The Minstrel Killer (2009) User Reviews

An Independent Horror/Expolitation Film That is Actually Quite Effective

[moviefreak144 · 7/10 · 22 February 2011]

An ultra-low budget film, The Minstrel Killer is a homage to 70s grindhouse pictures and the brainchild of Michael Fredianelli, who starred, edited, directed, co-wrote, and co-produced it under his Wild Dogs Production banner. While more of an exercise in exploitation than the horror film it appears to be, it should be noted that while not being horrifying it is suspenseful, amusing, and true to the spirit of the exploitation films that inspired it. It's Texas, 1978 and a young girl has been murdered by a black-faced killer (Michael Nosé). Texas "Tex" Holland (Fredianelli) is called in to lead the investigation, with the help of local sheriff Pike McGraw (Eric Andersen) with only a couple of "backwoods retards" as witnesses. Meanwhile, as more young girls turn up dead, Tex must deal with his own troubles at home where he's racked by insecurity over the knowledge that his wife Carol (Vanessa Celso) cheated on him with a black man, adding a socially conscious element to the story. But, this is an exercise in exploitation after-all so not everything is as linear. Committed to solving the case, Tex falls into the company of Klutch Hitherton (Isaac Wade), the patriarchal figure of a clan of cannibals. Adding the racism element of the story, Tex meets a black cop named Tyrell Jones (Anthony Spears) who becomes his new partner. It's not perfect, but you can hardly expect it to be. What really impressed me about is how well it works with what little it has. It's been digitally aged to recall 70s exploitation cinema, more-or-less the same technique used by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino to make Grindhouse. Fredianelli's makes it gritty and effective enough to make exploitation-hounds proud. Besides these digital additions, it does effectively capture the feel of an exploitation film through the cinematography by David Brashear (also the co-writer) who does a fine job of capturing the feel but actually delivers good cinematography too despite the limited tools available. Exterior shots are quite picturesque and much better than most people with a few thousand dollars and a camera could capture. The murder scenes are never unnecessarily gory and effectively shot with an ominous score (by Aaron Stielstra) that heightens the suspense. Some scenes are actually genuinely suspenseful and well-executed. Tex's run-in with a cannibal clan wasn't working for me, but the action that spawned from it was actually a tense, exciting scene and I commend Fredianelli for handling it so well. Finally, the editing is very coherent, with several nods to grindhouse cinema. Fredianelli is a director with obvious talent, who could be very effective with a bigger budget. The script isn't perfect and some of the acting leaves something to be desired, but it's clear that Fredianelli did his best with what he was given. The main issue I took with the script was weak, but colorful dialogue. The script makes heavy use of stereotypical backwoods Texan's, but some obvious lines of dialogue referring to Alfred Einstein and one character not being a "rocket surgeon" were just so obvious they took away from the scenes. However, minutes after a female character says "I ain't a rocket surgeon," her husband tells her she looks like "a dog's c**k," which redeems the scene significantly. The script has themes of racism and police corruption that it doesn't completely see through, but I don't completely attribute this to poor writing. With more experienced actors to convey these themes through their characters, I think Fredianelli could've used these themes to elevate his material. With all that said, the script has a terrific, unexpected ending that would no doubt be very controversial if this film had wide exposure. The ending is exploitive, but it's very effective and I thought it complemented the film nicely. To emphasize how fond I am of this ending, I want to say that the ending actually increased my appreciation and rating of the overall film. Now when it comes to the acting, some actors are better than others but even the worst actors don't give a performance as atrocious as someone in "Troll 2" or "The Room." Also, I've realized that many of the actors are regulars in films produced by Wild Dog Productions and it's possible that they are solid actors and I'm just not well-acquainted with their acting style. Performance-wise, the most effective actors are Fredianelli, Spears, Celso, and Nosé. Many of the smaller roles are equally solid, but I was frustrated by Eric Andersen and Isaac Wade. I didn't find Andersen very convincing, although he was likable. Meanwhile Wade, as the patriarch of the cannibal clan, I found very ineffective. I just didn't find his portrayal frightening, thrilling, or even remotely good. To call something "an effortless performance" is usually a compliment, but it just appears Wade put no effort into this role. I don't want to bash the guy though, as suspension of disbelief is already difficult to maintain when a character is introducing his sons and they all look the same age or older. With that said, this is the first film I've seen under the Wild Dogs banner and as a homage to 70s exploitation I could be missing something. Wade may have been directed to act like he did by Fredianelli, in which case I simply missed the point. With a bigger budget and more experienced actors, I have no doubt that Fredianelli could have made one hell of a movie. As it is now, even while working with volunteers and with a budget less than the average cost of a house, he's made a (very) independent exploitation/horror film that is actually better than most mainstream films that attempt to capture the same tone and atmosphere. Even more remarkable is that Fredianelli has done it with no nudity and little gore. I'd be interested to see more of his work and watch his skill as a filmmaker progress, because "The Minstrel Killer" was actually quite the pleasant surprise.

