The Mutilator (1984)

 Better transfers can definitely reveal makeup effects, but the sheer viciousness and fiendish psychopathy of the maniac in Buddy Cooper's North Carolina early 80s slasher film still pack a nasty punch. Just like so many slashers, most of the cast barely act -- if they ever acted -- in anything else. The characters assembled are just ordinary college students taking care of a messy house owned by this unstable lunatic still reeling from the loss of his wife in an accidental shotgun blast when his son was cleaning his gun. 

The acting isn't a showcase of high quality. There is just enough skin on the bones of the plot associated with killing off Mitler's friends. His dad has a brain break and uses his hunting and fishing tools to impale, shred, hook, stab, and chop Mitler's friends one by one when they go about looking for each other upon separation. This will be on your radar if you are that completist who just must watch the entirety of the genre in the 80s, have heard about the unrated cut and upgraded transfer and want to finally see the film in a quality version, and have read about the gory, mean-spirited kills. This has such happy-go-lucky young adults who really aren't that bad a lot you; I really wasn't just anxiously awaiting their brutal deaths. Even if the acting is suspect, I did like them, so I wasn't harboring any bloodlust, chomping at the bit to see them wholly destroyed. 

That gaff to the groin, while arranged rather illogically -- I think she could have fought him off and he didn't seem capable of lifting her off her feet, placing her on the table, and methodically ramming it inside her -- is a really mean piece of work. Sheesh.

That closing leg severing from a guy with no lower torso just cracked me up. Amazing how much strength a guy can have without legs, swinging that ax as if he had mad upper arm strength. Absolutely ridiculous. I gave the previous viewing an IMDb rating of 5/10. That fits what I'd rate it on my blog: 2.5/5

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The below user comments are from January 2009. This was watched off a rough VHS copy I once rented from a DDV rental store with shelves of VHS tapes you could also rent. I'm watching a much better version tonight on Tubi. 

And, does this psycho mutilate! Really sick slasher regarding a madman who suffered a state of psychosis after finding his wife dead from an accidental shooting when his son was cleaning one of his shot guns(..she was in the process of topping the icing of his birthday cake). Deflated at the thought of spending another boring vacation around their college, Ed Jr.(Matt Mitler) receives word from his disgruntled pop(..the psycho of the film's title)that his beach front condo needs a serious clean-up. Their relationship seriously strained, Ed Jr. wishes not to return to the condo, but his college friends coerce him into it(..in a prophetic declaration, Ed Jr mentions he has a bad feeling about it and couldn't be more accurate). What none of them realize is that Ed's father has disturbing plans in store for the entire group and exacts a murderous rampage to take place the very night they arrive.

Feeble excuse to set off a violent graphic killing spree, writer-director Buddy Cooper arranges for Ed to murder his mother, giving his father a fragile reason to execute innocent people. The young cast is a spirited bunch making their college characters likable and light-hearted, thinking they are the only ones on the whole beach for miles, not knowing that Ed's own father is hiding in a room within the garage, metal spikes designated for each victim's head as a type of trophy. Ed's father hunts game just for sport and there's even a photo of a man he run over with a boat for chrissake! The maniac uses an assortment of weapons to destroy his son's friends. He drowns a victim in a nearby pool before later attacking her boyfriend with a chainsaw, devastating his chest, ripping away chunks of flesh. A local cop working his beat is stabbed in the face before being beheaded by the killer's battle ax! The killer slams a pitchfork into a victim's throat, sticking him to a door, later ramming a fishing gaff into his girlfriend's vagina, decapitating her with same the bloody battle ax that had been used on the cop! Not to be denied, the psychopath even attacks his own son with the battle ax after binding Ed's hands and feet(..before attacking the group we are privy to his homicidal fantasies regarding the violent harm he'd like to afflict on Ed as a child!). Don't worry, though, because this bastard doesn't walk away unscathed..that I promise you.

MAJOR SPOILER..this film is very derivative of the genre films that came before it in that it features a psychopath who seems to have a threshold and tolerance for physical pain. He is able to endure a vicious stabbing from a knife directly into the chest, a vehicle's cigarette lighter driven deep into his hand burning away flesh, and is also cut in half after Ed's virginal sweetheart(..who is the only one of the group that actually inflicts real harm on this bastard)drives him into a brick wall. And, this guy still is able to chop off a policeman's leg while his lower half lies right beside him! This slasher will certainly appeal to those who love their gratuitous violence from a killer so vile he giggles after adding victims to his trophy room and as he lies in two parts on the ground, watching that poor police officer crying in pain as his wound gushes blood! Not a lot of nudity except a pair of breasts..this group is a decent and acceptable bunch, rather normal and less obnoxious. They certainly don't deserve the punishment Ed's father inflicts on them. The gore scenes might, though, have a less of an impact due to how they are enacted. Such as how the victims react to their predator when he harms them. And, the decapitation of the cop with blood squirting from the place where the head once was, is unintentionally hilarious. This film surely will repulse many and induce riotous laughter from others.