40 reviews
From the perspective of yet another guy who's trying to see all the 'official' video nasties - namely me - Mardi Gras Massacre passed the litmus test. It offers another dose of the very particular atmosphere unique to a lot of no-to-low budget shock horror films from the seventies and early eighties, in this case involving one crazy devotee of a Mexican death goddess who ritually sacrifices (disembowels) a series of prostitutes in New Orleans pre- Mardi Gras. While I was satisfied in a broad sense, I can't stress enough that Mardi Gras Massacre is an extremely incompetent film, both hilariously and tediously so. It's riddled with the kind of woeful technical blunders I thought had ceased to be with the underground exploitation flicks of the sixties and early seventies. I'm talking about tons of non-featured actors clearly reading their lines from cue cards held just off camera. I'm talking about actors not being given another take even after they've fluffed multiple lines of dialogue. I'm talking about the kind of continuity screw-ups in which a person can be standing, then sitting, then standing again in consecutive shots. During an arguably important chase scene of the villain by the cops, the actor playing the villain is curiously absent. A series of long shots of scenery and of anonymously driven cars appear to be intended to cover up this omission. (Maybe the guy wasn't paid to stay on the set that long?)
Technically, it is all that bad, but of course there's content to entertain. There's real New Orleans scenery, lots of crass discoey glitz, badly amusing dialogue ("I hear you're the most evil woman in this room,") a cheesefest love montage between a cop and his newly beloved prostitute, and several cheap but plenty splattery disembowelment murders. The killings are all executed identically in editing and FX, which is a curiosity for this genre, as well as just something which kind of sucks. But I did find effective the grizzly synth score associated with the bad guy and used during the lead up to each of the sacrifice scenes.
All in all, Mardi Gras Massacre is another dire triumph for lurid, bad-bad horror.
Technically, it is all that bad, but of course there's content to entertain. There's real New Orleans scenery, lots of crass discoey glitz, badly amusing dialogue ("I hear you're the most evil woman in this room,") a cheesefest love montage between a cop and his newly beloved prostitute, and several cheap but plenty splattery disembowelment murders. The killings are all executed identically in editing and FX, which is a curiosity for this genre, as well as just something which kind of sucks. But I did find effective the grizzly synth score associated with the bad guy and used during the lead up to each of the sacrifice scenes.
All in all, Mardi Gras Massacre is another dire triumph for lurid, bad-bad horror.
Yet another video nasty. Yet another laugh-riot. Before I actually saw many of the films on the DPP list, I, somewhat misguidedly, thought that they would be shameless atrocities full of shocking violence and depravity. I know better now. A significant number of them are unintentional comedies. And Mardi Gras Massacre is a perfect example.
The story concerns a madman who picks up prostitutes and ritually slaughters them in his bachelor pad. He's pursued by a couple of hopeless cops. The Mardi Gras goes on in the background.
This film is spectacularly badly made. The acting and especially the exposition scenes are of a pornographic standard. Although, the killer, played by an English bloke, is very very amusing. He is fond of overly dramatic pauses, such as 'are you......................evil?'. The dialogue in the movie in general is atrocious in a gloriously stupid way. In fact, so is the editing. Scenes cut into each other suddenly and jarringly but, again, this only adds to the fun. As does the music. It varies from the type of music you would expect to hear in a porno, funky disco, avant-garde noise and the bass-heavy proto-house that accompanies the murders. In other words technically and artistically, this film is a mess, albeit enjoyably so.
The murder scenes are all identical. They're not particularly convincing but nevertheless crude and sleazy; pretty obvious video nasty material. And the aforementioned music that accompanies them is, in fairness, pretty much effective. Less effective but brilliantly rubbish is the love-montage scene where our detective and prozzie stroll around New Orleans - it's an utter cheese-fest of the first order. The cops in these kind of movies are usually pretty ineffective - let's face it, if they did their jobs properly we wouldn't have much of a movie - however, the police in Mardi Gras Massacre are biscuit-taking in their ineptitude. They are absolutely hopeless.
A similar thing could be said of this movie but I'm not going to because I found it way too enjoyable. This is proper Z-Grade film-making. They really don't make them like this any more. There was a peculiar type of slightly out-of-order sleazy-violent horror film that was made in the 70's and early 80's. And this is a good example. It's terrible but good. If you like unintentionally funny bad movies with a dash of sleazy violence then really I have to recommend this to you; to do otherwise would be.................evil.
