Murder Collection V.1 (2009) Reviews

• Interesting, but somewhat Inconsistent

  dcroman2019-03-11

  Full disclosure: I write this review as a horror fan, and a fan of extreme cinema in general. If you've stumbled onto this film, chances are your perspective will be similar. Murder Collection Vol. 1 is another alternative horror effort from Fred Vogel and the folks at Toetag Pictures, infamous for the intense and polarizing "August Underground" series. Folks familiar with that series will have some idea of what to expect from this film: a shot-on-video (SOV), low-budget, DIY, found-footage experience designed to push buttons and essentially recreate the feeling of stumbling onto a snuff film. However, Murder Collection Vol. 1 differs from these films in that it's structured as more of an anthology, very much recreating the feeling of browsing Rotten.com back in the day, or a gore-thread on some message board. This makes for an interesting and varied viewing experience, but admittedly the execution of these segments is quite uneven in its effectiveness. First, multiple segments are filmed as CCTV footage, without sound. While this is an interesting exercise that certainly stings with realism ("The Heist" in particular is well choreographed), these clips are ultimately not very satisfying to watch, and end up being somewhat forgettable. Furthermore, it can be pretty difficult to see exactly what's going on in these clips, even by Toetag standards. Certain segments have potential, but never really capitalize on it. "Bludgeoning" is a decent opening, but there's not a whole lot to it, especially with the grainy webcam quality. "The Cheat" suffers from a generic script and delivery which hinders the unique way in which the story is shown to us. "Broadway Rob" is creepy, but somewhat unsatisfying. All these segments are interesting conceptually, but just don't feel fully realized. It's a shame, because there are really effective moments here as well, usually taking place when Vogel & Co. are back behind the handheld camera, where they're clearly the most comfortable. "Autopsy", while slowly paced, looks chillingly real, a testament to the talents of Jerami Cruise when he's at his best. Similarly, "Execution" might be the strongest segment of the bunch here, making the absolute most of Toetag's ability to show us stunning and effective moments of violence and cruelty which the viewer will not soon forget. Overall, I would recommend Murder Collection Vol. 1 to hardcore horror fans looking for an alternative film experience. I respect Toetag's efforts to continue creating unique and boundary-pushing horror films, but simply feel as though the delivery is too much of a mixed-bag to be totally effective.

• very very disturbing

  anarchydavidanderson2010-06-08

  went into this thinking it would be another stupid movie that someone found disturbing man was i wrong this was messed up on so many levels i barely got threw it to be honest i have watched three guys one hammer b4 and that was completely messed up but this this has to be one of the best online murder videos/movies there where a few scenes i had to skip completely threw like a guy getting decapitated while his wife or girlfriend had to watch it takes the cake for the most messed up thing on the internet the first clip i almost wanted to turn it off where a father beats his son to death please only watch if you have a really really strong stomach i love this kinda stuff and i barely made it threw the full thing but meh to each there own i guess there was one scene tho that i rooted for the killer i think u will know what one that was (if you don't it was the scene where the pedophile got killed)

• Boring and Unbelievable

  ramon_meza2013-12-04

  OK, so there's not much to this movie. It's suppose to be some guy's gore film collection that's he's collected. The first scene was somewhat promising, as in it actually kind of looked believable and realistic. But from then on it gradually degraded in quality and believability. Some of the gore scene, the actors just ruin it by acting unrealistically. I am used to viewing and watching shocking footage and this didn't really give that to me. If you're squeamish, I wouldn't watch it, but by no means does it seem like the effects are realistic. (I do love the effect they put into it and this isn't to say the makeup effects are bad, they are pretty good, but its nowhere near real in my opinion).