''Axe'' is a 1974 American
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
written and directed by Frederick R. Friedel and starring Leslie Lee. Its plot follows a trio of criminals who lodge at a rural farmhouse where a teenage girl resides with her disabled grandfather. After one of the men attempt to rape her, she enacts revenge.
Originally titled ''Lisa, Lisa'', the film is one of the famous "
video nasties
Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that w ...
" that was banned in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s.
Plot
A group of three
mob
Mob or MOB may refer to:
Behavioral phenomena
* Crowd
* Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication
Crime and law enforcement
* American Mafia, also known as the Mob
* Irish Mob, a US crimin ...
stersSteele, Lomax, and Billyenter a hotel room and await Aubrey, a local man who owes them money. Aubrey arrives with his male lover shortly after, and Lomax shoves a burning cigar down his throat before beating him to death. Aubrey's lover leaps to his death from the 12th-floor window. Afterward, Steele, Lomax, and Billy drive through the countryside. Billy is remorseful for their crime, while Steele and Lomax are indifferent. Steele and Lomax relentlessly terrorize a female clerk, tearing off her blouse before firing a gun above her head and pouring
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
on her during a stop at a grocery store.
The next day, the three men seek lodging at a remote farmhouse where an impassive young woman, Lisa, lives a solitary existence with her disabled grandfather. She is notably evasive toward the men but agrees to allow them to spend the night when they claim that Billy has fallen ill. When the police arrive searching for the men, Lomax and Steele threaten Lisa with a gun, and she wards the officers away, assuring them she has not seen the criminals. At dinner, Lisa serves the three men a chicken she slaughtered that morning. While the men eat, Lisa attempts to
cut herself in the upstairs bathroom but is interrupted by Billy, who knocks on the door.
Lomax attempts to
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
Lisa while she sleeps in the middle of the night, but she stops the assault by slashing his neck with a straight razor, killing him. She drags his body to the bathtub and dismembers it with a hatchet. She stuffs Lomax's dismembered body parts into a steamer trunk. The following morning, Billy helps her carry the trunk into the attic, unaware of its contents. When he discovers blood dripping out of it, he opens the lid to find Lomax's body inside. Lisa lies and claims that Steele killed him.
Billy and Lisa go into the woods to talk about the incident away from Steele. She calmly unveils a straight razor, but Billy takes it from her hand, presuming she passed it over to him to arm himself against Steele. Lisa makes Steele a sandwich in the kitchen upon returning to the house. He comments on her physical beauty, to which she does not respond, which enrages him. Steele drags Lisa upstairs to the parlor where her grandfather is watching television, and the two scuffle. She manages to grab a hatchet near the fireplace and kills him with it.
When Billy returns, he finds Steele missing; Lisa claims he was gone when she returned. Lisa prepares
tomato soup
Tomato soup is a soup with tomatoes as the primary ingredient. It can be served hot or cold, and may be made in a variety of ways. It may be smooth in texture, and there are also recipes that include chunks of tomato, cream, chicken or vegetabl ...
for Billy and her grandfather in the upstairs parlor. While eating the soup, Billy finds Steele's ring inside his bowl. He watches in horror as Steele's body dislodges from the chimney flue and tumbles out of the fireplace. Lisa pays no attention, quietly humming while feeding her grandfather. Billy flees in horror and runs outside, where he is shot to death by the police, searching for the trio.
Cast
Production
Inspiration
Writer-director Frederick R. Friedel had aspired to make a feature film by age 25, an aspiration fueled by
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
's having directed ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'' (1941) at that age.
[ "I had no pretensions that I was directing ''Citizen Kane''," Friedel recalled, but he had long wanted to make a film, and had been living in ]Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
trying to break into the film business.[ Friedel pitched his idea for a ]horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
to producer J.G. Patterson; at the time, Friedel was entirely inexperienced, having never been on a film set, never cast a film, nor worked in a film production. He credited Paterson as "setting everything in motion" in terms of getting the production started.
Filming
''Axe'' was shot over a period of nine days in the winter of 1974. It was shot on 35 mm film 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film
35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on f ...
stock, largely consisting of short-end film that had been returned to the Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
distributor, which was cheaper than new rolls of film.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place on location in a farmhouse outside Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
on a budget of US$25,000. The production paid a total of $25 to shoot in the house for around three days, and much of the decorations and dressings inside were already present. The Charlotte area was chosen by Friedel due to the low productions costs; J.G. Patterson, the film's producer had used the area for past films he had produced because of this. The film's opening sequence was shot on location at the Hotel Charlotte.