The story concerns a madman who picks up prostitutes and ritually slaughters them in his bachelor pad. He's pursued by a couple of hopeless cops. The Mardi Gras goes on in the background.
This film is spectacularly badly made. The acting and especially the exposition scenes are of a pornographic standard. Although, the killer, played by an English bloke, is very very amusing. He is fond of overly dramatic pauses, such as 'are you......................evil?'. The dialogue in the movie in general is atrocious in a gloriously stupid way. In fact, so is the editing. Scenes cut into each other suddenly and jarringly but, again, this only adds to the fun. As does the music. It varies from the type of music you would expect to hear in a porno, funky disco, avant-garde noise and the bass-heavy proto-house that accompanies the murders. In other words technically and artistically, this film is a mess, albeit enjoyably so.
The murder scenes are all identical. They're not particularly convincing but nevertheless crude and sleazy; pretty obvious video nasty material. And the aforementioned music that accompanies them is, in fairness, pretty much effective. Less effective but brilliantly rubbish is the love-montage scene where our detective and prozzie stroll around New Orleans - it's an utter cheese-fest of the first order. The cops in these kind of movies are usually pretty ineffective - let's face it, if they did their jobs properly we wouldn't have much of a movie - however, the police in Mardi Gras Massacre are biscuit-taking in their ineptitude. They are absolutely hopeless.
A similar thing could be said of this movie but I'm not going to because I found it way too enjoyable. This is proper Z-Grade film-making. They really don't make them like this any more. There was a peculiar type of slightly out-of-order sleazy-violent horror film that was made in the 70's and early 80's. And this is a good example. It's terrible but good. If you like unintentionally funny bad movies with a dash of sleazy violence then really I have to recommend this to you; to do otherwise would be.................evil.
- Red-Barracuda
- Jul 6, 2007
- Permalink
Not exactly a straight slasher as many believe but it's surely as cheesy, and unintentionally funny as any slasher from the 80's.
"Mardi Gras Massacre" could be considered as a toned down exploitation low budget. The plot asks for brutality, violence, sleaze but the truth is that the execution of the idea isn't as half as good as it should. Poor New Orleans, really. Not because of the recent tragedies, but, because this movie has generated a bad fame for the Mardi Gras celebration. Of course, only among in the Horror movies world.
The ritual method is repeated in all the death scenes. So we don't get originality or probably there wasn't enough budget to at least create three different gore scenes. It's okay but even ultra low budget slashers have at least two different killing methods! Anyways, "Mardi Gras Massacre" has generated some kind of cult over the years but sincerely, this isn't a must see. The movie should only be watched by b-movie lovers or morbid fans of low budget cheese and sleaze!
"Mardi Gras Massacre" could be considered as a toned down exploitation low budget. The plot asks for brutality, violence, sleaze but the truth is that the execution of the idea isn't as half as good as it should. Poor New Orleans, really. Not because of the recent tragedies, but, because this movie has generated a bad fame for the Mardi Gras celebration. Of course, only among in the Horror movies world.
The ritual method is repeated in all the death scenes. So we don't get originality or probably there wasn't enough budget to at least create three different gore scenes. It's okay but even ultra low budget slashers have at least two different killing methods! Anyways, "Mardi Gras Massacre" has generated some kind of cult over the years but sincerely, this isn't a must see. The movie should only be watched by b-movie lovers or morbid fans of low budget cheese and sleaze!
- insomniac_rod
- Aug 18, 2006
- Permalink
Man, this is one dumb, idiotic movie with excessive sex and violence and no redeeming values whatsoever... Great! This blast is a treasure for schlock-lovers, as a mad priest who worships the evil entity of Quetzacoatl (which I have INDEFINITELY misspelled and can't pronounce for the life of me... then again, did they pronounce it right in this movie?). He gets down on the town, looking for prostitutes with reputations for being... "evil". (Ha ha, couldn't resist.) As the crappy spaced-out disco music soars, he torments and guts the fully nude ladies. Such ugly trash, and funnier than hell. The acting, the dialogue, the gore, the music, the dumbass characters (especially the cops)... A laugh riot, all in all! Recommended, fer shore!
