The Youth Killer (1976)

I really don’t know how to put it

as soon as I heard that this movie had music from a band I like I immediately grabbed it, like a lot of the stuff I’ve been watching. I have had it for a while but initially put it off when I read there were some nude scenes, I find that and sexual scenes uncomfortable and useless in media 99% of the time, but they were actually not as bad as I was expecting. they just went on a little longer than needed but not too long. I really like this type of movie, where the character slowly loses it. I felt uncomfortable, shocked and disgusted, not disgusted and I even cried at the scene about the ice cream story with the father. at that point I’m like WHY IS THIS MOVIE MAKING ME CRY?! it was really a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I am not sure if I would recommend this to somebody personally, but I really enjoyed it for what it was.

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A bottomless depth of intentional emptiness

Punk nihilism offset by pure, unfiltered anger, The Youth Killer becomes all the more bleak once you learn the events surrounding it were true, a volatile outburst of teenage desire and frustration, unwilling to be tamed by the people supporting them. The only other film directed by Kazuhiko Hasegawa, The Youth Killer offers a vastly different experience to that of The Man Who Stole the Sun, chronicling the complete collapse of a young man's life in two highly traumatic, chaotic days of murder and madness. The direction and photography capture the suffocating, hellish setting its protagonists inhabit, most fittingly in a film that on occasion, and considering the large parts taking place in single locations with only two actors, points intently towards a stage play. The editing does induce the whole thing with a sense of speed, but the truth is, that the film lags significantly, with certain scenes, especially the exploitation / erotic elements that are there mostly for titillation, overstaying their welcome. There's an unwavering faith in the central performances, a faith that borders on the indulgent though ultimately they do pay off, a lot of the acting is very laconic but it weirdly works with everyone in a heightened distressed state, it adds a great amount of grim reality to the film. Coupled with an upbeat, deranged and nightmarishly unfitting yet extremely catchy Godiego score, The Youth Killer is a difficult watch at times but one with such an integral and fascinating radicalism it's hard to look away from, beautifully shot but sinks into the bottomless depth of intentional emptiness all too easily.

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