Fantom Killer (1998)

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Excellent, smart action film.

A Brilliant Conflict

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Fantom Kiler is a shot-on-video wanna-be modern Giallo where the storyline revolves around your stereotypical Giallo-type killer (black hat, trenchcoat, black leather gloves and mask) who stalks young sluts, stabs them numerous times and then vaginally mutilates them with a knife. Sounds great huh? All things considered it's an OK film - pretty low budget but it still looks decent compared to some of the other SOV films i've seen. There's LOTS of explicit (verging on hardcore) nudity and vag stabbin' which when coupled with an overall misogynistic attitude in general makes for some entertaining sleaze. A sub-plot involving a comedic relief team made up of a goofy slacker janitor (complete with fake mustache) and his equally lazy co-worker who work at the train station, hanging out leaning on their mops imagining what the women who walk by would look like naked. One scene involves the main janitor getting in a hot young assistant cleaner, one day out of the blue the young lady gets very aroused and asks him to force a wooden spoon deep into her @sshole handle first and then says she wants him to re-enact the King Arthur & Excalibur story and to try and wrench the spoon from her tight ass, it takes him a while he gets it out eventually. After a while it seems apparent that the janitor is the killer, as in one scene the killer f!cks one of the victims in the ass with a wooden mop handle and the janitor reads about the murders in the paper mumbling about how they got what they deserved.Some scenes are blackly humorous in the totally over the top and immoral way the women are treated: the killing scenes are deliberately over-long, as the camera lingers pornographically on the scenes of brutal multiple stabbings, vaginal impalement's and knife rape (although there's actually very little graphic gore on screen, just plenty of blood). As the killer doesn't actually penetrate his victims in the usual way, the kill scenes could almost be considered the money shots. Sometimes the victim even gets off on the assault and subsequent knife-f!cking (the ultimate orgasm the killer calls it), reaching her climax as she dies. The female stars all look like second rate porn stars, with fake tits, well oiled bodies and bad acting.A myth surrounding the film is that it is Polish and directed by one Roman Nowicki. In reality the film was shot in a warehouse in London, and then edited at home on his PC by Trevor Barley (aka Roman Nowicki). He hired Polish & Russian models / porn stars to act in it, dubbed the film into a mixture of Russian and Polish language then subtitled it back to English. Supposedly the cause for the deception was due to the directors concerns regarding legal trouble and distribution / censorship problems in the UK. He has also directed Fantom Kiler 2 & 3 under the same pseudonym.This film completely fails as a Giallo. There's no suspense, convoluted storyline, or really any cinematic value at all.. but it does succeed in terms of pure exploitation and anti-PC offensiveness. 6/10

This is a horrible, violent picture filled with naked women getting brutally murdered in ways no different than that in Friday the Thirteenth and its ilk.In other words, there's nothing in it that hasn't been done a few million other times but this time it's with really hot nekkid Polish chicks.Did I mention the nekkid bimbos? I didn't time it, but I suspect the women in this film spend more time naked than they do clothed. Yes. Naked. Really, really, naked. Then they are dead. D-E-A-D, dead. Or at least acting like it well enough that your by-now overloaded suspension of disbelief really doesn't feel like arguing.I gave it a medium rating, because it's not exactly intellectually stimulating. It's entirely up to you if it's... ah.... "stimulating in any other way", shall we say?In summary, this film is about Jason Voorhees taking out lots and lots of bare breasts. Big ones. Big, enhanced ones. Slashed, stabbed, impaled.If that bugs you, well, gee -- don't watch it.

I don't care what anyone else says - I dug FANTOM KILER. How can you not like a film where EVERY female in the film gets completely butt-nekkid??? And if you're a fan of sleazy, misogynistic, trash-cinema (don't lie - you love it...) - then how can you not like a film where nearly every "victim" is not only slashed-up, but also vaginally-impaled with various objects, including: knife, railroad-spike, broomstick, and one truly confusing scene (not related to slashing) where a girl gets a wooden spoon up the b-hole...beautiful stuff...Anyway - on to "plot" - what plot? I have no idea - my copy is a Euro release with no English dubs/subs - all I could gather is some bandaged-wrap-faced freak who wears typical Italian giallo-killer garb, likes to sexually molest and stab up hot chicks and finishes up by rammin' stuff up their coot. That's enough for me. There seemed to be some comedic elements at play that I didn't exactly understand, and I think some sort of "police investigation" as well...First off - for a low-budget film, FANTOM KILER actually has a lot of "style" and tries to make more out of itself than you would think possible given the obvious budget constraints. The editing is almost music-video-like in the kill-scenes, and is actually pretty cool. There are also scenes that for whatever reason appear to be intentionally "degraded" visually - not sure why - but if you watch it, you'll see what I mean. I like the fact that pretty much everything "plot-wise" that happens on screen is a set-up for some hot broad to lose her clothes. That, my friends, is EXCELLENT script-writing. The nudity is hot and heavy and is pretty explicit (even some bent-over cooch-n-bung shots) - though don't expect XXX-fare either. Lots of sexy, silicone-enhanced, shaved and oiled bodies on display - the best part being that these chicks are SO hot, that they are oiled UNDERNEATH their clothing. As far as the "controversy" as to the Director's true identity and whether the film was filmed in Poland or the UK - I couldn't care less. My only gripe is that with as much skin and sleaze as is on display here - there are times where it drags pretty badly, and even some of the kill set-ups are kinda dull - even with all the nude flesh on display. Also - they should've done more with the gore FX, as they're pretty weak and not nearly as sick and splattery as I would have preferred. Other than that - this is a pretty twisted-but-fun "giallo" (using the term in the broadest sense) that delivers heavily on the sleaze-meter. Can't wait to throw in FANTOM KILER 2 tonite...8.5/10

I'm really not too sure if all of the hype and carry on about this movie is worth the energy. Previous reviews and comments I have read elsewhere claim this film is disturbing and degrading to women.To me it wasn't quite hardcore porn, but then again a little more than softcore.OK, yeah sure there were naked women getting killed, some quite explicitly, but why cant people see this movie for what it is. B grade underground porn with the intent to shock. Obviously someone has wanted to take a step away from the normalties of regular porn, and try to get a controversial reputation. He's also gone for the artistic approach, but that is more annoying that interesting. Also the picture on DVD goes from wide screen to full screen, to blurry etc, and the subtitles have a tendancy to disappear below the screen or inside the movie, also, the fonts are prone to change, and I've heard that the whole thing was made in England, dubbed (very poorly apparently) into Polish, and then given english subtitles.The money I paid to see this movie probably cost more than what it cost to make it, so I guess I'm the sucker.Part 2 is pretty much the same, though I think the director may have broken up with his girlfriend before making this one, because the dialogue is pretty resentful toward women.All in all, dont expect much here, at best The Fantom Kiler trilogy are movies most suited to sitting around with the boys, some drinks, and having a laugh. Serious horror fans will hate them, and the raincoat brigade will want more.