MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: BORN FOR HELL (1976) (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

BORN FOR HELL (1976)

Label: Severin Films

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 91 Minutes (Theatrical), 82 Minutes (U.S. Video Cut)

Audio: English and French DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Denis Héroux

Cast: Mathieu Carrière, Debra Berger, Christine Boisson, Myriam Boyer, Leonora Fani, Ely Galleani, Carole Laure, Eva Mattes, Andrée Pelletier

Canadian filmmaker Denis Héroux's unsavory Born For Hell (1975) is an not-so-loose adaption of the true story of notorious Chicago mass murderer Richard Speck, who one-night in 1966 made his way into a nursing school dormitory and murdered eight-women, one by one over the course of several hours. Héroux juxtaposes the basics of the Speck story to war-torn Belfast, Ireland and changes the character to a mentally-disturbed Vietnam vet named Cain (Mathieu Carrière, Malpertuis) who arrives in Belfast, and then proceeds to terrorize and murder a dorm full of student nurses over the course of a harrowing night.

Cain having been discharged from the military arrives via boat and wanders around Belfast, throughout the day he hangs out in city parks and interacts with kids and locals well enough, even saving an aging prostitute from a pair of unsavory thugs, before roughing her up himself when she offers a free tumble. As he continues to wander the streets he notices several attractive young women coming and going from a dormitory, which catches his attention, so he hangs around till dark and breaks into the dorm, holding the women at knifepoint with a large switchblade and then tying them up and gagging them.

The nursing students include Debra Berger (Invaders From Mars), Leonora Fani (Giallo In Venice), Christine Boisson (Emmanuelle), Ely Galleani (Baba Yaga) and Carole Laure (Sweet Movie). As the night of terror unfolds Cain tells the young women that they have nothing to fear, that he just needs money to skip town to get back to his daughter. However, when he starts leading them one at a time to other rooms in the house his true darker intentions are revealed, and one by one the women are sexually assaulted and murdered with a detached coldness by the demented killer.

The Speck-like Cain is played chillingly by Mathieu Carrière, whose cold-blooded demeanor is unnerving to watch. The movie is all post-dubbed which gives it another layer of weird detachment that gets under the skin, at times feeling like a creepy documentary or snuff film, like we're seeing things that were not meant to be seen by our eyes. It's a movie that certainly gave me the "I need a shower now" feels by the time the credits started rolling.

The setting in war-torn Belfast, Ireland is an interesting setting, the bombing and exchanges of gunfire from the warring faction makes for an unsettling environment, as does the whole post-traumatic scarred Vietnam 'vet as the killer, mixed in the lore of the Richard Speck murders. The way that the murders are set-up and carried out throughout the night in a macabre assembly line fashion seem to pretty much follow the Speck murders, and with that in mind, combined with the unflinching, almost documentarian style of the film, it gets pretty heavy. It doesn't have the escapist feel of the coming slasher cycle, there's not an ounce of joy to be had and any nudity seen is a cruel misogynists act perpetrated on innocent victims and brings you no pleasure, it's just icky realism from start to finish with no release valve.

Audio/Video: Born for Hell arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, this being a new 2K scan of a 35mm print. The source looks good with mostly natural looking grain throughout, but the 35mm print has limitations like fluctuating levels of depth and clarity, some softness and the occasional scratch, but overall a very good looking image that captures the gritty and disturbing nature of the film. Audio comes by way of both English and French DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles, and it is generally clean, well-balanced and not overburdened with hiss and distortion.

Extras kick-off with the 14-minute The Other Side of the Mirror with actor Mathieu Carriere who talks about the film Malpertuis he with director Jean Wray the year before this film, working alongside the somewhat difficult Orson Welles on it, and how he found out that Welles was making $10K, and setting that goal for himself. Eventually he gets into Born For Hell and speaks about how they had to change the name, location and number of victims so that it would not be considered a Speck film, what it was like shooting in Ireland, researching the character, and some vague references to sexual dalliances during the filming. He also touches on shooting the German film Parapsycho - Spektum der angst (1975) and other Euro-cult films he made in the 70's.