GRADE: B-

Visceral execution overpowers big narrative kinks.

[Samoan Bob · 6/10 · 7 October 2009]

The Minstrel Killer: Overall, this might be Fredianelli's best film. Technically, it definitely is. The pacing is much more brisk than the usual Wild Dogs offering, the cinematography successfully captures the feeling of the period, and the high concept premise is great, a complete distillation of the themes and obsessions of the entire Wild Dogs catalog. The setting also took a lot of balls, and while overall it gives the film a coherent feeling that the narrative lacks (more on that later) the execution ranges from brilliant (the cannibal sequence, the main character's home interior) to shoddy (I'm not going to pick out things like modern cars and microwaves *okay, I just did* but something about a 1970s hillbilly with a Celtic cross tattoo just don't seem right). The film really is a visual treat, the image of the Minstrel Killer is an iconic one, the deaths are *ahem* well executed (the hangings were particularly impressive, although the movie could have used more gore), the hillbilly cannibal sculptures gorgeous. It's also an aural treat. The sound mix is one of Wild Dog's best, with its overall lack of stock effects (like the infamous potato sack sounds of yesteryear) and the score by Aaron Stielstra which elevates the material so much it would be unthinkable as a film without it (it's like John Carpenter with some banjos).

However, I have two big problems with the film, and if it hadn't been so much fun overall they would likely sink the whole ship. Number 1: Tex, our main character. He's boring. A typically over-the-top Fredianelli beacon of hate, he's so much of a racist from the beginning that the revelations that come about at the end aren't shocking or interesting. When he bellows "I am not a racist!" in his final scene with his wife the audience I saw the film with couldn't help but laugh in a way I don't think was intended (especially the black people in the theater). A better bet, in my mind, would have been to start the character as someone who actually is repressing his racism so that when it blows up at the end it retains some shock and social relevance. Why watch a racist continue to be racist? There's no arc. This could have been the Straw Dogs for racists - a man convinces everyone he's not bigoted, including himself, but in the end his repression of it blows up in everyone's faces. I think that might have been the intention, but the character had too much of the Fredianelli anti-socialism to make it work. Number 2: The narrative. It needed a lot of ironing. The cannibal subplot is somewhat unnecessary but easily the highlight of the film (especially that bald fellow with the gout ridden leg) but other digressions don't add anything at all. The pig farm questioning was pointless (although I understand the temptation to keep the pig f-cking in the film), the redneck characters at the beginning were nigh unwatchable (I'm going to have to echo Stielstra's John Ford comparison. Dude, you have no place to talk about that one-eyed curmudgeon. I'm surprised the rednecks didn't break out in a round of Shall We Gather at the River before having a hilariously bloodless punch-up), and some of the exposition is repeated at greatly inappropriate times (I couldn't help but chuckle when our hero finds himself trapped in a house with the Minstrel Killer's next intended victim and he asks her if anyone would want to hurt her family and after a few seconds she goes into a long speech about how her family used to torture slaves…all while the killer is stalking them! Not only did it grind the film to a halt, all of the information was given in the previous scene!). I've also got to call out the dialogue. Sometimes it's great, other times repetitious and grating (almost everyone talks the same, I can't count how many different characters were calling each other goat cocks, hog cocks, dog cocks, cock cocks etc.) The film redeems itself nicely with the its whip-cracking climax and freeze frame ending, a great improvement on the original ending I read in an early draft of the script (which was shocking but unearned) and like I said, I can't fault the film on pure entertainment value, it just needed its kinks worked out to get its themes across, without any expense to the storyline. But as exploitation it works in spades and that's what I'm rating it on. 8.5 out of 10

