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The Mutilator is not a movie title that’ll keep you up for night after night wondering what the plot might revolve around.
Ed Jr (Matt Mitler) is heading out to spend fall break at his father’s condo, by the sea, yet his father, Ed (Jack Chatham) – known as Big Ed, here – could never shake the time when, as a young boy, the lad was attempting to polish his weapon in the front room (and that’s NOT a euphemism!), but it went off (F’nar! F’nar!) and the pellets went through the wall, straight into his mother, killing her instantly.
In fact, Big Ed can’t handle things to such an extent that he’s out there at the same time as Ed Jr and his friends, Pam (Ruth Martinez), Ralph (Bill Hitchcock), Sue (Connie Rogers), Linda (Frances Raines) and Mike (Morey Lampley), and wants to kill them all via any means necessary… well, any means that involves lots of gore and various nautical implements, including one woman getting a gaff (a big hook) right up her undercarriage! In fact, I love how – and it’s referenced in the extras – one of the condoms filled with fake blood inadvertently failed to burst after it was pulled through the girl’s ‘torso’, making it look like her intestines!
The Mutilator features some okay special effects (and the occasional good one, as above), but with the cheesy, terrible acting, a lot of ill-placed plinky plonky background music and a lack of any one-liners, this film is aiming for a Halloween and Friday the 13th-style series of pointless mass slaughterings. Watch this to fill in your shlock-horror back catalogue of knowledge and enjoy the daft conclusion, but there’s far better ’80s slasher flicks out there including Arrow’s 2014 Special Edition release of Killer Klowns From Outer Space.
It also throws in a Jaws-like musical refrain as bad stuff is about to go down, it takes 35 mins before we see the first murder and, bizarrely, it uses “Fall Break” as the onscreen title when, for us, that’s the alternate title. However, I did quite like a few outtakes during the end credits, and fans will be pleased there’s a brief pre-film intro (1:08) featuring director/writer/producer Buddy Cooper and Edmund P Ferrell, assistant special makeup effects artist.
The film is presented in the original 1.85 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition (despite the piece below stating 1.78:1, aka 16:9, and IMDB claiming it should be 1.66:1 – although that site isn’t always correct, and I’d take Arrow’s release as gospel over a user-generated entry). The picture is occasionally a little soft and has a modicum of print flecks (all of which presumably is on the original print and can’t be removed), generally around the start or opening credits, but on the whole there’s a pleasing lack of any grain that sometimes shows up on Arrow releases, such as the recent Audition.
The audio is presented in DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio (mono), so there’s not a great deal to shout about and the occasional synthesiser background loses out as a result.
Taken from the Collector’s booklet about the video and audio transfer:
- “The Mutilator aka Fall Break is presented in 1.78:1 with mono sound.
An extensive search for adequate restoration source materials was unable to turn up the original negative or intermediary elements for The Mutilator. To make matters even more complicated, all the existing 35mm release prints were of the softer R-rated version and included extensive cuts for violent content. Fortunately a 35mm master print of the original uncut version was finally found at the Library of Congress.
This 35mm master print was scanned in 2K resolution at OCN Digital, USA. Kodak Digital Ice was used to remove instances of dirt and debris during scanning. Additional colour grading was performed on the Baselight grading system at Deluxe Restoration, London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, light scratches and other forms of film damage were removed or improved through a combination of digital restoration tools.
The mono soundtrack was transferred directly from the 35mm print. Although every effort has been made to present The Mutilator in the highest possible quality, there are still noticeable instances of damage on the picture and soundtrack that are in keeping with the condition of the source elements. There are also instances in which the original print was mistimed during lab printing, which resulted in some sections of the film cast in blue. We have worked to correct the colour for these sections as much as possible.
This restoration has been approved by director Buddy Cooper.”
While the film didn’t really work for me, I saw on IMDB that there’s a great buzz about it and so all fans will be pleased to know that the extras are large in number and comprise of:
- Fall Breakers (75:01): Almost as long as the film itself, this is a feature-length making-of documentary including interviews with writer/director/producer Buddy Cooper plus many key cast and crew members, all carried out at the Oceanana Motel in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, between June and August last year.
Cooper explains that after making a sale, he had $86,000 burning a hole in his pocket and it was either a case of making this movie – which also allowed graduate students to join in – or buying a vineyard in France. Part of him wishes he’d gone for the latter 😉
- Mutilator Memories (15:57): This film was one of the first projects for special effects maestro Mark Shostrom, and this interview was shot in Los Angeles in October 2015. This includes some effects which worked better than expected and some which didn’t go to plan.
- Tunes for the Dunes (8:13): Composer Michael Minard talks about his time working on the film and with the director and crew.
- Behind The Scenes reel (16:31): Plenty of on-set footage. The quality is definitely of its time, so you have to take that into account, but to have this footage still existing after more than 30 years, and before the age of the internet so the crew would’ve thought that no-one would ever really take interest in it again, this segment is absolute gold dust and a perfect example of what Blu-ray and DVD extras should be about.
- Screen tests (13:03): Similar on-set footage, showing… screen tests. Again, it’s archive stuff that could so easily have been lost over the 30+ years between then and now. A great find.
- Opening scene storyboards (4:27): Ooh! Watch out, Mum!!
- Trailers, TV and Radio Spots: The other sort of archive footage I love to see in extras comes in the form of trailers, and there’s a wealth of them here in either 16:9 or 4:3, showing the film listed under its two names. The full list are as follows:
- Fall Break trailer (1:42)
Fall Break TV Spot (0:32)
The Mutilator trailer (1:57)
The Mutilator TV Spot Version A (0:32)
The Mutilator TV Spot Version B (0:32)
Two radio spots (0:57) - Alternative opening titles (4:32): with the title as “The Mutilator”. Not sure why this wasn’t in the main film anyway. Then again, it’s a bit grainy by comparison so perhaps that’s why.
- Music (3:30): If you hadn’t heard “Fall Break” over and over enough on the menu, you have it here with vocals or as an instrumental, running 3:30 each time. And even after you’ve switched the Blu-ray or DVD player off and put the disc back in its box, you’ll still have it playing in your head!!!
- Gallery (8:49): Stacks of pictures, changing every five seconds, so that’s approximately 106.
- Audio commentaries: Two here. One featuring the cast and crew, and one with Buddy Cooper and actress Ruth Martinez, who played Pam in the film.
Subtitles are available in English, the main menu features clips from the film set to the aforementioned theme, and the chapters are the usual bog-standard 12.
The Mutilator is out now on Blu-ray/DVD Double Pack Limited Edition, and check out the full-size cover by clicking on the packshot.
|
FILM PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
3 8 7 9 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 86 minutes
Year: 1984
Distributor: Arrow Films
Released: February 15th 2016
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD1208
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio (Mono)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1 (35mm)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Buddy Cooper
Producer: Buddy Cooper
Screenplay: Buddy Cooper and John Douglass
Music: Michael Minard
Cast:
Ed Jr: Matt Mitler
Pam: Ruth Martinez
Ralph: Bill Hitchcock
Sue: Connie Rogers
Linda: Frances Raines
Mike: Morey Lampley
Big Ed: Jack Chatham
Cop: Ben Moore
Younger Ed Jr: Trace Cooper
Mother: Pamela Weddle Cooper
Bartender: Jimmy Guthrie
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.