Marcel Walz’s vulgar Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Hills Have Eyes homage, Brute 1976, is a degenerate triumph of stunning visuals and very few boundaries.
A group of disgustingly attractive creatives travel deep into the desert for a fashion shoot promoting the rise of racial harmony. However, they unearth a cult of masked murderers with a far less peaceful way of addressing social change in the mid-1970s. Who will survive, and what will be left of their genitals?
The shoot for Brute 1976 must have been a total blast, and the camaraderie and chemistry have bled into the fabric of this fabulous film. The result is an instant chainsaw cult classic full of retrograde nastiness and rag-tag satirical pot-shots.
Early in the film, we are treated to a Tarantino foot fetish backwash, with director Marcel Waltz engaging in a cultural transaction with the audience. He continues relentlessly down this path, utilising every conceivable genre staple to hold his movie together. The result is overwhelmingly derivative but immensely entertaining.
Sometimes blending influences, other times subverting them, Brute 1976 is so selfishly indulgent that it generates a new ecosystem of referential cinema where fresh perspectives, unique symbolism and iconic imagery begin to blossom. Like all true cult flicks, it feels almost accidental.
Deploying the extreme low-angle approach of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) in the amazing desert locations and claustrophobic mine tunnels works wonders here. The photogenic cast, flamboyant costumes and mask designs, and intense bursts of lens flare sweeten the deal. Brute 1976 would have looked genuinely sumptuous on the B-movie screens of the dying American Drive-in.
As mentioned, the cast look stunning as they inhabit their 70s slasher flick personas with style and originality.
Dazelle Yvette is mesmerising as the creepy cult leader with a comfort bear, Mamma Birdy, particularly her meditations on survival, both personal and universal. The actress manages to navigate empathy through the deadly traps of madness. Adriane McLean‘s Roxy is a charismatic bundle of solicitude, humility and guts that imbues the film with grace and gravitas. Jed Rowen is astonishing as Daisy, the demented diva, who spends the entire movie in a John Waters wet dream decked out in a garish kimono, chandelier earrings for the ages and a fresh titty vest.
Insane is a descriptor all too readily applied, but we are talking Island of Death levels of consistent weirdness and shock here. Brute 1976 is the kind of animal that brings a hand drill instead of a hand job to a gloryhole, an intestinal goading to a patriot porn montage, and Pterodactyl wings and stabbings to a church service.
Brute 1976 isn’t just a gushing love letter to Hooper and Craven; it’s a lurid piss-stained postcard direct from the fucked up fringes of independent cinema, and I loved every sordid sun-scorched second of it.
★★★★★
Released on streaming platforms Prime Video , Apple TV, GooglePlay/YouTube, Tubi, Pluto in UK 3rd May 2026/ Dazelle Yvette, Sarah French, Adriane McLean, Jed Rowen, Gigi Gustin / Dir: Marcel Walz / Cinephobia Releasing / 18
This is a repost of our 2025 review | original review
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