Quirky revenge thriller OR a comment on the evil of racism?

[coyotepoet · 6/10 · 19 October 2009]

"The Minstrel Killer" is a 2009 low-budget thriller which is an homage to 1970's low-budget thrillers. It is filled with bad acting, hideous dialogue, and ridiculous plot twists. In other words it's odd, campy, homemade fun. The story revolves around a series of gruesome murders in 1970's Texas. Director Michael Fredianelli (who with his moustache looks like porn actor Ron Jeremy) portrays police investigator Tex Holland, a racist with a chip on his shoulder and investigative techniques that make Barney Fife look like Sherlock Holmes. In the midst of Tex's murder investigation, he gets involved with a family of cannibals, attempts to reconcile with his unfaithful wife, and eventually comes face to face with the killer. This film has a lot of flaws but not being familiar with Fredianelli's previous work, it is sometimes difficult to know how serious this film takes itself. The cannibal scenes have some neat action sequences, but it is basically a subplot that goes nowhere. A scene with Tex and a black prostitute is somewhat weird but doesn't further the plot or tell us anything about Tex that we don't already know. The early murder scenes are extremely well done...very creepy and intense. The musical score is very original and effective in capturing and setting up the mood of the more suspenseful scenes. There is a great scene where we see the minstrel killer dancing for his eventual victim. This scene is the highlight of the movie and the use of the audio recording used to score this scene is nothing short of brilliant. The final scene with Tex verbally abusing the killer while the killer is physically abusing him is so far over the top that it works. The racial undertones in the film are unsettling for most of the movie, but the ending worked to finally justify it all. This film is no low-budget masterpiece by any means, but I recommend it if you are looking for some shlock/shock diy entertainment.

Atrocities and 70's fetishin'

[twolanebl · 8/10 · 8 September 2009]

That Fredianelli's newest represents new heights in homemade film-making (great locations, acting, special effects, sound design, cinematography) yet also manages to reflect on the videomaker's longstanding obsession with the nature of racism initially seemed odd to me, but The Minstrel Killer is probably the director's most successful merge of his camcorder aesthetic roots and his newfound professionalism. It bears saying that this film is an apex of homemade film-making with gorgeous digital videography and great special effects. Fredianelli does the 70's setting with a lot of love with all of the cars, long hair, sideburns, staches (Fredianelli's unfortunately very fake), and camp humor. I was a little bewildered by the retro-chic burnt out print-look though. Obviously, the film goes for a 70's look with the desaturated colors, but the DV never quite merges with the scratches, reel jumps, etc. Also, perhaps because my DVD player upconverts to 1080p, occasional digital noise made it into the picture, a feature I'm sure the director wouldn't appreciate but something that really pushed the ontological nature of the film damaged digital video, creating an undeniable tension between the retrofitted film damage and the general feel of DV that, perhaps unconsciously, reflects the obvious fetishization of the decade and its genres. In terms of the director's oeuvre, The Minstrel Killer more or less picks up where The Mark left off (even using the same actors in a similar racial dynamic). Fredianelli's depiction of racism here is honest and, through the use of the rural setting with myriad hillbillies, often as funny as it is disconcerting. Take, for instance, a scene in which two cognitively-deficient redneck deputies lie in the sun, talking about where black people come from. The utter absence of black people in the city only seems to push the casual or, to put it in better terms, latent racism of the "big city hot shot" Tex into the forefront. In the end, nearly every white person is accountable for these attitudes, from Tex whose attitudes toward black male sexuality keep him from forgiving his wife of infidelity to the good-natured sheriff of the small town who tells Tex his wife is now tainted, everyone in the city carries on myths even as they encourage the black "big city hot shot" cop who comes in on the case. That the killer so obviously wears black face throughout the movie only pushes on the illogical nature of the racist mindset.