As much as I think this film is a pile of crap, there's 'something' about it that I like. I think it's the grainy, dirty feel to it, which isn't something many horror films have. This cannot save it though, because whichever way you look at it, it gets rather tedious after the first few deaths. Don't get me wrong - they are quite bloody in a Herschell Gordon Lewis kind of way. I even thought the weird sounds that are played when the killings occur added to the grainy atmosphere. It's just that you get sick of seeing the same thing over and over. Also there's too much tedious bumbling from the police and a dull sub-plot. I thought the ending was rather cool though, when he drives the car into the water and all they find is his mask. Mind you most people would have fallen asleep by this point.
Overall I would say Mardi Gras Massacre is worth the once over if you're a horror completist - just don't expect too much!
Overall I would say Mardi Gras Massacre is worth the once over if you're a horror completist - just don't expect too much!
I don't usually go out of my way to put down a film, but it surprised me when I saw that this one got an average of 3.5 stars. Don't be led astray, this movie is not worth any amount of money you might pay for it.
Unless you are looking for a movie with super cheesy lines, bad acting and sadistic, gory torture/murder scenes don't rent this movie.
I rented this movie once. Soon afterwards I lost my job because I forgot to go, got dumped by my girlfriend because I forgot her name, my dog died because I forgot to feed her and my family disowned me as an act of mercy. This is how much stupider I became after watching this movie. Please, take me as an example and save yourself. Thank you for your time.
Unless you are looking for a movie with super cheesy lines, bad acting and sadistic, gory torture/murder scenes don't rent this movie.
I rented this movie once. Soon afterwards I lost my job because I forgot to go, got dumped by my girlfriend because I forgot her name, my dog died because I forgot to feed her and my family disowned me as an act of mercy. This is how much stupider I became after watching this movie. Please, take me as an example and save yourself. Thank you for your time.
This film was banned during the witch hunt of the early 80's, my only question is why??? The only redeeming feature of this pile of steaming dung are the eponymous murders which aren't that bad considering that the budget for the whole film must have been approaching the $12 mark. All 3 murders shown are filmed and scripted exactly the same. The acting is woeful and the sound, editing and directing are nothing short of abysmal. Having said that though there does seem to be a strange attraction about this film but I'm afraid that this attraction is only of the 'Sooooooo Bad its good' variety!! If you want to watch a film that stirs the intellect leave well alone, if you want to see an example of how not to do it then this is the film for you. 1/2* out of *****
Remember the video nasty called Blood Feast. it was banned in Britain, and finally let in in 2005. This film is a cheesy remake of the Herschell Gordon Lewis classic. It was banned and never let in.
Instead of an Egyptian goddess, this guy here (William Metzo) is making sacrifices to some Aztec goddess. He takes a prostitute (Laura Misch Owens) home, oils her up, and performs his ritual, which includes removing her heart.
The cop (Curt Dawson) is too busy getting prostitutes (Gwen Arment) in bed himself to solve the crime. I really don't get this police sergeant strolling though the city with his arm around the prostitute. While he is in bed, another girl gives her heart to the slasher. This doesn't make the police chief too happy as Mardi Gras is about to start and they need to get Jaws out of the water. Sorry, wrong film.
Cheesy dialog, hairy men in wife-beaters, incompetent cops, and a score that belongs in a porno film: all the elements of a good grade Z grindhouse film.
Instead of an Egyptian goddess, this guy here (William Metzo) is making sacrifices to some Aztec goddess. He takes a prostitute (Laura Misch Owens) home, oils her up, and performs his ritual, which includes removing her heart.
The cop (Curt Dawson) is too busy getting prostitutes (Gwen Arment) in bed himself to solve the crime. I really don't get this police sergeant strolling though the city with his arm around the prostitute. While he is in bed, another girl gives her heart to the slasher. This doesn't make the police chief too happy as Mardi Gras is about to start and they need to get Jaws out of the water. Sorry, wrong film.
Cheesy dialog, hairy men in wife-beaters, incompetent cops, and a score that belongs in a porno film: all the elements of a good grade Z grindhouse film.
- lastliberal
- Apr 17, 2009
- Permalink
I almost admire this.
It KNEW it stunk from the git-go. So they piled everything they could think of into the film so we wouldn't realize it. They almost got away with it. Almost.
Witch Doctor/Lunatic kills people during Mardi Gras. Mystery and terror ensue. In that order.
The Mardi Gras setting gave it excuses to show all types of weirdness. This is the films' success. Hot women, bikers, street performers making asses of themselves, it's a grindhouse fan's feast.
The mystery itself was bare bones, the extras made it watchable. All one did was predict the next one to get pierced.
