Movie Review: 3 ON A MEATHOOK

After years of hearing about this film, I was finally able to track down a DVD copy. Made in 1972, 3 ON A MEATHOOK was writer/director William Girdler's answer/homage to Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO. While never garnering the attention of Hitchcock's film, it managed to turn itself into a nice, underground, cult-classic type film. The story is simple, 4 girls on a trip have car trouble and are stranded on the road when Billy shows up and offers to take them back home to spend the night at his farm, where he lives with his "pa" (His mom died years ago). Little do they know that Billy has a problem with girls, and unlike most regular guys that might just get sweaty palms or stutter their words when they are around pretty girls, Billy's reaction is far worse and usually ends up with someone dead. Or is Billy the killer afterall? Hmmm...now that I think about it, Billy's dad is known around the county for his wonderful smoked sausage..yet I never saw any actual animals on the farm..interesting.
The movie starts off strong, sets a good mood with its grainy picture and sound..it does go flat in the middle section...too long of a romantic set up between Billy and one of the girls...we get it, you are getting attached to her so it will be that much worse when she winds up dead in the end...geez! Anyway, once you make it through the long, drawn out middle part, the end comes along and makes all the boring middle part worth it. SPOILER ALERT-- apparently Billy is not the killer...turns out Billy's pa is killing off the girls and just telling Billy he is doing it and makes Billy believe him. And hey, is that Billy's mom that escapes out of hiding! Dang, Pa...you've been keeping quite some secrets out in your barn!!

Click the link below to check out the trailer (once page loads, you have to click on the title screen shot on the right for the video to play)

VideoDetective.com - Three On A Meathook Preview