victims and the traditional police procedural investigation. There are some shocks and surprises along the way, along with a little gore and nudity, although the film has surprisingly little of the latter two qualities that are usually plentiful in such films. While Stern is scene-stealing unforgettable in one of the most over-the-top performances of all time as the titular psychopath, he's assisted by some other fine talent: the unknown Kay Neer in her single screen appearance as a lovely, warm-heated potential victim; B-movie veteran Robin Sherwood (DEATH WISH II) as a man-hater and character actor Richard Kennedy as the cop hot on Stern's heels. Director Donald Jones made something of a career out of quickly forgotten exploitation quickies. His first film was ABDUCTED, also known as SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS, which explored very similar territory to this one: in essence it was another PSYCHO type film about insanity and women getting murdered. He later made THE FOREST, another insanely rare movie, this time a backwoods slasher that has a certain atmosphere to it. His career ended with the 1993 softcore comedy HOUSEWIFE FROM HELL, which is a shame, as although his films may not be exactly high quality, they're certainly fun to watch.

They don't make them like this anymore. This over-the-top tale of a dorky gardener and his suave studly "twin brother" is one of the funniest horror movies of the 70s. It's goofy and tasteless, and not quite so inept that you ever think the humor is completely unintentional. It's enlivened by buckets of red paint that look nothing like blood and the sheer hilarity of seeing this ridiculous guy act like a ladies' man.

Erik Stern earns himself a place in the annals of cult cinema with his deliciously demented performances in this somewhat obscure mid-70s exploitation-horror film. He plays Caleb, physically impaired gardener-for-hire who is dominated by his "brother" Lester, a smooth ladies man. Lester is also a lady killer, and detectives are stumped as to figuring out who is behind the murders. Annoying, schmucky reporter Russell (Jeremiah Beecher), who's somehow scored himself a hot girlfriend, Flo (Kay Neer), gives the detectives a hard time while doing some investigating of his own. Essentially, Sterns' performances ARE the movie, which is, for the most part, not that distinguished. There's the requisite gore and titillation, but not that much of it. Directors Don Jones and Mikel Angel do get some credit for their canny choice of soundtrack music. There are some familiar exploitation genre faces among the cast, such as Richard Kennedy ("Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS") as a cop and John Parker ("Schoolgirls in Chains") as a minister. Lovely Robin Sherwood ("Tourist Trap", "Death Wish II") is set up as one of a number of potential victims. Stern, who went on to do a fair amount of TV work, is a fun guy to watch do his thing, especially when he's trying to adopt different ethnic identities. Kennedy is good, and the ladies are all quite attractive. At approximately 85 minutes long, "The Love Butcher" doesn't overstay its welcome, and offers ample entertainment for drive-in movie lovers who want something they don't want to take all that seriously. Eight out of 10.

I've seen this movie many times, and I still like to watch it. This movie is beyond bad. I love it. The plot is a sad mutation of a very very popular thriller. The acting is so bad at times The "action" in this movie is awesome. The "Love Butcher" kills all of his victims (all female, of course) with garden implements. Accomplishing this modus operandi could take quite a bit of doing, particularly if the urge to murder comes while indoors. This is not a problem for our killer, though. In his world, people keep hoes and rakes near the fireplace. There are some great lines, atrocious dub-ins, and druken edits. Add to this a deliciously lame disco-era feel, and you've got a winner. If you're a connesieur of bad films, you have to see this one.

This is a very funny ,albeit gruesome, slasher movie. While the characters seem to be taking themselves very seriously, the audience has little choice but to chuckle with every over the top scene. It's gotta be satire don't you think? I guess the only saving grace is that there don't seem to be any copies readily available. In any case, a humorously morbid little diversion.

