Zipperface (1992)

Directed by Mansour Pourmand [Other horror films: N/A]

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting much from Zipperface. It’s not just the 3.3/10 this currently sports on IMDb – ever since I first heard of this movie back in late 2009/early 2010, I was under the impression it wasn’t good. I’ve still wanted to see it, though, ever since I first heard about it, but I didn’t expect anything particularly great. Like Heavy Metal Massacre, I wanted to see it, but knew, in my heart, it wouldn’t be worth it.

I was wrong – Zipperface is worth it.

True, the movie’s not exactly stellar, but based on what I was thinking coming in, it did way over-exceed my expectations. The plot – about a guy in BDSM leather stalking and killing prostitutes while the police investigate the murders – isn’t exactly Earth-shattering, and the effects could have used some work, but they struck gold with the characters.

Naturally, it’s important to not overstate this, so I want to say that the movie has it’s problems. Some of the dialogue and acting is subpar, and perhaps some of the finale is silly, but I also think it’s important to be honest, and honestly, I had a hell of a lot of fun with this.

You have to understand where I was coming from, though. I knew this was an early 1990’s slasher, but I didn’t know it was a slasher in which the killer was a character known to us. I thought it was going to go the Slumber Party Massacre or Final Exam route, and have a completely random killer. In this movie, however, the identity of the killer is a mystery, and boy howdy, we’re given a lot of suspects.

It could be a police officer (Richard Vidan), side-lined to desk duty after his performance slips. It could be the mayor’s PR assistant (Timothy D. Lechner), who has some surprises up his sleeve. It could be a photographer (Jonathan Mandell) who burned pictures after the police questioned him, or a shifty religious figure (Christopher Dakin), or the mayor’s husband (Bruce Brown), or hell, the mayor herself (Trisha Melynkov), though admittedly, that would have been a stretch.

The point is, we’re given a lot of suspects, and I’ll be honest, while I thought I knew who the killer was, I wasn’t confident, which was wise, as I was incorrect. Naturally, we’re given a lot of red herrings, each of them pointing to a specific person, and just as I love that type of thing in gialli, I loved it here, and they did it well. I know this film had a lower budget, but props to the story.

Props too to the performances. Some were shaky, sure, but like I said, I had a lot of fun watching this one, and I suspect that they had a lot of fun making it. Dona Adams (in her sole role) made for a fair lead. She had some cringy dialogue (“I can’t stand women being referred to as chicks, broads, or babes!”), but she was generally quite good. David Clover was better – at first, I thought he’d be one of those misogynist cops who’d be pissed to be partnered with a woman, but he grows to be a really solid, supportive, and nice guy.

As the mayor, Trisha Melynkov is as aggravating as mayors can be in movies like this, but there’s also more to her. Richard Vidan (Scarecrows, Zombie Infection) cracked me up as an obviously sexist cop with a chip on his shoulder. Timothy D. Lechner had a few funny scenes, Laureen E. Clair and Jillian Ross had some suspenseful moments, and Bruce Brown, who didn’t do that much, made an impression at times too. Oh, and Jonathan Mandell was a sensual brah.

Speaking of which, there was a scene in which Mandell’s character, who happens to be a photographer, was seducing the lead, police detective Ryder (played by Dona Adams) during a photoshoot. And honestly – that scene was great. The photoshoot itself was a lot a fun (it was nice seeing Adams’ character actually having fun), and the music playing was quite nice. I went into that scene cringing, but I ended up appreciating it.

I also appreciated a scene in which two prostitutes go out to a John, only to run amok of the killer. It was played in a way that most people would suspect Zipperface’s arrival, but it still held some quality suspense early on. It ended with a somewhat poor decapitation, but honestly, I’ve seen far worse decapitations in my time, so I don’t think it was a big issue.

Aside from the decapitation, I don’t think many scenes here were necessarily memorable. Someone got stabbed in the back with a machete, someone got strangled, someone got run over by a car, and someone got suffocated with a whip (related, someone got whipped by, well, a whip, and it didn’t draw blood, so I was impressed) – none of these scenes were great, but I think the fact that none were terrible, and none detracted from the film, is good in it’s own way.

I was surprised by Zipperface. Slashers were few and far between in the early 1990’s, and I really wasn’t expecting much from this, but I had a pretty solid time with it. Most people would likely see it as below average (though I have to admit, that average rating of a 3.3/10 on IMDb hurts me physically, nor do I remotely understand it), but I’m not most people. It may be a movie that doesn’t work for many; I can say, however, that it worked its magic on me.

7.5/10