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Axe aka: “Lisa. Lisa”/”California Axe Massacre” (1977)

Dir: Frederick R. Friedel

Three criminals wait in a dingy flat for their victim.
We have Billy (played by the Director himself, Frederick R. Friedel) who is all funky afro and hippie beard.
We have Lomax (Ray Green) , a brute of a man who entertains himself by burning cigar holes in a red dress he finds.
And we have Steele (Jack Canon) who is the leader of the group and is as ruthless as they come.
The target of the disapproval finally appears in the form of Aubrey (Frank Jones) who walks in with his boyfriend, something that gives a whole different meaning to the dress Lomax was abusing.
Aubrey is a guy who sports, even though it’s the 70’s, the world’s worst hairdo and a scary eye-straining fluorescent shirt and is promptly beaten to death by Steele and Lomax (as an uncertain Billy looks on) in a sequence that is shot as rough as hell and as such is far more brutal than it would have otherwise have been.

Fleeing the scene the men head into the country, stopping only for Steele and Lomax to indulge themselves with more violence in a convenience store. A sequence that indulges in some gratuitous apple abuse, gratuitous bra baring, shocking abuse dealt out to Heinz tomato ketchup and the kind of dialogue you would only get in a film like this.
Steele: “Lady’s sure got some nice melons Lomax. I bet she’s got some other nice melons too”. The old smoothie!

Meanwhile, in an isolated farmhouse, we have pretty young Lisa (Leslie Lee) who kills chickens with great aplomb, walks around in a permanently depressed daze, spends her days taking care of her paralysed, mute Grandfather (Douglas Powers) and in-between contemplates slitting her wrists.

Before too long the inevitable happens and the three convicts arrive at Lisa’s house and demand a room for the night. Lisa reluctantly welcomes the villains in.
That night Lomax sets off a series of shocking events when he tries to rape poor little Lisa…

 

Years after it had paid fleeting visits to the Drive-In’s and the Grindhouse’s of America, “Axe” was given a new and infamous lease of life on the other side of the world where, in the UK, it became one of many titles caught up in the ‘Video Nasties’ scare during the early 1980’s.
But it seems the powers that be in the UK fell under the same spell of extraordinary marketing guru Harry Novak that the American audiences had all those years ago. Because, although “Axe” is actually a pretty good movie, it in no way contains anything deserving of its British video infamy.

The handheld, shaky Cinematography (by Austin McKinney who also lensed the classic “The Love Butcher“) is perfect for creating the rough hewn feel that is such an asset to these types of movies and the ragged visuals and editing really enhance the few moments of violence the film contains.
As well as the beating mentioned above, the first killing is another example of how this rough visual style, as well as the weirdly distorted sound effects, make the scene more violent than it would otherwise have been.
This killing is also the most bloody and violent part of the film and a real downbeat feel is added to this entire sequence during the aftermath when the body must be disposed of, in a scene that plays out very much like a similar scene (after an actual rape) in Abel Ferrara’s classic “Ms.45” from 1981, with a cold mechanical edge to the dreadful job of chopping up a body in a bathtub.

The film should have been gorier given it’s production date and market, but seeing as even the blood looks more like paint than blood, it is perhaps to the film’s advantage that the details of the murders are (mostly) suggestive and off-screen as this is far more powerful than a bad special effect would be. And it is pretty obvious that the FX would indeed have been highly dubious.

But the film (mostly) makes up for the lack of grue by being so atmospheric and relentlessly grimy.
This aspect is not just down to the Cinematography either, the set design, setting and acting by all concerned all add a welcome, bleak sincerity to proceedings.
Jack Canon is suitably nasty as the lead villain, but rarely ventures over the line into pantomime, Ray Green is spot on in essaying his character’s slimy, brutish manner and Leslie Lee (who seems to have made no other films) is wonderfully dour, mysterious and yet sympathetic as the sorry Lisa.

Frederick R. Friedel (who also made cult item “Kidnapped Coed”, again with Canon) has a perfect grasp of how a Drive-In/Grindhouse movie of the 70’s should look and feel and does a perfectly acceptable job at acting as well, it is only in injecting energy into the film he falls down.
With a running time barely over the 60 minute mark, “Axe” could never outstay it’s welcome, but in any other film this lack of drive could hurt it badly.
Luckily the script (also by Friedel) and the characters within suit this lethargic pacing. The character of Lisa especially compliments the slow tempo of the movie.
For example a sequence where Lisa washes her Granddad, as he blankly stares at the TV, at first seems overly long but in fact it shows perfectly just how lifeless her existence is.
Some of the scenes when the villains first arrive at the house and generally hang about tend to test the patience a bit, but generally Friedel’s own script saves his direction.

Complimenting all this is a wonderfully effective, very ominous score by George Newman and John Willhelm which is a minimalist marvel and helps shape the film into the generally serious and bleak affair it is. A time where the score is as vital a part of the movie’s success as the acting, script or direction.

What we have with “Axe” then (if we ignore the many marvellous but outstandingly inaccurate trailers it has) is a strange little movie that looks and feels just right, has some effectively violent moments (with the sound of the axe going into flesh nicely making up for any visual representation of the act), a nice set of performances, a perfectly fitting score and a suitably serious and downbeat tone.
It sometimes lacks pace and those expecting a gore feast will be severely let down, but once you know what you are getting there is much here for a dedicated Exploitation/Drive-In to appreciate.

‘Something Weird Video’ delivers “Axe” in a lovely and fun package, and again they show how to craft a DVD release. As well as “Axe” itself we have another feature, “The Electric Chair”, some of those glorious Exploitation trailers (including 3 of those deliciously over the top ones for “Axe” under its various monikers), an hysterically simplistic educational film on mental health, a totally bizarre sword swallowing strip tease act, and a gallery of Drive-In posters/flyers scored to various audio previews for upcoming movies. A solid presentation of a solid little Exploitation film.