Murderlust

Released by: Intervision Picture Corp.
Released on: January 10th, 2017.
Director: Donald Jones
Cast: Eli Rich, Rochelle Taylor, Dennis Gannon
Year: 1985/1987
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The Movie:

Steve Belmont (Eli Rich) seems, on the outside at least, to be a pretty nice guy. The kind of nice guy that hangs out in dingy So-Cal dive bars and takes advantage of desperate women by offering them money for sex. The kind of guy who takes that poor woman into his van and drives her out into the sticks to murder her with a quick whack of a tire iron to her head. The kind of guy who buries her in an unmarked grave out in the desert. Yeah, he's a fucking peach. And he seems to go about this sort of sordid business every night.

When he's not murdering sad women by pretending to be a horny John with cash to spend, he's either working away at his boring warehouse job or educating local kids in the ways of the Lord at a local Sunday school. Here he tends to overreact, getting rather militant with one of the female students when he busts her drawing something she shouldn't be drawing in a church. Soon enough, Steve kinda-sorta shows his softer side when he falls for Cheryl (Rochelle Taylor), a pretty woman and would-be victim that he went to high school with. When she admits, having no knowledge of his current hobby, that she always had a thing for him he's head over heels - but the cops are starting to take notice of all the dead women showing up in the area as of late, and Steve hasn't been covering his tracks as thoroughly as he thinks he has.

Those expecting a blood and boobs stalk and slash film won't find what they're looking for with MurderLust but don't let that dissuade you - this is actually an interesting low budget picture that's more of a thriller than a slasher. There's a lot more emphasis on character development and motivation here than you'd probably expect to find, and while the movie has some of the flaws that are typical in low budget picture (occasionally questionable character actions, some dicey performances and limited locations and effects work) Jones does a pretty decent job of keeping us invested in the story. A big part of why this works is Eli Rich. His performance as the male lead in the picture is quirky and just plain off, which makes him a good casting choice. Throwing in the Sunday School teach angle is an interesting idea too, one that the movie does a pretty good job of exploiting more than once.

There are times where the pacing is a bit sluggish and the movie is very definitely a product of the mid-eighties in terms of its look and feel, but those with an affinity for oddball serial killer films should appreciate what jones and company have pulled off here.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Intervision brings Murderlust to DVD in a 1.33.1 fullframe transfer. The movie was shot on film and edited on tape. The film elements are reportedly gone so a tape master was used for this transfer. Obviously you need to keep your expectations in check given the source, but the image quality here is more than watchable. It's soft, sure, but colors are okay and outside of the fact that it looks like a tape there aren't really any issues here.

The only audio option for the feature is an English language Dolby Digital Mono track, there are no alternate language options or subtitles provided here.

The biggest extra on the disc is the inclusion of a second feature, Project Nightmare, before Murderlust but not released until two years after that picture. Project Nightmare is a much stranger and more entertaining movie than the feature attraction. It tells the story of two friends, Jon (Seth Foster) Gus (Charles Miller), who head out into the woods for a weekend camping trip. Once they're out there, they realize that they are not alone - an unseen force of sorts makes its presence known and after getting harassed by it, they wind up taking shelter in a nearby cabin. Here they meet Marcie (Elly Koslo), a lovely lady who is more than willing to help out and who quickly falls in love with Gus.

Eventually that strange force makes its presence known again and eventually they all wind up in the desert which leads to a cockamamie showdown of sorts - it's pretty odd and it doesn't always make a whole lot of sense as its playing out but it finishes rather well. On top of that the movie has a lot of fantastic early eighties effects set pieces that work in its favor and the cast are all pretty decent in their respective parts. This was clearly made with a modest budget but it is well paced and plenty entertaining.

Aside from that, we get a commentary from producer James C. Lane over Murderlust and a partial commentary over Project Nightmare (this track runs just under fifty minutes). Both tracks are quite interesting, as Lane discusses how he came to produce these pictures for Jones in the first place, what their working relationship was like, where various cast members came from and why as well as how some of the locations from the shoot were secured (or not secured as the case may be). He also talks about how each of the films wound up being distributed, his thoughts on what works and what doesn't in the movies, bringing the pictures in on a modest budget and a fair bit more.

A trailer for Murderlust, menus and chapter selection round out the extras.

The Final Word:

Intervision Picture Corp's DVD release of Murderlust is a good one. While the source material is less than perfect the movie itself is pretty entertaining and on top of that we get a pretty great second bonus film as well as some commentary tracks from the man behind the madness. Recommended!