The Mad Butcher

The Mad Butcher

Italy

D: John (Guido) Zurli

P: Robert H. Oliver & Dag Molin//St & Sc: Robert H. Oliver & Karl Ross//DP:?//E: Graham Lee Mahin//M: Alex Alexander (Alessandro Alessandroni)//Art D: Frank Di Stefano//Costumes: Gloria Cardi//Makeup: Diana Green Rose.

Cast: Victor Buono, Brad Harris, Franca Polcelli, Karin Field, Carl Stearns, Sybil Martin, Michael Turner, Arthur Mann.

Otto, the local butcher, is being released from the insane asylum for good behavior. His wife had him committed after he hit a customer on the head with two pounds of liver. He separates from his spouse and spends all of his time trying to restore his business' good name. His wife continues to nag him endlessly to the point where Otto kills her and grinds the body up into hamburger. Mike, a Chicago newspaper man on overseas assignment, becomes suspicious of Otto and begins to spy on him. He ends up falling in love with one Otto's neighbors, Hansel. More people disappear while Otto's meat prices continue to drop from a surplus of supply. When Hansel disappears, but her ring turns up in a customer's sausage meal, Mike goes looking for the mad butcher.

You know from the first minute that this film's tongue-in-cheek approach will be a painful viewing experience. Black comedies only work when the participants take them seriously, an impossibility when your lead character is played by Victor Buono. His broad portrayal of Otto sinks the film early and it never recovers.  Comedies involving cannibalism rarely succeed. Director Zurli never made a good film and even went to Turkey (the last bastion for crappy filmmakers) when he couldn't get work at home. Brad Harris is his usual wooden self. He doesn't appear to understand that he's in a comedy. He overdoes it so much he appears to think he's making a silent movie. There's nudity from the female cast but even that fails to raise the film to the level of even passable sleaze. A failure that should be avoided at all cost.