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555 (1988 film)

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555
Standard Edition DVD released by Massacre Video
Directed byWally Koz
Written byRoy Koz
Story byWally Koz
Produced byWally Koz
StarringB.K. Smith
Bob Grabill
Greg Neilson
Charles Fuller
Greg Kerouac
Mara Lynn Bastian
CinematographyLamar Bloodworth
Edited byPat Mongoven
Music byFrankie Rodriguez
Production
company
King Video Productions
Distributed bySlaughterhouse Entertainment
Release date
  • 1988 (1988) (United States)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

555 is a 1988 horror film directed and produced by Wally Koz, and written by Roy Koz.

Plot

While making out on the beach, a couple is attacked by a blade-wielding man dressed like a hippie. After beheading the man with a machete, the hippie slashes the woman to death with a dagger, then sexually assaults her corpse. Charged with solving "the Lake Front Butcher" murders (as the media have dubbed them) are Sergeant Connor and Detective Haller, whose main suspect is the man who found the bodies, a retired army colonel named Peter Wayne. Routinely intruding upon the investigation is stubborn local reporter Susan Rather, the occasional lover of Assistant District Attorney Ralph Kennedy.

Over the next two nights two more couples are butchered, one in their van, and the other in an abandoned factory. The modus operandi (male killed with a machete, the female killed with a knife and raped post-mortem) is the same, and the theory that Wayne is the killer is strengthened when he goes into hiding. Shortly after another couple is killed (this time in their bedroom) on the fourth night, Connor finds Wayne, who he had discovered had lived in at least two of the four cities where similar crimes (five couples killed over the course of five nights, each spree five years apart) have occurred. However, due to a lack of solid evidence connecting him to any of the murders, Wayne (who claims to have only hid because he believed Connor was personally out to get him) is let go.

After Wayne's release, Connor and Haller are approached by Susan, who claims that Ralph is the Lake Front Butcher. Susan explains that she had earlier snuck into the station to look through the case files, and found out that the ex-boyfriend of the very first victim (murdered twenty years ago in Massachusetts alongside her lover) was named Joseph Ralph Dwyer, which is Ralph's birth name. Searching for Ralph, the trio track him down to the abandoned factory, where he is killed in a shootout, though only after claiming the lives of another young couple, completing his pattern for the fifth time.

Cast

  • Mara Lynn Bastian as Susan Rather
  • Charles Fuller as Colonel Peter Wayne
  • Greg Kerouac as Sergeant Connor
  • Greg Neilson as Ralph Kennedy/Joseph Ralph Dwyer
  • B.K. Smith as Detective Johnny Haller
  • Bob Grabill as The Killer and Police Officer
  • Wally Koz as Captain Luca

Reception

Blood Capsules awarded 555 three stars, and wrote that the script was decent, the acting enthusiastic, and the effects occasionally impressive.[1] Trash Film Guru found the film enjoyable, despite the low productions values, abysmal acting, and occasional dullness.[2] Critical Condition said that while 555 was by no means good, it did have decent acting, and gore effects.[3] A score of one and half ("Bad") was given by The Bloody Pit of Horror, which said the film was highly inept on a technical level, and suffered from obnoxious characters, bad dialogue and acting, a pedestrian and ridiculous mystery, a silly plot, and a limp finale.[4] The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre found the acting weak and the plot formulaic, and stated the only memorable aspect of the film was two or three over-the-top splatter scenes.[5]

The Video Graveyard categorized the film as garbage with lame gore and amateurish acting, though the website admitted that the "compellingly awful indie effort" is worth watching once by bad movie enthusiasts.[6] Video Junkie Strikes Back from the Grave quipped "The only thing going for 555 is the effects work, which is suitably gory".[7] Soiled Sinema summed up 555 as a "complete piece of zombie shit" that offered only a minimal amount of entertainment.[8]

References

  1. ^ "555 (1988)". bloodcapsules.blogspot.ca. Blood Capsules. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  2. ^ C., Ryan (19 February 2012). "555: The Number Of The Beast, Minus 111". trashfilmguru.com. Trash Film Guru. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  3. ^ Adelman, Fred. "Thriller Part 2". critcononline.com. Critical Condition. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  4. ^ McKinney, Justin (29 January 2012). "555 (1988)". thebloodypitofhorror.blogspot.ca. The Bloody Pit of Horror. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Gore & Splatter". thelastexit.net. The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  6. ^ "555". thevideograveyard.com. The Video Graveyard. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  7. ^ Wilson, William (21 November 2010). "Cinemasochism: 555 (1988)". originalvidjunkie.blogspot.ca. Video Junkie Strikes Back from Beyond the Grave. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  8. ^ E., Ty (19 June 2008). "555". soiledsinema.com. Soiled Sinema. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
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