Casting
Ray Green portrayed Lomax, the leader of the gang, while Jack Cannon portrayed Steele, one of Lomax's henchmen. Director Friedel cast himself in the role of Billy, the guilt-ridden third member of the gang, primarily to help alleviate the production cost of hiring another actor. Frank Jones, who appears as Aubrey, was in fact a local regional film distributor. Carol Miller appears as the storewoman who is terrorized by the gang, and was cast because Friedel felt she possessed a natural shyness.
Leslie Lee, who portrayed the withdrawn teenage Lisa, was actually 23 years old at the time of filming.[ According to Friedel, Lee had claimed to have done modeling prior to auditioning for the role, and he felt she embodied "a lot of the feeling" he envisioned for the character. "The key sometimes is just casting people who embody the character, and not somebody who has to act itand I think, walking into the room, she really was Lisa." A myth circulated that Lee died after the production, which was false; according to Friedel, as of 2015, Lee was alive and operated a diving boat in ]Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...
, Mexico, with her husband. As Lisa's grandfather, Douglas Powers was cast by Friedel due to his "evocative" face, as his character's facial expressions would serve as his only form of communication.
Post-production
Friedel recalled that the production sought to extend individual scenes "by any means possible" to give the film a longer running time, which included the extended opening and closing credits sequences. Some dubbing
Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...
was completed in post-production, particularly for the scenes in the car, as the crew had no means of capturing sound in a moving vehicle.
Release
Theatrical distribution
''Axe'' was originally released under the title ''Lisa, Lisa'', under which it screened in Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...
, beginning December 9, 1974.[ It was re-released four years later in January 1978 under the title ''Axe'', premiering in ]Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. Friedel did not favor the title as he felt it lacked the subtlety, "surprise, and irony" of ''Lisa, Lisa''; executive Harry Novak of Boxoffice International Pictures
Boxoffice International Pictures, Inc. was a film distributor founded in 1950. The company was owned by Harry Novak, who later used the alternate name Harry Novak Productions. It ceased operations in 1977.
Films
References
Notes
:1.Titles ...
, chose to release the film in 1978 as ''Axe'' due to it being a more sensationalistic title.
Critical response
Linda Gross of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' praised the film's "angst-ridden" score and cinematography, which she felt "conveys rural isolation and sterility well." However, Gross was critical of the film's featuring a young girl committing violent acts, deeming the film ultimately exploitative and adding that its "slow pace and style emphasize sensationalism and ugliness."[ ] ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' deemed the film "a fascinating but totally uncommercial film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
exercise in the horror genre."
Sean Leonard from ''HorrorNews.net'' gave the film a mixed review, writing, "I have a hard time coming to an opinion on a film like this. At one point, I certainly won’t say it’s horrible, as it does have enough good moments to raise it above being classified as a waste of time."
Justin Kerswell from ''Hysteria Lives!'' awarded the film a negative 1.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "amaturish", and "mind numbingly dull". In his review, Kerswell criticized the film's plot, pacing, and soundtrack.
Frank Lovece of ''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' gave the film three out of four stars, calling it "a well-photographed, refreshingly naturalistic drama of almost mythic retribution and victimization. ..The psychological narrative can be slack, and the acting and technical aspects are uneven. But overall, the film makes you wish Friedel had directed more pictures."
Home media
The film was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
by Image Entertainment
RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...
on September 25, 2001.[ In 2006, it was released by ILC Prime on March 27, April 10, and October 9. It was later released by 4Digital Media on October 20, 2008. The film was released for the first time on ]Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
by Severin on December 15, 2015 as a double-feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera h ...
alongside Friedel's ''Kidnapped Coed''. The double-feature was also released on DVD that same day.
References
Works cited
*
*
External links
*
*
* {{Rotten tomatoes, axe_1977, Axe
1974 films
1970s thriller films
1974 horror films
American independent films
1970s English-language films
American exploitation films
American horror thriller films
American serial killer films
Films set on farms
Films set in North Carolina
Films shot in North Carolina
LGBT-related horror films
American rape and revenge films
Southern Gothic films
Video nasties
1974 LGBT-related films
1974 independent films
1970s American films