A Night to Dismember (1983)

"I will never forget the sight that met my eyes." - Det. O'Malley

A troubled family is plagued with murder and insanity.
Starring: Samantha Fox, Diane Cummins, William Szarka, Saul Meth, William Longo

Link to IMDB

Exhibit #6 from the Bottom of the Barrel is one of the oddest things I have ever seen!

Vicki

Detective O'Malley, our narrator, recounts the troubled past of the Kent family. The Kent's have had a history of bloody murder and insanity in their family, which has left many of them dead in recent years. In hopes of ending the madness the remaining Kents sent their violent daughter Vicki to an asylum for treatment, but now she is returning home, apparently cured of her insanity.

Vicki's siblings, Billy and Mary, aren't too keen on having their weird sister back home, and maybe they're on to something because Vicki still seems rather troubled despite her best efforts at being normal again.
Billy and Mary decide to start killing people and frame it on Vicki so that she'll be sent back to the asylum, but just as there devious plan gets going someone else starts killing off the remaining Kents!



Detective O'Malley gets directly involved as he tries to solve the murders, but there's madness in the Kent family that I don't think anyone can understand or restrain, including the filmmakers themselves or anyone in the audience!

This movie is so completely disjointed and incomprehensible that it left me rather speechless. It's like watching a dream within a dream, with each scene bumping into each other like soggy celluloid rats running around in your head.

Billy                                  Mary                               Det. O'Malley

It would almost be boring if it wasn't a constant mind-fuck of "What!?" The surreal presentation is likely a serendipitous accident, because nothing here feels planned or calculated.
In fact, large parts of the film negative got destroyed during production, and what remained was then pieced together with newer footage to create the finished movie. Well, that explains some things.

One of the most notable aspects is the constant use of really weird narration. O'Malley narrates almost everything we see instead of there being traditional dialog, and when the characters do speak it's usually the narrator doing their voices! It's totally bonkers!

What adds to the bizarre quality is that the entire movie is dubbed. I don't just mean the small amounts of dialog, every noise was added in post. Add that to the unorthodox editing and difficult to comprehend plot, and you get a movie that feels like it's about to literally fly apart.
There's also a surprising amount of bloody axe murdering here, and although none of it looks realistic (or even coherent) it does create some creepy vibes that unexpectedly work.

?????

Regardless of its troubled production (or should I say because of it,) A Night to Dismember is the type of curious disaster that really needs to be seen to be believed, but you'll be left with many questions, the foremost being 'What the hell did I just watch!?'


Be sure not to miss:
- What's for dinner? Meat and cheese. Cutlery is optional.
- The music rarely fits with what's happening, but there are some moments of accidental genius.
- O'Malley's narration is probably worth the ticket price alone.

Internet review:
"This is undoubtedly one of the worst motion pictures made. But I found enough enjoyment to watch it
multiple times. - sexdwarf

Should I watch it?
Only for the brave.

Where can I find it?
Here on YouTube.

A Night to Dismember gets... (in its own special way)