COP: The Driller Killer.. Controversial Horror

VIDEO NASTIES 

Abel Ferrara is one of the directors that I was told about to look into, mostly after having a discussion about "snuff films" and their influence on horror.  There is also another term coined by the industry "video nasties". Abel Ferrara as he known distinctly for his horror film The Driller Killer which fell into this category. The film was released in the US without any problems but the UK was undergoing a protest to ban video nasties, The Driller Killer was released at the wrong time and only added fuel to the campaign. It came out in 1979 but was banned in the UK from 1983 until 2002. 

THE DRILLER KILLER 

The plot revolves around a depressed artist who goes on a killing spree, he sees an eyeless hallucination of his flatmate Carol (Which references back to what I was talking about earlier, Freudian Theory explains how the loss of eyes is part of the castration complex). This drives the character Reno into a frenzy where lots of graphic murder scenes ensue. 

This was the video cover which caused so much controversy. As far as covers go it is very explicit and I don't think that it's a particularly strong cover either, revealing less is sometimes more especially when it comes down to horror movies (and gory ones at that). 


HORROR TROPES 

The Driller Killer was one of Abel's first films, it was low budget and shot with an unknown cast but contained many themes that are echoed in his other works and which also display clear horror archetypes. One of these is the theme of Religion within horror films, particularly catholic icons which are seen inside DrillerKiller (such as the inverted cross). It also has themes of salvation and redemption which are seen as religious connotations by many (for obvious reasons).  Other tropes is that all the action happens at night, this is seen in Driller Killer but also many horror films choose to have the peak of action happen during the night. It also contains scenes of extreme violence, which is of course a main trope in horror films. 

ABEL FERRARA 
Abel is an independent film maker, which makes his movies even more interesting I think. He doesn't have to follow the horror tropes, but he does. Is this because horror can't exist without them? So many of his films feature explicit violence and he is heralded as a creative in the horror arena, as many of films have a cult following. Abel was raised as a catholic but has reported that for having a large effect within his films. This strongly suggests to me that religion and repression is something that is crucial to a horror move recipe.
He is known mostly for the neo-noir style (all of his films are set in the night) and religious themes within his films. Intentionally or not many of Ferrara's films are sexually charged and violent, Ms 45 (1981) was a rape revenge film (not so many of them around at this time period) where a woman took it into her own hands to seek revenge.