Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)

 

Hmm…

The power of the Internet made me aware of this movie several years back. Everyone who had and hadn’t seen it kept raving about what a sick piece of shit this film was. Of course this made me curious, but there are so many movies I would rather watch. It was outright banned in Great Britain when they tried to release it there on DVD. This of course made it even more interesting. Could it possibly be that horrendous? In my native country of Norway, this wasn’t really an issue until it was banned in the UK. Then all of a sudden leader of the Culture- and Family Committee at Parliament, May Helen Molvær Grimstad, went out and said she was skeptical about Norway approving a movie the Brits rejected. She said that people subjected to violence and violations need protection and there is plenty of violence in society, without having it as entertainment as well. Now, Murder-Set-Pieces had been out in Norwegian stores before this happened. There are no reports of people being traumatized or going on a killing-spree after watching it here. Furthermore Grimstad clearly showed her lack of insight by singling out that particular film. There are far worse films released in Norway. The distributor Another World Entertainment felt confident that it wouldn’t be banned seeing as how it was in the same genre as Hostel, Saw and the likes. They were wrong. Murder-Set-Pieces became banned in Norway. Now, I haven’t been able to track down any official information that confirms this. However, the fact that Another World Entertainment has withdrawn it from Norwegian stores, should indicate that it is true. Now I absolutely positively had to see this movie. But still I felt no immediate urge. I mean, it’s not like there’s any problem acquiring the film if you really want to. Anyway, let’s see what all the fuss is about.

Murder-Set-Pieces tells the simple story of Sven Garrett, known only as The Photographer, who is, drum roll, a photographer! But he is a photographer with a partiality for torture and murder! In sin city Las Vegas all bets are off!

Director Nick Palumbo is out for blood. His aim is to make a movie that will shock and repulse you. I can certainly respect his ambitions, but does he succeed?

Moments of misery. 

Garrett’s portrayal of the serial-killing psychopath is alright, if unspectacular. He does what is required of him, nothing more and nothing less. His face of steel even makes Steven Seagal look like a man with a thousand faces. He looks pretty scary though and I certainly wouldn’t want to pick a fight with him. Some motivation would have been interesting, but Palumbo isn’t interested in exploring this. Maybe that’s a good thing in the end?

There is the odd moment of humor. The little sister of a woman Garrett is dating decides to snoop around and sees a WWII picture of Hitler and some German soldiers. He catches her and comments that his grandfather is on that picture. “He was a hero.” “But wasn’t he German,” she retorts. Smart kid! At least someone has been paying attention in history! Mr. Psycho doesn’t reply. Another thing I found darkly funny was the Photographer’s fondness for shouting in German when torturing and killing his victims. He doesn’t appear to be the brightest of serial killers, but actually bilingual!

There are a couple of cameos in the film that will make the eccentric fan at least raise an eyebrow. Gunnar Hansen of Texas Chain Saw Massacre fame makes a short appearance as a Nazi mechanic, without really adding or detracting anything from the movie. I’m sure Palumbo was pleased with having him on board. Tony Todd’s contribution as clerk at an adult movie store is slightly more interesting. Garrett keeps harassing him about a particular movie he’s interested in, Nutbag. It’s a snuff film of course! Nutbag is also one of Palumbo’s earlier efforts. That’s some shameless self-promotion right there! Todd becomes pissed, which isn’t exactly surprising when an obnoxious psychopath is demanding attention. I was reminded just how powerful Todd’s voice really is. Too bad he couldn’t put it to use on something else.

So, just how horrible is Murder-Set-Pieces? Well, I certainly expected more from this film. This is supposed to be a more is more kind of gore-epic. And by all means, we get a variety of gruesome stuff. However, I still felt Murder-Set-Pieces showed restraint. That’s right! I highly doubt the casual viewer would say that, but then again, they’re not likely to watch this movie. Why weren’t we treated to more explicit footage when Garrett used a chainsaw? Show me dismemberment! Not before or after. Show me during, because that is the kind of movie Murder-Set-Pieces is supposed to be. The most disturbing scenes aren’t really that graphic at all. It shows our bloody psychopath picking up a baby. He holds him right in front of his face without flinching. You can see that child is scared and reacting, not acting. I wonder if he’s had nightmares about it? Next we see the child walk over to his dead mother. Palumbo manages to create something highly unpleasant here. I’ll give him that.

One of the films more disturbing moments. 

Murder-Set-Pieces was released the year after king of the sick hill, so far anyway, August Underground’s Mordum came. Would I have been more revolted by this had I not seen Mordum first? It’s possible, but it doesn’t change anything. You can trust Murder-Set-Pieces to be reasonably upsetting, but overall it’s not as gruesome as you’ve been lead to believe. Fans of the extreme should check it out. An okay film, sorely lacking the punch I expected.

5/10