Revisiting old films that you thought were average isn't necessarily a good thing. They sometimes get worse. Championed by the Fangoria camp (in Gorezone they labeled it "the scariest film since Texas CHAINSAW"…um, no), LUTHER THE GEEK inexplicably developed a cult following as an "intense" horror picture. Actually, it is just an average stalk and slash…uh, bite film that briefly sets itself aside from the pack by featuring a killer who clucks like a chicken. Yes, clucks like a chicken. To the filmmaker's credit, at least they didn't make the killer sound like a duck a la THE NEW YORK RIPPER. That would just be silly.

Narrative logic is completely abandoned in LUTHER THE GEEK. I'm not saying that slasher films are abound with reason, but at least in HALLOWEEN Michael Myers escaped. Luther is actually paroled after a lengthy scene where people argue he is reformed, even though he clucks like a chicken and has razor dentures (which he apparently fashioned in prison). It is the kind of film where a couple sees a bashed in door and the girl dismisses it by saying, "Oh, my mom must have forgotten her keys. She forgets a lot of things since my dad died." The kind of film where the hysterical mother runs into a cop looking for Luther and tells him, "The killer is in my house!" So what does he do? He grabs her and literally drags her back to the house and says, "Just show me where he is and I'll do the rest." Why not call back up?

It is too bad the film is filled with such horrible action and dialogue because the Luther character is actually pretty interesting. Most of the credit goes to Ed Terry, a dead ringer for Tom Noonan in MANHUNTER, who gives the clucking Luther a genuine air of menace. In the hands of a right director, LUTHER THE GEEK could be on the same level as SONNY BOY or SANTA SANGRE and be a true cinematic oddity. But Albright is not that director and merely places the fascinating character of Luther in tedious slasher trappings.

...and they both belong to Stacy Haiduk! Largely a piece of garbage, this low-budget horror film is only memorable today due to the wonderful nude scenes of beautiful Stacy Haiduk. The story is about a freak who clucks and bites the heads off of people. Basically it's a slasher only the weapon of choice for the killer is metal teeth this time. Anyway, nobody cares about this movie's stupid plot. The selling points to this crapper are Haiduk's large breasts, which are pretty close to perfect. So sit back and enjoy what God made and surgery can never duplicate. Just remember the FF button is your friend. The DVD has more of Ms. Haiduk's glory, so check that out. A must-see for big boob enthusiasts!

Even though this is an 1990 movie, it still feels and looks like a typical '70's exploitation flick/slasher. It uses the same sort of style and approach and it is more successful in this than most other modern attempts that try the recreate the '70's style of slasher.

And really, as far as low-budget horror film-making goes, this is quite a good movie, that is only being held back by its writing.

It's really only the writing that makes this quite a weak and stupid film to watch at times. First of all, its main premise is already quite flawed. Here we have a psychotic killer, that doesn't talk at all and acts like a chicken, that is nevertheless getting released from prison because it is thought he is no longer being a danger to the society. Why? It's not like this guy ever does anything normal. And all that the rest of the movie basically is, is the guy biting people in the neck and terrorizing a family at the countryside. No, there isn't that much to the story really and to be honest, it all gets progressively worse.

About half way through the movie isn't that interesting to watch anymore because it sticks to mostly just one location, with all of the same characters, who never seem to be doing enough to get or kill the Geek. But if they did the movie of course would had been way shorter than its already mere 80 minutes of running time.

It's still a fun movie to watch for the lovers of slasher/exploitation flicks. It's no better or worse than the average genre attempt and it besides also has some good gore in it.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/