You won't be the same human after viewing it.

[KingM21 · 9/10 · 23 September 2009]

Writer/director/star Michael Fredianelli once again dares to tread where few filmmakers do, bravely melding layers of unsettling racial themes with the current trend of 70's grindhouse throwbacks. In The Minstrel Killer, officer Tex Holland is called to a backwards Texas town to assist with the investigation of a vicious whipping murder, a rarity in those parts beyond the scope of their limited force, namely the local lawman, Pike McGraw (television star Eric Andersen in the part, who brings his considerable experience with such roles to the table). Several more deaths occur shortly after his arrival, involving a hanging and cruel tar-and-feathering. As the slave-orientated murders stack up, additional help arrives with Tyrell Jones (played by the very capable Anthony Spears), a sharp, levelheaded, black officer. All this resonates deeply within Holland, as he deals with a personal problem of his own; he recently discovered his wife (newcomer Vanessa Celso in the demanding role) cheated on him with a black man. And for him, the atrocities of the case have only just begun to unfold…

The Minstrel Killer establishes its suspenseful, gritty roots of post-1960's horror with reverent enthusiasm. Right off the bat, the film opens with a fantastic stalking sequence of a bikini-clad female who is sunning herself in the countryside, a scene that will instantly make any grindhouse fan feel at home, before jumping into effectively crude animation panels that accompany the opening credits. The story does get somewhat sidetracked early on, with a 'left field' subplot involving a family of cannibals (cue Texas Chainsaw Massacre imagery). After it gets there, however, the scene plays out fairly well, with every actor giving convincingly filthy and depraved performances, as if it were second nature to them. Fredianelli's ability to secure and place such talent in these types of roles has always been admirable. For me, though, where the film shines brightest is with the Minstrel Killer himself. In black face, emotionless, complete with suit, white gloves, and top hat, he is a mysterious, striking, and wholly unique cinematic killer. Credited (fittingly) as the Shape, he lurks with chilling menace before swiftly striking at his prey. All his shots are filmed beautifully, whether they are his quickly approaching feet in a victim's background or a simple low-angle close-up, the exposure from the sky making his grotesque face so dark as to only just see the white of his eyes. The part is played by a nearly unrecognizable Michael Nosé and, despite having no dialogue (technically, though his demeanor speaks volumes), it may go down as one of his very finest performances. Whether he's whipping an unfortunate soul or dancing a jig willy-nilly, he owns this character fully.

Fredianelli, an artist who never shies away from controversial themes or graphic content, delivers yet again with The Minstrel Killer, my favorite full-length feature of his so far. The path his troubled character, Tex Holland, leads us down leaves us shaken and provoked, elevated all the more by his powerful portrayal, both emotive and intense. Is Holland consumed by racist rage, or driven to it? Who is the Shape and what is his true motive? Or is he more a metaphorical character, an ironic reflection of prejudice and punishment clashing? Unlike the black and white narrative of 1977's Fight For Your Life, The Minstrel Killer leaves us with complicated questions and, perhaps to a fault, precious few answers but one thing is certain, you won't be the same human after viewing it…par for the course with a Wild Dogs Picture.

