Chaos is ugly, nihilistic and cruel a film I regret having seen, wrote Roger Ebert. It is an exercise in heartless cruelty and it ends with careless brutality. Its also a shameless rip-off of The Last House On The Left (itself inspired by Bergmans The Virgin Spring), but director David The Demon DeFalco is no Wes Craven, just a former wrestler out to shock people. Unaware that even a low-rent slasher movie needs suspense and narrative tension, DeFalco simply dwells on the sadism as escaped convict Chaos (Kevin Gage) stabs a girl to death and violates her corpse. If you need proof that DeFalco may have taken one blow too many to the head, check out the DVD extra Inside The Coroners Office where, surrounded by actual corpses, he starts calling out Roger Ebert. THIS is reality, DeFalco says. This is what Chaos is all about. The horrific part of life, the part that you dont see in movies this is MY reality, Roger Ebert.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