Nightmare In Chicago is a 13-minute interview with directors John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) and Gary Sherman (Raw Meat) who both recall living in Chicago at the time of the Speck murders and how that affected them and what it was like hearing about it when it happened. Sherman also talks about his unreleased serial killer flick 39: A Film by Carroll McKane (2006) and how he has long been a serial killer buff, and how Speck's sever acne probably affected his perspective. McNaughton talks about growing up in a tough South Chicago neighborhood near were blues legends Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters lived, and how his father was friends with one of the victim's fathers, and how he was approached to attach himself to a movie based on a Speck book, and how the term "serial killer" didn't exist at the time of Speck.

A New Kind Of Crime – The Richard Speck Story is a 38-minute interview with Once Upon A Crime Podcaster Esther Ludlow who tells a detailed story about the upbringing of Speck as a child, his juvenile delinquency, numerous arrests and early propensity for violence. She eventually gets into his life around the time of the murders of the student nurse and the events of that horrific night and the harrowing events as they unfolded, creepily detailed descriptions of the murders and the ensuing manhunt, apprehension, trial and death in prison.

There's also an 18-minute video essay Bombing Here, Shooting There by Filmmaker Chris O’Neill which gets into the shooting locations of the film, which was shot more in Dublin than in the stated Belfast, with some interiors shot in Germany. It touches on specific areas and what they were known for, which have been demolished since filming and what remains. It also points out that the entire film was post-dubbed and how none of the actual actors with the exception of one did not dub their own lines, and how the lack of ambient sound gives the film a clinical quality.

We also get two interview with artist Joe Coleman, the first a 14-minute interview where he discusses being a kid in Chicago growing up on the Universal Monsters and how Speck was a new, real-life monster, and how much he liked the movie Born For Hell, and what specifically he liked about it. The second is an 10-minute tour of his Odditorium and the unique items housed there, including artwork by Speck, painting of his own that incorporate Speck, and his wax figure of the mass killer, and a prized photo of Speck from '59 which he refuses to show on camera. A great thing about this set of extras is that if you didn't know much about Richard Speck you will walk away from this with a LOT of knowledge about his horrific crimes.

Severin have also included the shorter U.S. video release cut of the film in HD with uncompressed audio with the alternate Naked Massacre title, which looks to be assembled from the same 2K scan, check out he screenshots at the bottom of the review for a comparison with over 80 screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray. The disc is buttoned-u with plus a 3-minute Italian trailer for the film. The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork with what looks to be a cool new, minimalist illustration, the same artwork is featured on the disc.

Special Features:
- The Other Side of the Mirror – Interview with Actor Mathieu Carriere (14 min) HD
- Nightmare In Chicago – Remembering the Richard Speck Crime Spree with Local Filmmakers John McNaughton and Gary Sherman (13 min) HD
- A New Kind Of Crime – The Richard Speck Story with Once Upon A Crime Podcaster Esther Ludlow (38 min) HD
- Bombing Here, Shooting There – Video Essay by Filmmaker Chris O’Neill (17 min) HD
- Artist Joe Coleman On Speck (14 min) HD

- Inside the Odditorium with Artist Joe Coleman (10 min) HD
- Naked Massacre – U.S. Video Release Cut (82 min) HD

- Trailer (3 min) HD

Born For Hell (1975) is not for the faint of heart or those put-off by depictions of extreme misogynist behaviors, it's a hard watch, a real gut-punch that depicts one man dragging a dormitory full of young women into his personal Hell over the course of a single night. You've been warned, but for those who crave brutal, unflinching cinema along the lines of Last House on the Left, Maniac and The House of the Edge of the Park I think you will find this vile bit of vintage video violence well-deserving of a place on your shelf.

Screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray: