Heavyset Hollywood character actor Victor Buono was a thoroughly enjoyable screen presence; remembered fondly for appearances in such cult horror films as WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962) and HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964), as well as his villainous turn as King Tut on the BATMAN television series. However, Buono also made a few films in Italy in the late 60s and early 70s; the most notable being THE MAD BUTCHER, where he got to play a rare leading role.
Just like THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE (1971), which was released not too long after this one, the opening scene shows a man trying to escape from an insane asylum. But what comes afterwards couldn't possibly have been more different from EVELYN...
Buono stars in the role of Otto Lehman, a Viennese butcher who has just been released after spending three years in an asylum for attacking an annoying customer with a slab of liver. He returns to his butcher's shop and tries to find harmony through doing the work he loves but his bitchy, self-centred wife Hanna (Karin Field) is always nagging him. Thus, Otto decides he would rather live in the room above his butcher shop than back in the house with Hanna. He spends his evenings in this room spying on the shop's sexy neighbour Berta (Franca Polesello), who has a fondness for undressing in front of her window at night.
But Otto's peeping comes to an abrupt end when he is caught red-handed by Hanna, who furiously demands for him to move back home with her. When he refuses, Hanna threatens to send him back to the loony bin, which causes Otto to loose it and he snaps his wife's neck. Desperate and not knowing where to dispose of the body, Otto comes up with the idea of putting Hanna's corpse into the meat grinder, turning her into sausages. He then goes about selling these special sausages in the streets of Vienna, where they become extremely popular as they apparently taste much better than regular sausages. It's not long before others end up in Otto's meat grinder, as the whole town, including the police, can't get enough of his meaty speciality. Otto's suspicious behaviour is reported to the local police inspector (Dario Michaelis) but he brushes it off as nonsense. However, the inspector's friend, American reporter Mike Lawrence (Brad Harris), who is romancing Berta, wonders if there might be something weird going on in the butcher shop after all…
The story appears to be inspired by the grisly real-life case of Fritz Haarmann, the so-called “Butcher of Hanover” who abused and murdered a number of young boys in the early 1920s. Haarman then dismembered his victims and peddled meat from their bodies; selling it as black market pork in the streets of Hanover. But whereas Haarmann's crimes were repulsive and shocking, THE MAD BUTCHER takes on a light-hearted approach, with very mild violence and an emphasis on dark humour. In fact, there's hardly a drop of blood to be seen as all of the victims are strangled – in accordance with the film's original Italian title, LO STRANGOLATORE DI VIENNA (The Strangler of Vienna) – and then later seen as a row of finished sausages coming out of the meat grinder.
Not exactly a good film in the traditional sense of the term, THE BAD BUTCHER is nevertheless a prime example of ridiculous, humorous Euro-schlock from the golden age of Italian cinema. A co-production with West Germany, the film was shot on location in picturesque Vienna, which makes a fine backdrop to all the sausage fun. At the centre of all the insanity is of course Victor Buono, who is the primary reason for the film's success. He gives an exaggerated but enjoyable performance here – his large size, look and numerous Austrian outfits fitting the character perfectly. It's too bad Buono wasn't given more starring roles because he proves here that he is a strong enough screen presence to carry a film by himself.
The supporting cast isn't bad either and includes several familiar faces. The usually cleavage-heavy Austrian actress Karin Field from Antonio Margheriti's THE WEB OF THE SPIDER (1970) and Jess Franco's THE DEMONS (1972) is interesting to observe in the atypical part of Buono's nagging, icy-eyed wife, while sexy 1960s starlet Franca Polesello (in her second to last film role) provides most of the film's cheese-cake nudity as Buono's frequently undressing object of desire. Former muscleman star Brad Harris doesn't get too much to do and his romantic scenes with Polesello are dead-spots, but he does get to fight it out with the enormous butcher in the fun climax. Fat, sweaty Luca Sportelli is almost as deranged as the Buono character in the role of his wretched brother-in-law, and Hansi Linder (twin sister of the better known Christa Linder) bares it all as the fiery prostitute Sportelli shacks up with. Finally, the police inspector is played by the talented but underrated Dario Michaelis, who has the distinction of appearing not only in the first real Italian horror film, Riccardo Freda's I VAMPIRI (1956), but also in the first Italian science fiction film, Paolo Heusch's THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED (1958). Here, Michaelis looks completely different, with short, centre-parted hair and a pencil moustache, but he is very amusing as the ineffective inspector who shows little interest in looking into the goings-on at the butcher shop.
The film's director, Guido Zurli, would go on to direct a series of thrillers and crime movie co-productions between Italy and Turkey such as LITTLE EYE-WITNESS (1972), FACE OF A THIEF (1977) and TARGET (1979), but his most widely-seen effort was undoubtedly THE MAD BUTCHER, which was picked up for US distribution by Harry H. Novak. It was Novak who came up with the MAD BUTCHER title as the original English title was MEAT IS MEAT (this is also the onscreen title used on this DVD). Zurli has managed to create a small gem that is clearly in bad taste but ultimately rather harmless and fun. The text at the end of the film reads “Buono appetit” and is a perfect illustration of the spirit in which the film is made.
Something Weird Video's DVD of THE MAD BUTCHER was released in 2001 and seven years later, the disc still holds up pretty well. Though non-anamorphic, the 1.85:1 picture is pleasingly sharp and clean, while the English audio (featuring Buono's and Harris' own voices) comes through very clearly. The only extra related to the film itself is the fun but rough-looking American trailer. The rest of the extras have nothing to do with THE MAD BUTCHER but are still enjoyable. We get trailers for eight other Harry H. Novak releases, including MOTHER (1970), which stars Buono alongside Julie Newmar, and other no-budget schlock titles like AXE (1977) and FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE OF FREAKS (1974). A gallery of artwork for various Novak releases is also included. Rounding out the package are two B&W features. The first one is called CANNIBAL ISLAND and narrates some ridiculous silent film footage of “authentic” cannibals. It lasts about four minutes. The second feature, called CANNIBAL MASSAGE, runs 20 minutes and is far more interesting, though quite a head-scratcher. A skinny, young businessman gets a nude massage from a black masseur with a big afro and he likes it so much he keeps coming back for more. What starts out like an odd, homo-erotically-charged piece eventually turns into a jaw-dropping shocker in its finale, which is likely to offend Christian viewers.
THE MAD BUTCHER is a surprisingly enjoyable film that offers a great opportunity to see the wonderful Victor Buono in an unforgettable star turn. The SWV disc still holds up well, so there's no reason not to add this to your collection.
(Johan Melle)
