Monday 13 May 2013

DVD review: Born Killer (1990)


Two deranged and homicidal escaped convicts terrorize a group of survivalists engaged in a paint-ball war. Born Killer is written by Ted Prior and David A. Prior and is directed by Kimberley Casey. The acting is uneven but I do like Ted Prior in this, he´s good in this. The camerawork and editing is good. The soundtrack is good. Early on in the flick, when the main characters are introduced, one of the good guys punches a female character in the face with his fist and sends her to the ground and he´s one of the good guys.. Ted Prior probably had the time of his life (remember he co-wrote the script) playing the sadistic and vicious Spencer which is a stark contrast compared to the roles he usually plays. The pace is pretty good, Born Killer has its flaws and one of them appears towards the end when the hero builds a ridiculous makeshift weapon.  The action, shootouts, fistfights and even some brief martial arts are a bit uneven when it comes to how they are staged. To put it in simple terms, some sequences work better than others. This flick also suffers from what many of the Prior-lensed features do, the shootouts tend to be a bit bland and get boring pretty quick. Born Killer is surprisingly graphic and brutal, there are some nice juicy squibs in this. There´s topless nudity in this and there´s a rape-scene but you don´t see anything as your view is obscured by a camp fire.
This review is based upon the italian region 2 DVD release from USA Home Entertainment, it´s uncut and italian language only.
Rating: 5 out of 7. I like Born Killer despite its flaws, it´s brutal and pretty graphic and unexpectedly dark.


/JL

1 comment:

  1. Although I was given a lesser credit I cut the first half to three quarters of Born Killer. At least up to the campfire scene after the cave scenes. It is what it is but thanks for the kind words regarding the editing.
    -Ron Gerber

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