Highly Overrated But Still Good

disgusting, overrated, pointless

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Three hoodlums invade a farmhouse that belongs to a teenaged girl and her invalid grandfather. They get more than they bargained for.This is a very bad film. "Axe" is more well known that it remotely deserves to be, simply because it got caught up in the UK "video nasties" scare when it came out on home video. Most of the film is very slow and most of it is horribly photographed. The continuity is awful, natural sunlight seems to come and go randomly, along with what time of day it is. The editing tries to put together footage shot out of context and expects us to believe theres a method behind the erratic stitching together of what was presumably the best available shots that made it into the can...but it fails to result in an enjoyable viewing experience.The music is terrible, consisting of bone-rattling, electronic droning, and irritating piano doodling. Axe does deliver some gore for sure, but it's not very effective. There seems to be an in-joke in the movie about the "red stuff", with ketchup and tomato soup taking up screen time as well as actual human blood. On the plus side, the acting actually isn't too bad, and it's barely over an hour long, so you don't have to waste too much time on it. A creditable video nasty this ain't.

Weird psycho-drama regarding a trio of killers, in suit and tie, who flee a city after pummeling someone to death(..the victim's gay lover takes a dive out a 12 story window to escape them!)barging in on a teenager and her senile grandfather, hiding out in their farmhouse, intruders demanding food and shelter. What the these three don't expect is that pretty Lisa doesn't hesitate in using a chopping ax to defend herself. Meanwhile, the grandfather, lost to the world around him, remains comatose, staring blankly, as the men offer danger to his granddaughter.At a mere 61 minutes, you'd think a film with a synopsis as this would be over-the-top and gratuitous, but director / writer Frederick R Friedel adopts a more minimalist approach instead and both the performances and mood are very low-key. Most of the characters(..what few there are)are rather vacuous, empty vessels and the film presents them all as outsiders from society, misfits "hiding away" from civilization. The score uses a lot of drum beats and tambourine, along with a rather depressing music box tune and some chilling piano chords..like many low budget movies during the 70's, the score has moments where it's very eerie, while other times it can be a bit overbearing due to an overuse. Despite the graphic nature of the titular weapon used by Lisa to escape two attempts at rape by her captors, there is very little violence shown on screen, I'm guessing due to little budget. The film looks like it cost 10 bucks, with limited locations, and rather claustrophobic story staging most of the action within the farmhouse. There's more dependency on film blood while the blunt blows of the ax is shot off-screen. Leslie Lee never breaks, as Lisa, from a look of other aloofness, seemingly off in another world. Perhaps her mundane existence and watching as her grandfather left her emotionally(..just a human shell, rotting away day by day) not to mention having no other family members, has created the person she is. Jack Cannon as ringleader Steele, plays him rather antagonistic, at times quite calm, with outbursts showing the kind of monster he truly is(..a little eccentric touch shows Steele cutting his finger nails before commencing to kill the fellow at the opening, and his toe nails the night they besiege Lisa's house). Ray Green, as tubby cigar-smoking Lomax, is about as depraved as Steele is, while Friedel(..the director of the movie), as Billy, seems to be a reasonable enough chap, along for the ride..Billy didn't partake in the clubbing of the victim, and openly chastises them for killing the man. But, even when they provoke and attempt to harm others(..like a supermarket check-out girl), they're more restrained than what you might see in other films concerning murderous bastards who enjoy hurting innocent people. While nothing exactly extraordinary, Axe might appeal to those who enjoy low-budget oddities..I imagine this would be perfect material for a drive-in double bill. The story itself is simple enough and doesn't waste time..the history of it's production might account for why this is the case. Axe is another representative of an era(..the glorious 70's) where film-making was a possibility for quite a many folks. I think the most memorable aspect of the film is the central character, Lisa, because Leslie Lee paints a haunting figure, a young woman without much of a future, who seems to be merely existing, her only purpose as caregiver.

Strange, even as short 'Axe' was (running time barely just past an hour) the movie seemed so long. Some scenes were drawn so far out and even the opening and closing credits were all but on "pause." Then, as if the director/actor realized this, he jumps some scenes hilariously from one character/object to another at light speed. And speaking of jerking cameras, to prove there was little to zero budget, every time an action or horror scene was to happen, the camera would blink away. Case in point, one of the most hilarious scenes was a man jumping out of a window 10 or so stories (get this, to avoid death) and you not only can't see him jumping, you simply hear glass and a character looking behind drawn shades. Clearly, this was just another typical 70s horror, no budget revenge/bad guys getting what they deserve flick, a la 'Last House on the Left.' The title escapes me, because the heroine uses an axe (again off screen) but also uses many other devices. I suppose it was just to draw the same 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' audience. Three men who kill another man while watching, I guess, was his partner plunge to his death, try and secure safety in a farm house occupied by a paralyzed grandfather and his granddaughter. They apparently pose a deep threat to the twosome, yet no attempts at escape entail. When one tries to rape her, she goes savage and offs him. It doesn't stop there. Blah, blah, nothing new, even back then. Slightly creepy in closing, but again, this hour-long movie seems like three hours. Not even recommended for revenge/torture/rape victim rights group movie lovers.

I'm still wondering why "Axe (a.k.a. Lisa, Lisa)" was one of the notorious video nasty's in the 80's. It really doesn't have the quality or the shocking moments that made comparable movies like "Last house on the Left" and "I Spit on your Grave" so infamous and instant classics. The story is rather dull with almost no action and the characters are very stereotypical. The most strange thing is that there appear to be two different versions: the cut and the uncut one. I'm sure I saw the uncut version, but I'm wondering what in the hell had to be cut out for the "R-rated" version. There's no gore, just some blood which was rather fake, red paint that was way to bright. The movie clocks off at 68 (!!) minutes, but that's o.k: I guess you couldn't stretch this simple story any longer. Worth a look only for the 70's and early 80's mood, that's done well but no classic in my book.