Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)

This movie had so much potential for gore fans but the story itself was not thought out very well....the acting is bad and the editing is even WORSE.....the sequence of events is IMPOSSIBLE to figure out.....it seems as though all of the scenes were just thrown together at random....one of the worst made movies i've ever seen....one minute its day time....then its night...then day again...you never can tell which day or night you are watching.....if it wasn't for the shock value, i would not own this movie.....it would take too long to type out all the stupidity in this movie...but at least it does have "controversy" going for it..and the director's cut is rare,so......

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.

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

*** also contains minor a spoiler to "Hostel" ***An old saying says "curiosity killed the cat". Well, I guess I was that cat, because I have never thought a film would make such an impression as "Murder-Set-Pieces" did – and I don't mean that in a positive way!Before you sit down to see Nick Palumbos gorno slasher, know this: it is a ride to Hell into the sick mind of a madman with all the graphic nudity, blood and torture you could ever imagine getting to see on film.Normally I'm not into horror films, but both "Saw" (the two first!) and "Hostel" (the first!) was big hits for me. I really loved them, especially "Hostel", which has become one of my favourite films. As many reviews have compared "Murder-Set-Pieces" with those two film series, I thought it might be worth watching.But there are many reasons why "Murder-Set-Pieces" is NOT worth watching. Opposite "Hostel", "M-S-P" is missing a plot. In Eli Roth's film, the story of an organisation selling backpackers to people who wants to kill a person was very frightening in itself, and it was much more than just blood and guts. I usually don't use words like misogyny about a film, but "M-S-P" simply floats in EXTREME hate towards women. In scene after scene they get degraded, raped and killed in the most unthinkable and sick ways. There is not plot, no storyline, no character development and the technical site is hopelessly amateurish. The film is driven by pure hatred and nothing else! You can ask yourself what has been the point of making this film? I imagine that Nick Palumbo wanted us to descent into the mind of a madman, but after watching this snuff-like film, I wonder who the real madman is, The Photographer or Nick Palumbo himself?One of the endless unbearable scenes takes place in The Photographer's death- and torture chamber in his basement. A young girl is tied to a chair. She screams and is covered in blood and panics more and more. He finds a big nail which he jams through her wrist which makes her empty her urine and faeces into a bucket below her in pure fear. Then he wraps a rope around her neck and strangulates her more and more. Finally he puts on a pair of sharp special made set of vampire teeth and then shreds her beautiful face and neck. It is those kinds of scenes "Murder-Ser-Pieces" is build up around, and it is tasteless and degrading in every thinkable way!Who should watch this film? People who have a depraved taste in film would probably like this little piece of horror fiction. So would people who grows an enormous hate towards women and want nothing else but disgusting and sickening torture of beautiful girls and children. Everyone else have to stay FAR away!!!It is everything else but a pleasant journey, and I'm glad I didn't react other ways than I did.