dellamortes:

The Driller Killer (1979) | Abel Ferrara | USA | Video Nasty 26 of 72

The Driller Killer is a low-budget, independent feature, with a cast of unknown actors, produced by Ferrara’s own Navaron Films company 1977–78. It was filmed on 16mm film and utilised Ferrara’s Union Square apartment and adjacent streets as locations. It features many of the elements that became trademarks of Ferrara’s later films. These include Catholic iconography, lesbian scenes, gritty urban locations filmed at night, an eclectic soundtrack combining punk rock and Bach, scenes of extreme violence and a religious theme of redemption, salvation and damnation.

The film was released in 1979, it became banned in the UK in 1984 due to new censorship laws, until 1999, when a version omitting 54 secs from the head-drilling scene and 2 earlier murders was approved for an 18 certificate. The full uncut version was finally passed by the BBFC in November 2002. (x)