This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Out of all the cheesy, godawful, low budget exploitation thrillers that hit grindhouse cinemas in the US in the 1970s, THE LOVE BUTCHER has to be one of the funniest – albeit unintentionally. This laugh riot offers an unusual spin on the PSYCHO storyline, which is no surprise: the Hitchcock thriller enjoyed something of a renaissance during the decade, with filmmaker after filmmaker riffing on its plot when making their own sleazy versions of the story. I've seen a fair few of these now and THE LOVE BUTCHER stands head and shoulders above the rest purely because it's so entertainingly bad.In an outstanding performance, Erik Stern essays a dual performance as Caleb the gardener and Lester the lady killer. Caleb is a self-confessed, self-loathing gimp, crippled and half-blind; he's scorned by the women whose gardens he tends throughout the day. By night, Caleb turns into the smooth, suave and physically perfect Lester, a man who beds beautiful women before offing them with a series of deadly garden implements. Yes, this is a story of schizophrenia packed with scenes of somebody talking to himself, very effective scenes I might add and years before Peter Jackson got the same idea when he turned Gollum into a split-personality psychopath in his LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The finger-twirling musical interlude in the mirror is hands-down the funniest thing I've seen in years.The theme is over done and the film itself far from boring, indeed it's actually very well paced with good interplay between time spent with the murderer and his victims and the traditional police procedural investigation. There are some shocks and surprises along the way, along with a little gore and nudity, although the film has surprisingly little of the latter two qualities that are usually plentiful in such films. While Stern is scene-stealing unforgettable in one of the most over-the-top performances of all time as the titular psychopath, he's assisted by some other fine talent: the unknown Kay Neer in her single screen appearance as a lovely, warm-heated potential victim; B-movie veteran Robin Sherwood (DEATH WISH II) as a man-hater and character actor Richard Kennedy as the cop hot on Stern's heels.Director Donald Jones made something of a career out of quickly forgotten exploitation quickies. His first film was ABDUCTED, also known as SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS, which explored very similar territory to this one: in essence it was another PSYCHO type film about insanity and women getting murdered. He later made THE FOREST, another insanely rare movie, this time a backwoods slasher that has a certain atmosphere to it. His career ended with the 1993 softcore comedy HOUSEWIFE FROM HELL, which is a shame, as although his films may not be exactly high quality, they're certainly fun to watch.

Erik Stern earns himself a place in the annals of cult cinema with his deliciously demented performances in this somewhat obscure mid-70s exploitation-horror film. He plays Caleb, physically impaired gardener-for-hire who is dominated by his "brother" Lester, a smooth ladies man. Lester is also a lady killer, and detectives are stumped as to figuring out who is behind the murders. Annoying, schmucky reporter Russell (Jeremiah Beecher), who's somehow scored himself a hot girlfriend, Flo (Kay Neer), gives the detectives a hard time while doing some investigating of his own.Essentially, Sterns' performances ARE the movie, which is, for the most part, not that distinguished. There's the requisite gore and titillation, but not that much of it. Directors Don Jones and Mikel Angel do get some credit for their canny choice of soundtrack music. There are some familiar exploitation genre faces among the cast, such as Richard Kennedy ("Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS") as a cop and John Parker ("Schoolgirls in Chains") as a minister. Lovely Robin Sherwood ("Tourist Trap", "Death Wish II") is set up as one of a number of potential victims.Stern, who went on to do a fair amount of TV work, is a fun guy to watch do his thing, especially when he's trying to adopt different ethnic identities. Kennedy is good, and the ladies are all quite attractive. At approximately 85 minutes long, "The Love Butcher" doesn't overstay its welcome, and offers ample entertainment for drive-in movie lovers who want something they don't want to take all that seriously.Eight out of 10.

Stephen Thrower's bible of American exploitation highlights – entitled "Nightmare USA" – is rapidly becoming the most expensive spending I ever made! Not just the book itself is quite costly, but the way he extendedly glorifies certain obscure and incredibly rare movies simply make you crave to own them yourself and you unwarily start browsing the Internet for copies. But hey, so far all purchases were worth every single penny I spent on them and Thrower's reviews – albeit sometimes a little over-enthusiast – are always 100% reliable if you too are into demented and raunchy 70's cinema as well. "The Love Butcher" sounded like one of those titles I simply couldn't afford to miss and indeed it certainly didn't disappoint. This is a wondrous example of cheap, sleazy, grainy and tasteless exploitation madness, with a simplistic but effective plot and a handful of shockingly misogynistic scenes of violence. The creators looked for inspiration in Alfred Hitchcock's notorious horror film "Psycho" (like many aspiring horror directors did around that time) and unscrupulously imitated the concept of a schizophrenic killer. However, this film doesn't keep it a secret until the end. The crippled Caleb works as a gardener in a fancy neighborhood where a lot of pretentious and bored housewives spend their days twirling around in sexy outfits. Caleb is a quite pathetic figure with a shiny bald head, exaggeratedly thick glasses and a malformed hand, so he's usually the target of mockery for his obnoxious female customers. But when Caleb returns home, he talks to his brother Lester – a black foam mannequin wearing a blond wig – and then suddenly becomes him. Self-confident Lester is, and I quote, "the great male Adonis of the universe" and he pays a charming visit to each woman that mistreated his "brother". The result of these visits is a disturbing murder spree that baffles the local police, even though the victims all live on the same block and have the same gardener. I wonder how they could overlook that pattern… As far as I'm concerned, "The Love Butcher" is vintage and delightfully prototypic exploitation stuff. The atmosphere is thoroughly unpleasant, the male characters are despicable yokels (ending every sentence with "yes, ma'ammmm) and the overall tone of the film is extremely women-unfriendly to say the least. The murder sequences aren't as repulsive as I expected (or hoped) but there nevertheless are a couple of highly memorable bits of nastiness, like the creative use of various gardening tools and a brutal butchering in an outdoor swimming pool. Besides, the slight and already forgivable lack of bloody carnage is widely compensated by the awesome and over-the-top demented use of dialog! The conversations between Caleb and his alter ego Lester, and particularly the latter's monologues, and indescribably entertaining to listen to and they even single-handedly uplift "The Love Butcher" to the level op pitch black comedy. The supposedly heart-breaking flashback near the end, clarifying what tragic event overcame Caleb and Lester at young age, is literally the cherry on an already delicious cheesecake. It has to be said the film owes a lot of its powerful impact to the performance of Erik Stern as the schizophrenic. Stern is stupendous and maintains the exact right balance between comical and disturbing during the numerous sequences where he just talks against a foam mannequin or empty gardening outfit. The male supportive cast is pretty forgettable, but the female victims give good performances, most notable Eve Mac (as a lewd Texan co-ed), Robin Sherwood (as the cocky rebellious chick) and Kay Neer (as the cherubic good-hearted woman you really wish she survives the ordeal).

Revived by the video boom in the 80's.Why? This was a puerile mess.The acting was so horrible, it's no surprise most of these folks never worked again. And the ones that did were relegated to TV spots.Erik Stern 'stars' as twins. One ugly, one handsome, both evil. His acting was almost laughably bad. I spent the whole time trying to figure out if he was serious or not.I rented this because of its graphic packaging. Boy did I get taken. The best scenes are right on the box. There, now YOU don't have to see it. You're welcome.