Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A German erotic photographer (who seems to supplement his income more as a fashion photographer) in Vegas moonlights as a warped-and-twisted psycho, targeting primarily strippers and call girls, bringing them to his kill room for further torture and mutilation. His grandfather was a Nazi, and Sven has a photograph with him congregating with Hitler. What Sven doesn't realize is that the gal he's currently involved with has a resourceful, untrustworthy, inquisitive little sister who thinks he is something sinister.Nick Palumbo's bloodthirsty serial killer thriller significantly follows Sven as he prowls Vegas for victims. He isn't above self-promotion (he would tell anyone about this film that would listen) as Sven goes into an adult book/movie/novelty store looking for a snuff film called "The Nutbag". Also, Palumbo loves littering his film with past horror actors fans might be familiar with (Gunnar Hansen as a neo Nazi gun-selling dirtbag, Tony Todd as the clerk of the aforementioned adult store who wants a different form of employ, Cerina Vincent as a hot gal Sven meets on a greyhound, and Edwin Neal as a motorist warning the little heroine not to hitch-hike (haha)). Depending upon which version you watch (I rented the R-rated 83 minute version), this film will either disappoint or enrich (if you love extreme violence, the version I watched will do the former; I have read the NC-17 theatrical version is quite a nasty piece of work). Sven is a muscled, woman-hating monster with dreams of a woman he later finds dead perhaps the catalyst in the killer he'd become. The bloody kill room, with all the cameras, tools of destruction, freezer, skulls, chains, anatomy charts, etc, is quite an unsettling sight. This, with Sven often in his car or on foot in Vegas, has a repetitive nature to it that rather dulled me into complacency at times. His obsession with the little girl heroine, remaining in his car looking at her from a distance or photographing her is quite a disturbing component to the film as well. How Palumbo involves the girl in some dark subject matter might make many a viewer (it did me) a bit queasy.

I finally got an uncut copy of MSP and man, what a let down. With all that notoriety I kinda expected something way more extreme than this. Maybe back in 2004 things were different, but given that it came out the same year as SAW it's no more gory than that. I'm not going to attack the acting (like many have) as a lot of it's actually OK. The plot is as daft as a brush however with some crazy German, Nazi loving, woman hater, basically luring women to his dungeon, having violent sex with them, then killing them. But funnily enough, the actual kills are barely ever shown - and this is considered a brutal gore filled flick? Nope, it just isn't. The sex scenes are pretty rampant however so maybe that's where the bannings came from, but apart from a chainsaw scene near the end, a nail through a hand, and the stabbing of a child, it really isn't that shocking. Certainly not as much as it's made out to be anyway. I didn't totally dislike it as I've seen much worse in terms of dire horror movies, and I liked the rock track played over the end credits, so I think 5 outta 10 is fair.

Oh. My. God.Blood. Gore. Violence. Brutality. Sadism. Pain. Torture. Humiliation. And of course, sex.I don't even know where to begin or how to remotely address the 90 minutes I've just gone through. The two dominating scene types in this film are naked women with big breasts being brutally raped, and naked women with big breasts getting cut/beaten/choked to death. This film has more blood in it than the entire population of America. And as if that isn't enough - the sadistic psychotic misogynistic killer is also a Nazi. I'm shocked and appalled. Mission accomplished, Palumbo, you sick twisted f***.I'll attempt a little objectivity for the sake of a well written review, but forgive me if I fail, as I have no motivation what so ever to succeed.I guess that in a way you could say this was "hipster horror" showing a very very sick way of "art", De-Sade style. I guess showing us all these terrible horrible revolting scenes of blood, rape and slaughter was maybe an innovative way of depicting the sick sadistic mind of a sick sadistic man. Many many films tried to make an audience understand the sickness of the truly sadistically insane. This film aced it, and not in a good way (is there a good way for such a thing?)I've read many complaints about plot holes - I didn't actually notice them, I actually thought the story was told in a good way, in a "by the way" kind of manner through the murders and events in the killer's everyday life.As for acting - I can't really judge based on such a film, but the female characters did scream and "suffer" in a very convincing way (except for the little girl who was very unconvincing and amateur, especially in the final 10 minutes.Everything about this movie was sick and sickening. I don't know if this fact makes this film worthy of a 10 or a 1, as I'm not sure what scale to use with such a film. Settle for a 5, as I am more shaken up now then I've ever been after a Horror film. Heck, I didn't want to watch Hostel on account the "troubling" scenes, but now? It would be like Disney. All I can say is this: if you watch this film and truly have a good time - there's something horribly wrong with you.