Worth a look just for the party scenes...and the women.
It KNEW it stunk from the git-go. So they piled everything they could think of into the film so we wouldn't realize it. They almost got away with it. Almost.
Witch Doctor/Lunatic kills people during Mardi Gras. Mystery and terror ensue. In that order.
The Mardi Gras setting gave it excuses to show all types of weirdness. This is the films' success. Hot women, bikers, street performers making asses of themselves, it's a grindhouse fan's feast.
The mystery itself was bare bones, the extras made it watchable. All one did was predict the next one to get pierced.
Worth a look just for the party scenes...and the women.
- haildevilman
- May 12, 2007
- Permalink
- IPreferEvidence
- Jul 21, 2011
- Permalink
- TheOldGuyFromHalloween3
- Nov 10, 2022
- Permalink
"Mardi Gras Massacre" is a sleazy trash with misogynistic murders and tons of hilarity.It surely is one of the most unintentionally amusing experiences one can have.New Orlean is a dangerous city.There is a killer on the loose.The butcher of strippers and hookers.He is looking for evil women.He narrows his eyes and says to his female victims "I am looking...for someone...Evil!" then asks "Are you evil?".This gentleman killer,who orders Chinese Food delivery for one of his sacrificial lambs,has an Aztec fetish,so he wants to tie naked ladies to an altar and sacrifice them to some bloodthirsty Aztec god."Mardi Gras Massacre" delivers tons of full-frontal nudity,sleaze and a bit of nasty gore.There's also an incredibly poorly acted subplot surrounding the cop investigating these ritualistic murders falling in love with one of the hookers.The funniest thing is that "Mardi Gras Massacre" was classified as a video nasty.7 out of 10.
- HumanoidOfFlesh
- Oct 22, 2008
- Permalink
- BandSAboutMovies
- Oct 8, 2019
- Permalink
flavorless performances..."exHOTic" dancers...a deranged madman...bondage...torture...grrrl-fights...bumblesome cops...a "falling-in-love" montage...disemboweling...an evil Aztec goddess...a cheezy bachelor pad with a sacrificial altar...disco...a repeat of that disemboweling we saw earlier...scheming hookers...dope pushing pimps...street scenes where passers-by stare blankly at the camera, unaware that they are unpaid and uncredited extras in a bottom-of-the-barrel celluloid bowel movement...
Thank you, Mr. Jack Weis. I'm going to name a pet after you one day.
This sort-of-remake of H. G. Lewis' BLOOD FEAST is an all-time anti-classic, and not to be missed. Ten filthy stars...that's one star for every dollar spent on making it. Now you just run along and get yourself a copy, 'cause you KNOW you can't have mine.
Thank you, Mr. Jack Weis. I'm going to name a pet after you one day.
This sort-of-remake of H. G. Lewis' BLOOD FEAST is an all-time anti-classic, and not to be missed. Ten filthy stars...that's one star for every dollar spent on making it. Now you just run along and get yourself a copy, 'cause you KNOW you can't have mine.
- EyeAskance
- Jul 11, 2003
- Permalink
MARDI GRAS MASSACRE is a typically bad low budget horror film made in the late 1970s. It's about this kooky guy who likes to sacrifice women in some sort of ritualistic fashion for god knows what. The film is extremely repetitive as the women are seduced or hired by the killer, brought to his place and strapped to an altar of sorts and killed. Repeat that 4 or 5 times, the same angles, the same dialogue and it's enough to drive anyone crazy.
But if that wasn't enough to drive anyone crazy, the music would sure do it.
The disco music or score is insane. Oh my! It just didn't stop. It was like disco musak gone mad. Honestly, it's the most invasive soundtrack I've ever heard! It was so omnipresent that I couldn't stop laughing at it or the movie. It's not the Mardi Gras Massacre but more like the EAR BLEEDING DISCO MUSIC MASSACRE.
HG Lewis made better (well better is not the word but you get what I mean...) gore films than this. He knew not to clobber the audience with an annoying soundtrack. Just with bad acting and stagey sets. Arf.
BTW the massacre of those women occurred well before the Mardi Gras started so the title is misleading. I know, shocking for a no budget movie.
But if that wasn't enough to drive anyone crazy, the music would sure do it.
