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Film: Manhattan Zodiac '77
Year: 2023
Director: Hedwig Schreck
Writers: Hedwig Schreck
Starring: Anja Belle, Anita Berger and Brigitt Janssen
Review:
This is a movie that I got the chance to check out this as a screener thanks to Zahliia Miiller from Astra United Films. I'll be honest, the title intrigued me. I figured out that this was horror and that it took place in New York City, as well as doing its festival rounds making this a 2024 release as well. Other than that, I came into this one blind.
Synopsis: a weary, alcoholic New York police detective hunts a sex-obsessed psycho who commits a series of gruesome murders in and around Times Square. Two young women sharing a nearby rundown hotel room become his next intended victims.
We start this off by getting a warning about what we’ll see and then starting off with the grindhouse 'Feature Presentation’ logo. I'll admit, this made me smile as I'm a sucker for the era that this is paying homage to.
It is from here that it sets up that NYC is a dangerous city with multiple murders daily. We then see a woman being followed as she walks down the street. She is stabbed to death. What we'll learn is that this killer is dubbed the Manhattan Zodiac (Henri Stuart).
The latest victim is found by a homeless man as he looks in a dumpster. There is a decomposing skull. The detective in charge is Stryker (Jürgen Raffner) and this case is weighing on him. There isn't much to go on so that adds to the stress.
We then get introduced to Emily (Anja Belle) as she arrives in New York. She is staying with Eva (Greta Krauss) who has a hotel room that she lives in. Emily is here to get away from their small hometown. She is also pregnant and came here to get an abortion. This is a heavy decision that she might not be ready to make.
The movie then gives us insight into our killer and why he is the way that he is. He had an abusive mother. He is violent with the women that he kills. He also likes to toy the police by sending a special gift to Stryker, much like the real Zodiac Killer.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start then is that this has a runtime of less than an hour. That intrigued me while also bringing concern. I was wondering how well they would be able to build characters as well as flesh out a solid story. That goes by the wayside a bit. Instead, this is more about showing how well they can simulate 70s NYC and showcase this killer.
I do want to say that I didn't hate this though. My opening thoughts bring up issues that I had, but I wanted to say that the best part is the cinematography. There is so much grain due to being shot on Super 8 film stock. That was something that made me smile since it is in line with the opening. I also read up a bit while doing this review that this was filmed in rural Australia as a 'mock' German/Euro lost horror film from the 1970s. Members of the crew are using pseudonyms and this even has bad dubbing. The text is also in German with English subtitles. I would have liked them to do a bit more with the story, but as a paying homage and being done as a 'lost' film is fun.
Something else I noticed is that they're paying homage to other movies that came before it. There is something that happened that was borrowed from My Bloody Valentine. That was a good choice. This also seems to borrow heavily from Maniac. Zodiac has a mother who traumatized him so badly that as an adult, he kills now. This also has shades of Henry Lee Lucas or the variation we got in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. I did like including that characterization.
Let me shift this to the acting. I thought that Belle was good as Emily. She is giving the most character development outside of Zodiac. I thought her and Eva were solid together since they become the target from the synopsis. Krauss was fine as the friend. I thought that Helmut Pratt and Raffner are solid as police officers. The latter is the lead there as we see this case weighing on him. Stuart works as our killer. They develop him the most, but that is done in a repetitive way. I'd also say that Anita Berger, Brigitt Janssen and Ilse Roth work as the victims. The acting here is fine. The bigger issues come from lacking fleshing them out with the writing.
I'll then finish this out with filmmaking. I've already said that I liked how they 'created' NYC and using Super 8 helped there. The cinematography does good things. I'd also saying the framing does as well. The killings we get to see have good blood. They cut away to hide things and leave it up to our imagination. I appreciated that. I'd say that this is also edited well. My biggest issue here is that we don't develop the story or the characters enough for this to fully work. It is nice though as something paying homage to films of the past like this. I'll drop here that the soundtrack fit what was needed. I loved that we're hearing sirens in the background for most of the movie. That fits this era of NYC.
In conclusion, I think there are good things done here. Using low grade stock is one to get that grain that makes me love grindhouse film of the past. I thought that paying homage there as well with things that they do works. I'll credit the actors for fitting their characters. Even the blood, cinematography and framing were solid. My problem is that I needed a bit more story or characters for this to fully work. I'd recommend it though to those that love this era of cinema or this low budget style of film, as I think they capture that heart well.
My Rating: 5 out of 10