Nutbag – 2000 – Nick Palumbo’s first feature

When I first saw Nick Palumbo’s Murder-Set-Pieces a few years ago I noticed that Nutbag was referenced. I knew that it was an earlier film by the director but not much more. There was probably a period when I searched for it without finding it. I can’t really remember. However, the other day I stumbled over it more or less for free. I paid a few cents for it but that was more symbolic than affecting on my economy. Nutbag was finally in my hands.

I expected something really gory and gruesome. In fact I welcomed it. What I wanted to see was a real horrifying flick with lots of blood and preferably lots of sadistic violence. The way Nutbag is referenced in Murder-Set-Pieces led me to believe that this was something out of the ordinary. And if you’ve seen Murder-Set-Pieces you kind of use that as a reference of what to expect.

Nutbag was Nick Palumbo’s first film though and I guess he had a few things to learn. It’s not bad in any way really, but it takes a special mood to enjoy it. Most of the movie takes place with the same character, the serial killer. We get to follow his inner monologue where he condemns more or less all women as whores. And… kills them. Sounds promising? Well, I would have preferred a little better acting. Some of the women are in it just to show off some tits it seems. There is even some shaved pussy in one scene. So there’s sex to be sure. Not real intercourse of course but there are full frontal nudity.

When I read the director’s notes included in the extra material I learned that at least one of the women in Nutbag was a porn star. That figures. But the paradox is that this woman (whose name slips my mind) is the best actress by far. I also learned that the special effects makeup artist later went on to a big career in TV production. I can’t find this info on IMDb but I learned that Fred Vogel (of August Underground, Toe Tag fame) also is involved in the special effects. That confused me since my opinion is that the effects are more or less blood splashed over the girls and the serial killer. But on the other hand. Simple blood might be the hardest challenge of all? What do I know?

Nutbag was worth what I paid for it, which was almost nothing. It’s cool to have it in the collection and to finally have seen it. But is it good? is it scary? naw…