The Driller Killer (1979)

An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Writer:

Nicholas St. John (screenplay) (as N.G. St. John)

Stars:

Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Abel Ferrara	...	Reno Miller (as Jimmy Laine)
Carolyn Marz	...	Carol Slaughter
Baybi Day	...	Pamela
Harry Schultz	...	Dalton Briggs
Alan Wynroth	...	Al the Landlord
Maria Helhoski	...	The Nun
James O'Hara	...	Man in Church
Richard Howorth	...	Stephen - Carol's Husband
Louis Mascolo	...	Knife Victim
Tommy Santora	...	Attacker
Rita Gooding	...	TV Spot
Chuck Saaf	...	TV Spot
Gary Cohen	...	Voice-over (voice)
Janet Dailey	...	Girl at Audition
Joyce Finney	...	Girl at Audition

Storyline

Reno is an artist struggling to survive in NYC. He draws inspiration from scenes of daily street life and occasional random violence. Under pressure to finish his oft-delayed grand masterpiece, his psychotic alter-ego takes over and he begins killing random vagrants to boost his creativity, not quite realizing that it is happening in reality. When an art dealer grimly rejects Reno's finished masterpiece, Reno's mental condition quickly deteriorates.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | video nasty | psychopath | violence | power drill | 

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Taglines:

The blood runs in rivers... The drill keeps on drilling

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Driller Killer

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Navaron Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 101 min (pre-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Title is mentioned in the song "Nasty" by The Damned - a song about horror movies that were banned in the U.K. after the Video Recording Act of 1984.

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Goofs

When the Driller Killer drills into a homeless man's head, he does not drill far enough to cause death, as evidenced by the depth of blood on the drill-bit.

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Quotes

[Reno opens an envelope for the Con-Ed energy bill]
Reno Miller: Holy Christ! What is this? They send us the bill to Madison Square Garden? What are they kidding me, man? How the hell are we supposed to pay this bill? What is this? The bill for three months?
Carol: That's the bill for one month.
Reno Miller: Christ, what have we got here? A refrigerator, a couple of lights?
[opens another envelope]
Reno Miller: Let's see here, telephone. Oh no! Houston, Texas?
Pamela: My mother.
Reno Miller: Look at this, L.A. $1.50... $2.75... $7.50, man.
Carol: Yeah, they're mine.
Reno Miller: ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Movie opens with message "THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD."

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Alternate Versions

The film has had a rough time in the UK. Before 1984, when videos were not subject to censorship in Britain, it was released with the killings intact, although a minute of non-violent footage was missing from this version. It then got a reputation as one of the most notorious of the "video nasties", a media-fueled hysteria which led to the UK adopting some of the most stringent video censorship in the Western world. This reputation arose largely because of the video cover, which showed the infamous drill-in-the-forehead scene. After 1984, it became illegal to release a video without a BBFC video certificate, and the films' reputation was such that no-one even bothered trying until 1999, when a version omitting 54 secs from the head-drilling scene and 2 earlier murders was approved for an 18 certificate. The full uncut version was finally passed by the BBFC in November 2002.

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Connections

Featured in You Can't Kill Gideon Gates (2013)

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Soundtracks

Grand Street Stomp
Written by D.A. Metrov (as Metro), Abel Ferrara (as Laine) and John Paul McIntyre (as MacIntyre)
Performed by Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters

User Reviews

Gritty, Controversial but Hollow

It's hard to imagine how this film gained its notorious status(especially in the UK). It is poorly shot(reflecting its miniscule budget) and is really no more violent than any other horror film. True, when the disgruntled artist Reno(played by first-time director Abel Ferrara) first goes on a rampage armed with a drill and 'porto-pak', the film does manage to touch a raw nerve, but soon it descends to laboriously-paced repetition and struggles to hold attention.

Will be remembered as the debut feature of director Ferrara, who has since never been afraid to court controversy with films like Ms. 45 and Bad Lieutenant; and probably as one of the films that sparked off the 'Video Nasty' hysteria in the UK in the 1980's; but for little else.

4/10