The Love Butcher is undoubtedly a piece of trash, but it's a hell of a lot better than a lot of the trash released in the seventies and anyone who enjoys this sort of movie will definitely enjoy this one! The film takes obvious influence from the king of all psycho movies - that being Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece - and could be pigeon-holed in somewhere between the slasher and exploitation genres. Whether or not the film was intended to be humorous is unclear - but the film certainly is very funny in places and director Donald M. Jones has also managed to pack the film with plenty of gore and kill scenes, which is what anyone tuning into this film will want to see. The plot focuses on Caleb; a deformed gardener. Because of his deformity, Caleb is often pushed around by women; and unfortunately for him, most of his employers happen to be slutty examples of the fairer sex. However, Caleb is also Lester; his womanising alter-ego. Lester is a 'ladies man', but also a murderer; and after charming the woman with his good looks, he kills them. The film is lead by an excellent dual performance from Erik Stern. Of course, the performance is a bit on the silly side; but that fits in with the nature of the film and he plays both of the wildly different sides of his character very well and the scenes between 'them' actually have quite a haunting edge to them. It's clear that the film was made on a low budget and as such it all feels very cheap. However, while it's obvious that the kill scenes etc are fake; the low budget gives the film some real charm and the filmmakers get round this restraint excellently. The plot plays out well although it does feel like ideas are lacking somewhat as the first few kills are mainly just the same thing repeated with a different woman. However, it's done well and the way that the alter-ego charms his victims works well. Aside from the central plot, we also get a police investigation running throughout and this is fairly interesting even though we know who the killer is from the outset. The way that the police discover his identity is a bit suspect; but there is a good resolution to the main plot. Overall, this is a very nice little seventies flick and comes recommended.

It was the early nineties and me and my 2 stoner flatmates loved hiring dodgy horror movie at the local video shop. From time to time i would pick up this whilst trying to choose a rental in the store, and sing the title to the tune of "The Love Boat" to my whacked mates - I'd usually get a laugh. One day i showed up at home with this under my arm. We blew a joint and watched in awe/horror/hysterics. The 3 of us all found the last scene quite disturbing. So much so that whilst the the credits rolled, one of my flatmates stood up from his chair, walk to the video player, ejected the tape, placed it under an upturned milk crate in the middle of the living room, and left. This movie is gold.

My review was written in October 1982 after a screening on Manhattan's 42nd St. "The Love Butcher" is a case history psycho-horror thriller, in the genre of "Psycho", "The Sniper", etc. Filmed in 1975 (or perhaps even earlier) the new release is a B-feature supporting the comedy "Goin' All the Way", and sharing some of that pic's tech personnel. It has some gore and cruelty for the hardcore fans of the genre, but is largely of interest as a curio only. The fascinating thing about "Love Butcher" is that while it precedes the recent trend of violent "flasher" pictures, its script is almost a manifesto declaring the misogyny of the genre. Played tongue-in-cheek and overwritten for comic effect, pic's lead character, a split personality of "brothers" Caleb and Lester (Erik Stern) not only kills women but first hands them a tirade about how they emasculate men and deserve to die. This heavy emphasis makes the film virtually required viewing for students working on master's theses concerning horror, as well as those trendy crusaders against the genre's excesses: Harlan Ellison and Chicago's Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. Simple-minded plot has Caleb as a crippled gardener who kills his femme employers (on an L. A. block) with various gardening utensils. Pic's ad copy trumpets: "see grotesque underwater tortures" and in fact the most bizarre killing has him offing a woman by forcing an active garden hose down her throat while she's underwater in her swimming pool. This exaggeration for effect is fairly typical. What makes this cheapie funny is its combination of "artsy" technique (flashy slow-motion inserts and ludicrous cross-cutting) with goofy dialog. Midway through the pic, the dim-witted police Captain Stark (Edward Roehm) declares of the series of murders: "whoever did this is weird, not just sick, but a real weirdo". This opens the floodgate, and the rest of the cast takes to peppering their dialog with "weird" in the way the term "awesome" is bandied about today. For a film that credits two of everything (directors, cameramen, etc.), "Love Butcher" is well-made and has a different look for a low budgeter by virtue of its anamorphic Techniscope lensing. Stern has an actor's field day, hamming it up with a variety of wigs as the two halves of the central character, but he still comes off as a pale shadow of Rod Steiger's definitive version in "No Way to Treat a Lady". The rest of the actors are poor.

Someone is killing young women with gardening tools.The police are baffled.Eric Stern,the star of "The Love Butcher" displays a dual personality which is truly fascinating.One character is Caleb,a crippled,bald and ugly gardener whom his women customers pick on.The other character is Lester,Caleb's handsome dead brother.When a woman puts down Caleb,Lester pays her a lethal visit."The Love Butcher" is perhaps the best horror film made by Donald M.Jones,the man behind watchable exploitation flick "Schoolgirls in Chains" and worthless slasher "The Forest".It certainly offers some twists and turns plus a little bit of violence.Eric Stern is quite believable in the dual role and the script is refreshing.Give it a chance.