Last Axe on the Left: Axe (1977)

Axe (AKA "California Axe Massacre", "Lisa, Lisa") (1977)
Rating: *
Starring: Leslie Lee, Jack Canon and Ray Green

Wrangled along the infamous Video Nasties list, California Axe Massacre (1977), or simply Axe in some box titles, brings forth exploitation the likes of Craven's infamous Last House on the Left (1972) to Southern fried proportions. In a way.

The story starts with three killers jumping on an associate in his own apartment after the man done them wrong, beating him dead and clobbering his gay lover to the point the fella crashes through a window, into a fatal fall. Now on the run, the trio head South where they torture a store clerk by throwing fruits above her head and shooting the produce with a gun. As far as I'm interested to see old school 70s exploitation torture, this is hardly rocking my attention and is already boring me to death. Eitherways, the hoodlums leave before any more damage can be done and seek refuge in a house owned by an expressionless girl and her paralyzed grandaddy. Of course, seeing this can be considered as a Last House on the Left clone, the girl ain't all that helpless and she has a mean hatchet to whack back with.

Under just a running time of an hour and five minutes, I was expecting a total gorefest and horrible antics seeing this is often marketed as a slasher and, again, is listed among other infamous titles under United Kingdom's Video Nasties, but what I got instead is a cheap run of exploitative nonsense that hardly makes up for its supposed infamy. Acting is drearily mind-numbing, any gore is stifled to slight splatter and the direction really stretches itself thin by spending too much time trying to make the three hooligans as unlikable as possible, I guess as a way to hype up a massacre they so well-deserved. The resulting product, unfortunately, is too dull to be exciting, Too amateurish to be enjoyable. Hardly worth the wait when all we're getting from all of this is a few measly kills. It does reek of grindhouse shlock for the manic plotting and uneasy sleaze so there's that, I guess?

Honestly, I agree getting this film banned. Just for an entirely different reason. A movie this boring shouldn't grace the screens of good, hard-working horror fanatics. If you still want to check this one out, though, well, be my guest...

Bodycount:
1 male beaten to death
1 male crashes through window and falls to his death
1 male back of neck sliced with razor
1 male hacked to death with axe
1 male shot on the head
Total: 5