On a final note, the original music by Aaron Stielstra (who also has a small part as a scummy, micturating, lowlife hood) must not be forgotten. The extremely moody synth tracks and terrifying stingers, which would've been well suited for any Fulci gut-muncher, fit this film like a greasy glove. I think it is Stielstra's best score work yet.

Beneath the grindhouse grime, a fascinating analysis of unresolved racism

[elevatortothegiallos · 8/10 · 7 March 2012]

**Major spoilers ahead!** Among the recent trend in retro-styled exploitation films, Michael Fredianelli's "The Minstrel Killer" is one of the most thoughtful and bizarre, even if a cursory glance at its general premise might seem like little more than an exercise in deliberate bad taste. A slasher film set in Texas during 1978, the film concerns a serial killer disguised as a blackface minstrel, who is stalking and killing the local female descendants of a white slave-owning family using the same barbaric methods that had been used to torture and kill slaves (e.g., whippings, hangings, etc.). Despite this provocative premise, the film is rarely played directly for laughs, instead maintaining a dramatic earnestness that exists in distinct tension with each ridiculously anachronistic appearance of the titular character. Tex Holland, a white, college-educated cop (Fredianelli) jumps to the conclusion that a black man must have been responsible for murders apparently committed out of historical grievance, but this suspicion is spurred by his own racism and his resentment toward his wife Carol (Vanessa Celso) for having an affair with a black man. Throughout the film, racism is figured as a threat to Tex's masculinity, as though prejudice has made him impotent. For example, after being saved from a family of cannibalistic rednecks by his new African-American partner, Tyrell Jones (Anthony Spears), in a long subplot, Tex begins tempering his overtly racist comments and resumes sleeping with his wife. He is deeply afraid of his own racism, admitting to Carol that he felt some satisfaction when he accidentally killed Tyrell during a failed confrontation with the minstrel killer. Yet, if Tex's masculinity is alternately called into question by his socially "backward" beliefs about race, gender, and sexuality, we are not encouraged to celebrate his bigotry as a desirable reassertion of straight white masculinity, but rather to recognize it (from our contemporary standpoint) as quickly becoming as anachronistic as the figure of the minstrel himself.

As a monstrous figure, the minstrel killer alternately evokes uncomfortable laughter and perverse threat in his very historical incongruity. The offensiveness of blackface from a contemporary perspective makes it difficult for viewers to unproblematically identify with him as an avenging figure of historical retribution, especially given the knowledge that minstrels were largely (but not exclusively) played by white performers. In this respect, it is all the more difficult to find his use of slavery-era torture techniques justified within the logic of the horror genre's more sympathetic monsters since, contra Tex's initial racist assumptions, these acts are presumably not being committed by an African-American man beneath the make-up. (In fact, the blackfaced killer is portrayed by Michael Nosé, an Asian-American actor, which complicates minstrelsy's history as a genre dominated by white performers.) The minstrel's obvious signification as a grotesque performance of race begs the question of whether his violent actions are more monstrous than the monstrousness of dominant white culture's perceptions of racial others which engendered minstrelsy in the first place; indeed, the fact that the killer is effectively re-creating historical acts of cruelty perpetrated by whites adds to our awareness of his deeds as a performance.

These reactions are further tested by the film's conclusion, in which the killer captures Tex in a barn and ties him up. As the film ends, we see close-ups of the blackface make-up, reinforcing the fact that the killer's appearance is a deliberate performance and not an inherent racial trait, and then transitions to the killer sawing off Tex's foot in a re-creation of a punishment used on runaway slaves. The film ends with a freeze-framed close-up of Tex repeatedly screaming racial epithets as the sawing continues, as if falling back on his misrecognition of racial stereotype as essential trait. The hysterical shouts continue over the freeze frame, suggesting that Tex's unresolved racism has fatally rendered him impotent to save himself from destruction at the killer's hands, the powerful racial epithets ultimately useless as either protest or solution to the threat. We never learn the true identity of the killer beneath the blackface, thus preventing us from personalizing the individual killer's motives in a way that might downplay the larger historical legacy of racism—a legacy evoked by archival images of slavery, minstrelsy, and lynchings that appear during the closing credits. With our troubled "hero" apparently killed and the perpetrator on the loose, this unresolved ending suggests that the horrors of racism are still out there--as unsolved now as then.

