Murder-Set-Pieces...Not Great...
Ok starting off, I know this movie came out in 2004, I may have missed the boat on reviewing this but I’ve heard about it for years as one of the most controversial, disturbing films out there, and well...It was. Upon it’s release Murder-set-Pieces was negatively recieved and I can see why. I found it deeply upsetting (not just by its gratuitous, gory as all hell, content; but also the way in which its all delivered in the film.)
Long story short I thought it was terrible. I really hated it, which makes me nervous about the other films on this list. Its just...incredibly shallow...so shallow in fact that I can describe the plot in one sentence. In this Film we follow a German serial killer who brutalizes sex workers and other women alike in some of the bloodiest kills ever filmed. That’s it. The End
Except not...because I need to explain why I hated this film so badly. And as is my style I will point out the few things that I did enjoy. Let’s go through the minor things first.
The Acting is godawful, like, soft-core Cinemax bad. At this point its a trope in so many of these fringe type horror movies, Certain movies make it fun, like the Hatchet or Laid to Rest series. Almost every single actor in the movie just sucks, except for the horror icons that for some reason decided to cameo in this movie. Thats right we got us some horror icons! Tony Todd, The Candyman, and Gunnar Hansen, the original Leatherface, have short, disappointing cameos. Apparently they needed the paycheck.
I actually really liked it, but it doesn’t belong in this movie, it just seems ripped straight out of an 80s B movie. It doesn’t fit with the hyper violent, super serious tone that this film tries to present. There’s also a scene in a strip club where VERY outdated nu metal plays for far too long, but I feel like that may be the one of the only realistic parts of this movie.
The last point I’m going to make about Murder-Set-Pieces is interesting, One of the movies strongest points is also its greatest weakness: the gore and murders. This movie clearly spent its entire budget on this aspect. The film features some of the most graphic/blood soaked kills I think I’ve ever seen. I’m not squeamish, but I’m also not gorehound like my wife, I actually found myself wincing and turning away a couple times. The effort put into the scenes where our Nazi loving, psycho killer, main character is torturing and brutalizing women, was CLEARLY not put into the rest of the movie.
I get it, people love this shit, some people only go to horror movies for the blood and guts and if its done right, I can get into it too. To me, however, It seems as though the director just wanted to film scenes of beautiful women being raped, tortured and violently killed and just decided to put a movie around it to not be institutionalized. Having said that, the special effects are impressive, The most impressive aspect of the film in my opinion.
Oh and the camera work was fairly cheap looking , I’m not gonna judge too harshly, its a cheaply made mid 2000s horror film so that’s pretty common,
That’s all I have to say about this one, I didn’t enjoy it but, I’m sure there are those out there who loved it. In fact according to Wikipedia one reviewer called it “incredibly good” On the back of the box there is a four star review. So who knows, maybe you’ll be one of the twisted individuals who love it. I, however, give it a D-.
My next review Isn’t gonna be a horror movie or even THAT much of a review but more a discussion on the incredible Four Part docu series “The Golden State Killer: It’s not over” done by Investigation Discovery. This is a truly terrifying case that is still unsolved to this day. Enjoy yourselves, until next time.