Wow - pages and pages of reviews for an independent movie that people seem to hate so much! I tell you, the worst disservice you could do to a film you dislike is to ignore it. Submitting so many reviews are really doing a service for the film, as more and more folks will begin to wonder what the 'fuss' was all about, and see it.Goody. I liked this movie. There are very few films on my 'short list' of flicks that I'm happy to watch and re-watch, but this one has been added. I see little point in adding more and more details about the gore and plot lines since a) I promised no spoilers and b) there's a few hundred people that already did this. So I'll just mention a few things that impressed me.The directing and filmography works. For example, the rapid dichotomy from gruesome torture sequences in a dungeon of horror switching to brightly lit scenes of innocence featuring young actress Jade Risser and her school friends creates an effect - kind of like hot chocolate floats from Carvel - the contrast between the hot chocolate and cold vanilla ice cream is simply splendid! And speaking of Ms. Risser, she does a marvelous job here. From her IMDb bio, I'm guessing that she's either decided that acting will not be her chosen profession, or perhaps she wants to finish school first. But I'd seek out more films featuring her, if any are ever made.The music score is present, and works nicely - from the heavy metal played during the torture sequences to the electronic soundtrack during the credits and chase sequences. I personally care a lot about the 'complete package', and a movie without effective music is, to me, like a day without sunshine. Dario Argento's many entertaining works are also masterful blends of music and horror - and Palumbo cites Argento as an influence.This film is not 'great art', and I don't think it was intended to be. I wouldn't even try to compare it with 'Silence of the Lambs' - a film like that was about plot and acting, but my two viewings of that one I'd say, were sufficient. This one isn't about plot and acting (though has both), but is about exactly what the title promises: Murder Set Pieces. We are promised that, and we get that. And there IS a plot, and there IS dialog, and some of the dialog IS actually interesting, and the psychological snapshots of the killer's mental state are useful for understanding what's going on with him. (See, for example, Argento's 'Tenebrae'.)And we DO get characters to care about (at least one, anyway), and we DO get a somewhat satisfying ending (maybe not the ending I would have liked, but it's Palumbo's film - not mine).I've loaned my copy of this film out to friends, and just about all of them enjoy it. That's why I was a bit surprised to see how it was trashed here at the IMDb, but like I said - it is probably a testament to the effectiveness of a film to elicit the degree of response it did.I shall be viewing this film many times again (and I've already watched it though once with commentary on - something I rarely do, since I usually find voice-over commentary to be boring - but in this case, I was really interested in what Palumbo and Garrett had to say about the filming of the scenes and their take on the movie and the characters). If I'm going to give any criticism of the plot, just for balance, then I'd say that I was bothered somewhat by the lack of police presence, as certainly the police would have been very involved in investigating a series of murders of this magnitude in a major city like Las Vegas (heck - the police are more present in the flick 'Fargo', and a small town like that has about two people on the police force and there's only ONE murder under investigation).So all I can say is that I recommend that you view this film, with the understanding that you know what you'll be getting - certainly not a film for the squeamish. And as for being 'scared'? Well - sorry, maybe I'm too old, or two jaded; I can't remember the last time I found any film to be 'scary' (horror or otherwise), but I've seen to many - I know all the tricks, I can't really be impressed (very rarely, anyhow) - but I don't need to be 'scared' in order to be 'entertained', and it's really 'entertainment' that I look for when I spend my valuable time watching a movie, nowadays.ews1212