Looks like MURDER-SET-PIECES, the second film from writer/director Nick Palumbo (NUTBAG), may actually get its just desserts. It’s a wholesome little ditty that tracks a month inside the mind of a Vegas fashion photographer-turned-serial killer who kidnaps, rapes, and murders women and children. For those unfamiliar with the tortured history of this bloody tale, MSP is reputed to be so extreme, so violent, so graphic, that Technicolor, DuArt, and Deluxe labs all refused to complete the bastard. In fact, Technicolor threw the filmmakers out, unsure if the material they were transferring was even legal. Ultimately, it was Ascent Media that was willing to pick up the ball and run with it. So at the very least, a big NICE JOB to Toe Tag Pictures for what have been described by Rue Morgue as “jaw-dropping special effects”.
Finding an editor was no easy task either. Palumbo’s Fright Flix Productions went through three of them before Todd Ramsey (EXORCIST III), decided to bite the bullet and take on this horror fiend’s potential wet dream. To put it all in perspective, Palumbo has said of the movie, “When the kids see this, they’re going to go insane.” He added that SAW, “…is like a Disney movie compared to what we made.” Hmmm, maybe not the best way to woo the Lions Gate folks he’s arranged a viewing for, though his biggest hurdle may be the usage of graphic 9/11 footage in the flick. That could be a tough sell, both in the current political climate, and because I doubt most genre fans want to see THAT kind of exploitation. At the same time, context is everything. Lions Gate’s reaction to this desiccated corpse may be our best insight into which way to read that artistic choice.
If MSP does see the light of a theatrical release, it will join HAUTE TENSION in the esteemed cannon of NC-17 horror movies, and will no doubt set the conservative pundits of this country on their ears. And if you got people talkin’, that’s gotta be a good thing. And don’t forget, this is a movie that features both Gunnar Hanson (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE), and Tony Todd (CANDYMAN). All other issues aside, can you get any creepier?
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