The disco music or score is insane. Oh my! It just didn't stop. It was like disco musak gone mad. Honestly, it's the most invasive soundtrack I've ever heard! It was so omnipresent that I couldn't stop laughing at it or the movie. It's not the Mardi Gras Massacre but more like the EAR BLEEDING DISCO MUSIC MASSACRE.
HG Lewis made better (well better is not the word but you get what I mean...) gore films than this. He knew not to clobber the audience with an annoying soundtrack. Just with bad acting and stagey sets. Arf.
BTW the massacre of those women occurred well before the Mardi Gras started so the title is misleading. I know, shocking for a no budget movie.
- Maciste_Brother
- Apr 8, 2008
- Permalink
- Steve_Nyland
- Sep 14, 2018
- Permalink
"Mardi Gras Massacre" is a very, very (very) bad seventies film; approximately 75% retelling of, and 25% homage to Hershell Gordon-Lewis' "Blood Feast". Now, I know what you're thinking and you're correct! Why would anyone want to remake a movie like "Blood Feast", let alone pay good money to see it? Admittedly, it build up a well-deserved cult reputation for being the very first gore film ever made, but it basically remains a poorly scripted and amateurishly put together piece of nauseating trash! There's nothing even remotely unique about "Mardi Gras Massacre" and, on top of that, it appears to be even poorer than Lewis' original film. This is purely a tedious 90-minutes-lasting excuse to exhibit cheesy gore and gratuitous full frontal nudity, without any attempt of storytelling and/or creating atmosphere whatsoever. Just a few days before the famous Mardi Gras festival, a clearly deranged self-acclaimed Aztec priest arrives in New Orleans and promptly begins to scour the local bars and strip joints looking for hookers. Not just any hookers, mind you, but EVIL hookers to take home and sacrifice to a hideous statue of a malicious deity. Our mysterious weirdo ties the girl to an altar, rubs brown oil all over their bodies and subsequently cuts their hands & feet before removing a handful of their intestines. This rather repulsive (but UN-shocking) ritual killing is repeated four or five times throughout the film and I even suspect you're watching the same damn footage each time. That's the plot! There's absolutely nothing else going on, unless you consider the hugely annoying love-hate relationship between a sexist copper and a nagging prostitute to be a sub plot. Whatever "Mardi Gras Massacre" lacks in plot, it surely makes up in pointless padding and incompetent directing. The Mardi Gras setting is original but wasted entirely, the dialogs make your ears ache and for some reason there's awful music playing non-stop. The women are beautiful fully dressed as well as naked, but that's hardly a reason to track down a horror film, isn't it? The film is included in the infamous list of "video nasties" (as well as its role model "Blood Feast"), but honestly doesn't deserve to be on any list except maybe the 'avoid-like-the-plague' one.
This is a really obscure horror/gore film from the late seventies directed by the very untalented Jack Weis and starring the equally untalented Curt Dawson and Gwent Arment (who?!). Basically it has some nutter running around picking up prostitutes and taking them back to his house, wherein he has built some sort of sacrificial altar. Once there he ties the girls down on a bed and cuts 'the hand that excepted the money' the 'feet that brought you here' and finally 'the part you use for evil', at this point he slices their stomach open and pulls some guts out. The rest of the running time the movie follows the detective hunting the killer and a prostitute whom he tries to use to help his investigations. There is nothing good I can say about this movie. The acting is awful even by ultra low budget standards. The photography is hideous even by ultra low budget standards. The directing is non existent, and the script, if they had one, is a waste of the paper it was printed on. Surprisingly the special make up effects are acceptable, considering the rest of the film even quite impressive. Although when the best most impressive part of a movie is when someone cuts open a womans stomach and removes her intestines you know your in for a rough 92mins. The video version I watched had really cool artwork on the cover, I should just have looked at the box for the 92mins! Avoid at all costs.
- poolandrews
- Oct 17, 2002
- Permalink
..cuz she's gonna end up dead in this. Someone's killing all the "strumpets" (wink, wink) at Mardi Gras and doing it by ritual disembowelment, again and again and again in exactly the same way, so you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. I like the sequence, but couldn't they at least have tried some different angles? Either the cameraman lacked creativity, or maybe he just didn't want to make the effort for how little they were paying him. Hey, if it works, why fix it is so often their maxim in cheapo slashers like this.
The cast's delivery is so somnambulant, sounds like they couldn't read a line and chew gum if their lives depended on it. The tired plot is dull and tedious, just another police story to hang corpses on. High disco soundtrack throughout--this IS 1978--and of course it accompanies the dancing lady in the nudie club. Sign outside promises "TOPLESS BOTTOMLESS" but she's neither, probly the producers didn't want to spend to hire another nude girl.