An impressive achievement on a small budget, and well worth seeking out. Its depictions of racism may be uncomfortable viewing at times, but not without purpose. Although the film may not provide clear answers to the dilemmas it poses, it nicely falls into the long traditional of exploitation films with serious social import lurking beneath the sleazy surface.

Atrocities, Indignities, and social commentary

[Pycal · 8/10 · 8 September 2009]

Michael Fredianelli's latest film The Minstrel Killer proves to be more than worth the wait. As a director who constantly pays homage to cinema's magnificent glory days of the 1970s it's only natural that Fredianelli make a film actually set in the 70s (somewhat of a dream come true for this Wild Dogs fan).

The Minstrel Killer takes place in a tiny Texas town and chronicles a series of gruesome murders. However, there's a twist. The suspected killer is a dark, creepy figure who has been known to sing old minstrel tunes after he brutally murders his attractive, young, blonde victims. Called in from the big city to help solve the case is Tex Holland (Fredianelli): a tough bigoted cop out for blood. Not all goes as planned however after Holland experiences a brutal encounter with a mysterious family of inbred cannibals, all the while having to endure tumultuous relationships with his wife (Vanessa Celso) and new partner, African-American Tyrell Jones (Anthony Spears).

Overall, Fredianelli does an excellent job of giving the film a retro look and feel. From the opening sequence and credits to the grainy celluloid like cinematography to the grimy rural locations, it's easy to see how someone could possibly mistake the film for an actual 1978 movie. The film's art direction is impressive in spots and looks incredibly authentic. Despite the high probability of quite a few anachronisms, the film's attempts at capturing the era are all the more impressive given its low-budget indie background.

All in all, The Minstrel Killer stands as Fredianelli's most impressive, professional, and best (?) film to date. Fredianelli and Celso are both great and perform some very convincing southern accents. Isaac Wade is devilishly sinister as the lead cannibal and Kevin Giffin breaks away from his usual typecasting. Also of note is a powerful cameo appearance from Aaron Stielstra (who also provides the film's wonderful original musical score). As it stands, The Minstrel Killer is highly entertaining and more than likely to garner several re-watches.

Fredianelli goes for shocks in this surprising departure.

[Aylmer · 8/10 · 30 September 2009]

Okay, let's do one of these:

THE GOOD: Probably the best acting from one of Fredienalli's films. Some great action scenes. A unique idea for the serial killer featuring and extreme lack of political correctness. An excellent original 70's-sounding synth score. Overall believably set in the 1970's, remains period-consistent in spite of the low budget, and pays loving omage to the decade of grindhouse film-making.

THE BAD: Some pacing issues and red herrings. Lack of production design (it's about a cop but we never see his police station). A few bad performances. Some out-of-place modern visual effects. Underlit (or unlit) interior scenes similar to those which have plagued past Fredianelli pictures.

Fredianelli once again takes center stage and stars in a film of more-or-less his own creation. The difference here is that he plays a bigoted Texan sheriff up against multiple adversaries. On one hand there is a blackface-wearing murderer on the loose; on the other is a redneck clan of cannibals more than willing to invite him as their guest of honor at the dinner table! The cannibal scenes are easily the strongest scenes in the film, but unfortunately it becomes an only slightly connected subplot. The killer himself more or less becomes a specter, symbolizing Fredianelli's own haunted past. At times, this film manages to be refreshingly energetic and stylish even within the confines of its done-to-death genre.

Overall I'd recommend checking this one out. Let's hope that Fredianelli's next film manages to improve or at least build upon some of the sheer madcap lunacy starting to shine through.

