Murder Set Pieces (Unrated Version)

Ok, I have finally seen the unrated version of Nick Palumbo’s MURDER SET PIECES and can somewhat understand the outrage that people have felt because of this movie’s brutal and very graphic content. There are two sides to this movie. Either you support it or you try and tear it up with bad press and negative reviews. I honestly have to say that I fall on the supporters’ side and sincerely agree that Hollywood has totally glamorized serial killers and the mass destruction that they cause. Films like NATURAL BORN KILLERS have turned the tables and have made hideous crimes become this twisted freak show to follow and cheer on the killers as they savagely murder each victim. In the marketplace, there are everything from serial killers t-shirts and calendars to buttons and coffee mugs that you can buy, wear proudly and drink from to display your favorite serial killer and their despicable acts. But is this ok?

The movie MURDER SET PIECES puts the fear back in you and reminds you that these very real human victims are dying – and it’s painful, it’s final, and they don’t get up and walk away after the scene is over. They’re fuckin’ really dead. The film shows the viewer the work of a Vegas serial killer. You see the rage, you see rape, you see total mutilation and then you see another almost never touched taboo: kids. Kids get hurt too, just like in real life. I am sorry, but this no-holds-barred movie reminds us of things that are usually out of sight and out of mind. It’s about time someone put the HORROR back in movies to give people a nice slap back to reality that this shit really happens. People need to keep their guards up and not be so trusting and naive of others. Not all killers foam at the mouth and most do not visibly stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd.

MURDER SET PIECES lets us see that the truth hurts, sometimes people can’t handle that truth and they need to lash out critically of it’s abrasive content. Critics are hanging this poor director Nick Palumbo out to dry for showing the graphic inconceivable vicious things that killers are capable of and actually do to their innocent victims. The torture that these woman endure is over-the-top, but true. I had to review the R-rated version and as I watched it, some things didn’t seem to make sense, the reason being that the distributor, LIONSGATE, cut out over 22 minutes of this film to make sure they could sell it at family like video stores such as Hollywood Video and Blockbuster. I really believe that people need to see the entire movie, with all of the gore and sickness included, for it to truly make an impact on you as a viewer.

Sven Garrett plays the role as a serial killer, “The Photographer,” to the hilt, giving his all as an incredibly convincing monster who stalks strip clubs for woman. Sven is intimidating with his large build, German accent and truly cold demeanor. You see flashbacks of events from his childhood that I am sure fueled his becoming a sadistic son of a bitch. There is a point in the movie in which gets so angry, spits and yells out obscenities in German, that he looks like a rabid dog lurching right at you. Truly scary stuff! Some complain that Sven’s character glorifies German Nazis and Hitler, something that I find to be just plain ridiculous. This plays a minor part in the movie and it exists to support this demented man’s background and his influential grandfather’s sordid history.

While all viewers might not like this movie when they see it, you can’t argue that it’s content has a lasting effect. How can you condemn a man who is trying to help us remember that death shouldn’t be idolized or glamorized? Nick Palumbo pushed the limits for a good cause and I know that I am not the only one who sees it this way. Dee Snider had a lot to say about this film recently on Sirius Radio’s Fangoria Radio and most of it was negative. Who wants the opinion of man who TRIED to portray a killer in his own movie STRANGELAND and managed to fail at it miserably? I don’t. People need to take the risk and watch this film to form their own opinion of it and to realize that this movie was meant to shake things up in the larger human sense, not in the political sense that has been attacked thus far.