When it starts with a plain black screen with only "MARDI GRAS MASSACRE" written in plain white letters, then, without further or due, immediately goes into the action, you know EVERY expense has been spared. Same with the closing credits
The cast's delivery is so somnambulant, sounds like they couldn't read a line and chew gum if their lives depended on it. The tired plot is dull and tedious, just another police story to hang corpses on. High disco soundtrack throughout--this IS 1978--and of course it accompanies the dancing lady in the nudie club. Sign outside promises "TOPLESS BOTTOMLESS" but she's neither, probly the producers didn't want to spend to hire another nude girl.
When it starts with a plain black screen with only "MARDI GRAS MASSACRE" written in plain white letters, then, without further or due, immediately goes into the action, you know EVERY expense has been spared. Same with the closing credits
Mardi Gras Massacre - 1978
(This film rates a C )
A wealthy authoritative serial killer with large beady brown eyes is killing dumb naive prostitutes in a ritualistic way, days before Mardi Gras. He ties them up and cuts out their hearts in a room that resembles an alter and table of death. The hearts are offered to an Aztec goddess that he chants to. The acting is really some of the worst I've seen. The script is terrible. Poor editing. Horrible soundtrack of really bad 70's electronic cheese. It just does not fit the film. Bargain basement gore scenes. What's up with the fight at the restaurant, the awful dancing prostitutes at the "club", the rhyming surfer pimp, the dancing prostitute just before her death in the room. Why none of the prostitutes feel threatened by a guy roping each limb on a large sacrificial table. Everything is so bad that it's laughable. The phony relationship between a homicide detective and a prostitute becomes nothing more than a dragging time filler for two people who had no chemistry. The cheap gore and murders could have worked better if the sacrificial scenes were not all the same. There are PLENTY of T&A with full frontal nudity. The footage of vintage Mardi Gras is exhilarating and a big highlight. This is in no way a good film, however, it retains a sense of under achieved charm that makes this something I'd watch again. And I love that stache on the sergeant.
A wealthy authoritative serial killer with large beady brown eyes is killing dumb naive prostitutes in a ritualistic way, days before Mardi Gras. He ties them up and cuts out their hearts in a room that resembles an alter and table of death. The hearts are offered to an Aztec goddess that he chants to. The acting is really some of the worst I've seen. The script is terrible. Poor editing. Horrible soundtrack of really bad 70's electronic cheese. It just does not fit the film. Bargain basement gore scenes. What's up with the fight at the restaurant, the awful dancing prostitutes at the "club", the rhyming surfer pimp, the dancing prostitute just before her death in the room. Why none of the prostitutes feel threatened by a guy roping each limb on a large sacrificial table. Everything is so bad that it's laughable. The phony relationship between a homicide detective and a prostitute becomes nothing more than a dragging time filler for two people who had no chemistry. The cheap gore and murders could have worked better if the sacrificial scenes were not all the same. There are PLENTY of T&A with full frontal nudity. The footage of vintage Mardi Gras is exhilarating and a big highlight. This is in no way a good film, however, it retains a sense of under achieved charm that makes this something I'd watch again. And I love that stache on the sergeant.
- abduktionsphanomen471
- Jul 17, 2021
- Permalink
Just prior to Mardi Gras a well-dressed man walks into a nightclub and asks a prostitute named "Sherry" (Gwen Arment) where he can find the "most evil" woman in the club. Sherry points to a particular woman and the man quickly walks over to her table. Not long afterward he brings her to his apartment and then proceeds to tie her up and plunge a dagger into her nude body as a sacrificial offering to a statue of an Aztec god. The police find the body the next morning and soon the newspaper reports the grizzly details. Quite naturally, the police immediately begin an investigation and a hard-nosed detective by the name of "Sgt. Frank Hebert" (Curt Dawson) is put in charge of it. However, once he interviews Sherry the two become romantically involved which causes problems of its own. Meanwhile, exactly one week later the killer again picks up a hooker and kills her in the same manner. Needless to say, with Mardi Gras fast approaching Sgt. Hebert is under quite a bit of pressure to catch the maniac. At any rate, rather than detail any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just caution viewers beforehand that this is one film they might want to avoid. The acting is terrible, the camera work is second-rate, the nudity was unappealing and the music is truly dreadful. However, it does offer some cheap gore, a nice film location (New Orleans) and the story itself wasn't too bad. But none of those good factors are a reason to rate this film any higher than I have. If anything, I have been overly generous as this movie is below average in just about every way possible. Viewer beware.