Infantile Dementia, Complex Themes

[HughBennie-777 · 12 September 2009]

"The Minstrel Killer" Finally, a Michael Fredianelli film I can show my grandparents, my children, and a few lonely friends at the shelter. This epic work of horror (or more precisely, shocks-ploitation) from Wild Dogs Productions lives up to its box art testimonial: "Full of atrocities!" but surprisingly boasts a complex script with 3-dimensional characters (excluding hillbillies and cannibals) who surpass the deviants commonly found in most grindhouse flicks. Fredianelli, as racist cop Tex Holland, may not look like Stuart Whitman, but his internal conflicts with an unfaithful wife and a black partner manage to unfold compellingly amidst the plot contrivances of your average slasher-on-the-warpath scenario. Narrative can be put aside to concentrate on the acting and the editing; the movie's best assets. These impress, as well as Aaron Stielstra's lush, demented score which alternates between William Lustig/John Carpenter stabs and stingers to full blown compositions--be they acoustic ballads or one blues piece that serenades bloated pigs making love. Also commendable is the fantastic chicken performances that take place during the movie's most memorable bimbo homicide. David Brashear's camera-work is such an improvement over past Wild Dogs projects, the film, quite simply, resembles something akin to a 70s Jack Starrett movie, lending to the film's encouragement to take a shower after watching. Only the movie's outstanding shootout in a hillbilly camp would suffer being viewed on a sagging, vandalized drive-in screen. Top acting honors must be paid to Fredianelli, playing a complicated character with a fraction of decency suffocated by prejudice, an excellent Anthony Spears, as the lone, doomed detective of color with more intelligence and guts than the entire supporting cast, and Aaron Stielstra and Brendan Murphy, who capture the sad, scatological character of southwestern white trash so well as to be documentary subjects. Vanessa Celso's troubled and sympathetic wife character elicited as many tears from the grindhouse audience I saw the film with as she did drunken catcalls to take her clothes off. A notable accomplishment. Definitely the best Fredianelli movie since "Psycho Freak-Out". Isaac Wade's methamphetamine-addicted Father Hillbilly (his character defect evidenced by a constant nasal condition) also delivers the movie's best and most poetic line: "He ain't interested in that dirty old hand." Superb locations abound, yet, unfortunately, they can't redeem the film's early hillbilly performances that suffer from dreadful (and eternal) over-acting reminiscent of a bad "Hee-Haw" sketch. As the profound Down Under movie critic Jenesis stated about another recent genre flick, "See Naples...Then Die"--of which this movie shares much the same cast: "imminently re-watchable". Rated R.

Is it a horror flick or a comedy?

[irishmike76 · 8/10 · 17 June 2010]

"The Minstrel Killer" takes political incorrectness to a new level while providing a satisfying, if a bit mystifying, experience. One of the best features of the film is its 70's throwback appearance. It literally looks like a film that was sitting in the archives for a few decades and got spliced back together. Totally awesome for a grind house effect. Even the scratchy artwork done by Chad Kaplan at the beginning of the film adds to the nostalgic 70's effect. The plot itself is straight forward. A series of mysterious and violent murders plague a small town, and an outsider is brought in to figure it all out. Most of the characters in the film are glaringly racist. There is one scene in particular that is so riddled with racist slurs that it would send any sincere liberal into serious therapy for months. As inappropriate as it is, it is hysterically funny, which is odd since I thought this was going to be a horror film. In that sense, the film is not scary in the slightest bit. Every act of atrocity can be seen from a mile away. The subplot of the hillbilly cannibals is completed unneeded to the main plot of the story, except for the fact that it offs one of the main characters. The hillbilly subplot could have been its own freestanding film. The resolution of this scene, which involves a chase across open fields, is ridiculously silly. I mean, come on, a hillbilly with a shot gun can't put a bullet into a running wounded man, and on top of that can't even catch him? Overall, this is a film that should simply be enjoyed. It pokes fun at 70's horror films in an in your face way that most mainstream spoofs fail to do.