When the press release came in for Intervision DVD’s release of Murderlust, that was truly the first time I heard anything about the film. Looking like it was shot on a VHS camcorder, Murderlust is an ultra low-budget serial killer film from 1984 that focuses more on the day to day operations of the killer than the actual killings. Running at 98-minutes, the movie manages to bore you enough to check your watch multiple times. When the film does shine (the ending for example), it does rather well, but more often than not, this is a snoozer.
Murderlust has an interesting concept at least. Our crazy serial killer with a lust for murder spends his spare time teaching Sunday school and working a dead end job. Steve Belmont can barely get by paying the bills, and his annoying cousin reminds him of that every day. As the pressures of late bills, annoying cousins and miserable jobs take their toll, Steve’s murderous feelings build up inside, and he takes those feelings out on prostitutes and clueless women.
I might sound cruel here, but every single one of these women in this movie deserved what was coming to them. Why I say that is because they have to be some of the dumbest broads I’ve ever witnessed on celluloid. Seriously, when a moustached man wearing a wife beater drives up next to you in his windowless van, spouting off that he is a photographer and wants you to jump in his rape van and head back to his place, you don’t do that! You run, you idiot! Or, how about taking a long ride in the desert, knowing that a killer named the Mojave Desert Killer is loose out there, and all you have to say about the ride is that “boy it’s really deserted out here.” Seriously, you deserve to die.
Murderlust isn’t something that I recommend, as the film just doesn’t do anything original and what it does do, feels like a slog to get through.
If you manage to make it through Murderlust and want to experience more of what director Donald M. Jones has to offer, Intervision Picture has been kind enough to include a second feature on the DVD. Titled Project Nightmare, the film invokes a Twilight Zone/Tales from the Darkside vibe but squanders it in the final few frames with a bunch of techno jargon and random scenes of nonsense.
Should you buy Murderlust on DVD? Fans of scratchy, low quality VHS looking films will love what the transfer looks like. It shows in full frame with low-quality video. It does an admirable job at delivering a sleazy watching experience and the fact the DVD contains two commentaries (one of them partial for Project Nightmare) and a trailer, the price is right for what you get. It’s a shame the films themselves aren’t anything special to write home about.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Murderlust
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer James C. Lane
- Trailer
Project Nightmare
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer James C. Lane
PLOT SUMMARY
From enigmatic director Donald M. Jones comes one of the most disturbing – and rarely seen – serial killer sagas of the ‘80s: By day, mild-mannered Steve Belmont (Eli Rich of THE JIGSAW MURDERS) is a clean-cut teacher and youth counselor at his Los Angeles church. But by night, he’s a sexual psychopath who murders prostitutes and dumps their bodies in the Mojave Desert.
SCREENSHOTS
