Jose Ramon Larraz is a film maker from Spain heavily influenced by 1970s Giallo. On occasion he has ventured into the United States to create slasher films. We look at one of his movies today, 1988's "Edge of the Axe." We'll be able to easily identify the similarities to Italian horror quite easily. A beautiful nurse in white chopped to pieces...a babe in a mini-skirt chopped to pieces...a beautiful waitress chopped up and fed to rats...yep, when the beautiful die so horribly, Giallo is happy. Also, we'll see beautiful damsels in much distress who may also be homicidal lunatics.
So it begins, in a sleepy California town, a beautiful nurse is chopped to pieces in a carwash. There will be more. More importantly, Gerald (Barton Faulks) has just got a new computer. Unlike today, where Google and Siri exude incompetence, his machine actually answers questions correctly. His buddy, Richard (Page Mosely), is an exterminator. He will bring Gerald on a job to remove a dead rodent from above the ceiling. Uh oh...the stench is from the rotting corpse of a decomposing waitress. Gerald will fall in love with the nubile Lillian (Christine Marie Lane). She has just returned to town from...well, that's a good question. The axe murders continue, all nice looking women. Now Gerald fixes Lillian up with a computer, and she begins asking it questions.
The axe wielding maniac doesn't rest. Now Gerald tries to solve the murders using his computer. Guess what...Lillian tries to solve the murders using her computer. Now our two lovebirds develop suspicions about each other. More suspects? Everyone! A creepy priest...Richard's wife. Oh yes, Richard is married to a woman old enough to be his mom...and both are fooling around on each other. Back stories are introduced and indicate Gerald may have a dark side...and also Lillian may have a dark side. Uh oh again, an insane asylum may hold the key to a commonality between all the victims.
Is Gerald or Lillian the axe maniac? Even if one of them is a homicidal psychopath, should that get in the way of true love? This is a bloody one in which many beautiful woman will die horribly. Fans of Giallo will find this film interesting and may guess the ending. Slasher fans without Giallo backgrounds will be impressed at how the reveal unfolds. For a bloody good time, just say "Ciao" or "Buenos Noches" and see "Edge of the Axe."
When are they going to lay out the red carpet for you?
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