By Geno McGahee
“I’ll get even with them all.” – Sam Butler (Ari Levin)
Ten years ago, I started Scared Stiff Reviews and one of the first reviews that I ever did was for the micro-budget, 1989 slasher “LAS VEGAS BLOODBATH.” Sadly, as the site was updated over time, things were lost including that review, but fear not. I have watched it again and present this brand new review. Written and directed by David Schwartz, we have two things going on at once. We have a fun micro-budget slasher with a female oil wrestling storyline forced in. The good outweighs the bad, but the film has some serious issues.
Sam Butler (Ari Levin), who resembles Nicolas Cage, has just closed the biggest deal in his lifetime and he is going to celebrate by purchasing a sporty car for his wife, Ruth (Elizabeth Anderson). He drives home and notices that some of their picture frames are set face-down. What is going on? He sneaks into the bedroom and all he sees is man ass. It is too much to take. His dear wife has been cheating on him and poor Sam stumbles upon the worst visual that he could see. He snaps and kills them both, but he keeps “Ruthy” with him at all times…her severed head that is.
He drives around Las Vegas and makes several observations, including: “I can’t believe there are so many whores out, even in the day time,” and “all women are alike. They don’t deserve to live,” and after another kill, he states that the “stupid whore blood on me.” Although his rage is directed primarily at women, it becomes blind rage at times. He enters a bar holding the severed head of Ruthy and kills the bartender, noting that “it’s too noisy in here” to his wife’s head. Despite the obvious adlibbing and low production value, I was sincerely enjoying this film, but then they brought in the female oil wrestlers and it ruined it all.
The adlibbing is terrible as the girls sit around and just talk and joke about random things. It’s obvious that the director just told them the general idea and let them talk, but a lot of it’s contradictory and none of it pushes the story forward. Barbara (Barbara Bell) is pregnant and she’s given milk as the other girls get donuts and beer. There are about fifteen unfunny milk “jokes” within a five minute period. I don’t blame the girls: Wet & Wild Wendy (Rebecca Gandara), Tuff Tiff (Tiffany Heisler), Cherry Blossom (Jennifer Quin), Bambi (Leah Luchette) or Suzanne (Susanne Ciddio). They had no direction or lines. They were forced to just work off each other and every one of them was so nervous that it was difficult to watch. I have a sense that this movie was filmed very loosely with more of an idea than a script. Even Levin’s lines in the car seemed to be his own creations.
Sam crashes the party and ties up the girls and throws in a line to Barbara that was quite funny. As he is pushing them together, he looks at her and says “you too preggy.” He systematically kills each one of the girls and in brutal and bloody ways. The worst and it may be the only time in film history, he cuts open Barbara and takes out her unborn fetus and then violently throws it against the wall. It’s terribly hilarious.
Another great moment is when a Jehovah’s Witness lets himself in. He sees that the door is open, and sticks his head in, stating “Anyone home? Jehovah’s Witness.” With a violent kid, he’s decapitated. Sam notes “you’re not a witness anymore.” It was a good thing. Jehovah’s Witnesses are pushy.
The police show up and Sam has one final surprise for them and we are left with the potential for a sequel. LAS VEGAS BLOODBATH relies heavily on over the top madness. Ari Levin is hilarious throughout and we learn so much about his wife. When he killed Barbara, he noted that his wife was pregnant. When he killed the Jehovah’s Witness, he noted that his wife was a Jehovah’s Witness.
I wish that they had minimized the oil wrestlers, or given them lines rather than relying on improvisation. This film is heavily influenced by the 80’s slashers at the time and even though the dialogue in some of those can be less than stellar, it was much better than this. I’m not sure of how this film was produced or under what circumstances, but it should have been mapped out better. There were some very good things going on and with some focus and fine-tuning, it would be a lot more popular than it is. In the end though, I do recommend LAS VEGAS BLOODBATH because of the fun factor. I found myself laughing most of the time.
Rating: 5/10 – Viva LAS VEGAS BLOODBATH