- Woodyanders
- Oct 27, 2011
- Permalink
Nowadays it's available on DVD but in the time when it was only available on VHS it was a real collector even as it doesn't have that much of horror in it. To be honest, it's a kind of rip-off of Blood Feast (1963).
But the acting here is really dull. It's just like they are reading their lines from something. Not only that, there's almost no blood in it. But when it does it really looks sleazy because it's always girls who are sacrificed and have to go naked all the way. Not only that, the killer do search his victims in strip joints and even that looks rather sleazy. We do some strip acts but they are so unwatchable that you wont be turned on by watching them.
Nevertheless that nothing positive can be said about this flick I still enjoyed it somehow and that's what most people did who do like a sleazefest. The title is still a mystery for me and only some footage added from the festival explains this title. Why they have added the Saterday Night Fever feeling is also unexplained. Have a look at the cop dating a hooker, listen to the score, see the girls never wearing underwear, yes, pure grindhouse galore and that's what I like from those good old seventies.
Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5
But the acting here is really dull. It's just like they are reading their lines from something. Not only that, there's almost no blood in it. But when it does it really looks sleazy because it's always girls who are sacrificed and have to go naked all the way. Not only that, the killer do search his victims in strip joints and even that looks rather sleazy. We do some strip acts but they are so unwatchable that you wont be turned on by watching them.
Nevertheless that nothing positive can be said about this flick I still enjoyed it somehow and that's what most people did who do like a sleazefest. The title is still a mystery for me and only some footage added from the festival explains this title. Why they have added the Saterday Night Fever feeling is also unexplained. Have a look at the cop dating a hooker, listen to the score, see the girls never wearing underwear, yes, pure grindhouse galore and that's what I like from those good old seventies.
Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5
A well-dressed sicko (William Metzo) is hard at work sacrificing prostitutes to his "god". A vice cop who's transferred to homicide (Curt Dawson), who's absolutely no rose himself, picks up his trail, but never seems THAT concerned with whether or not he solves the case.
The fifth and final film for New Orleans-based exploitation filmmaker Jack Weis, this isn't as much as fun as if, say, Herschell Gordon Lewis had handled it. Sure, "Mardi Gras Massacre" hits the expected beats sufficiently: it's got some amusing gore, and the female cast members frequently get nude. The problem is, HGL probably would have at least made this a bit livelier. This flick is too slow and too static and takes too long to play out its slim story.
Make no mistake, it's as inept as much of what you'll see in the HGL filmography, with blatantly cheesy & amateurish acting, and it features a steady parade of genuinely bad music. That said, Metzo amuses in the psycho role, and that's Playboy Playmate Laura Misch Owens as his initial victim.
I *did* enjoy this to an extent as a piece of cinematic trash, and as a so-bad-it's-good type of movie, but I can't say that I really *laughed* as often as I do when watching most films from HGL.
At the very least, the location manager did *their* job: there are some pleasing N. O. sights & sounds to take in, and the climax *does* feature some good Mardi Gras celebration footage.
Five out of 10.
The fifth and final film for New Orleans-based exploitation filmmaker Jack Weis, this isn't as much as fun as if, say, Herschell Gordon Lewis had handled it. Sure, "Mardi Gras Massacre" hits the expected beats sufficiently: it's got some amusing gore, and the female cast members frequently get nude. The problem is, HGL probably would have at least made this a bit livelier. This flick is too slow and too static and takes too long to play out its slim story.
Make no mistake, it's as inept as much of what you'll see in the HGL filmography, with blatantly cheesy & amateurish acting, and it features a steady parade of genuinely bad music. That said, Metzo amuses in the psycho role, and that's Playboy Playmate Laura Misch Owens as his initial victim.
I *did* enjoy this to an extent as a piece of cinematic trash, and as a so-bad-it's-good type of movie, but I can't say that I really *laughed* as often as I do when watching most films from HGL.
At the very least, the location manager did *their* job: there are some pleasing N. O. sights & sounds to take in, and the climax *does* feature some good Mardi Gras celebration footage.
Five out of 10.
- Hey_Sweden
- Jul 12, 2024
- Permalink