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The Ultimate Toby Radloff Fan Page
KILLER NERD (1991) Starring Toby Radloff, Heidi Lohr Directed by Mark Steven Bosko & Wayne A. Harold Unrated, 90 minutes.
Available on VHS If SAVED BY THE BELL's Screech was pushed too far after watching a lot of FRIDAY THE 13th movies, his geeky, blood-soaked rage would probably resemble the carnage in KILLER NERD. A creamy blend of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (with a male doing the spitting) and PSYCHO, it's a no-budget horror revenge action musical comedy. All right, scratch the last two. Actually unscratch the comedy part; this movie is so far gone into weirdsville it IS funny.
Our protagonist dweeb is Harold Kunkle (Radloff). He is a nice enough spaz, except he gets picked on by bullies and forgotten by girls. It's tough that the guy's age is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 and he's getting picked on by biker-jacket wearing street toughs who roam the streets of Kunkle's town, seemingly earning a living by beating the tar out of men with pocket protectors. Nice work if you can get it.
When I tell you that the title is not ironic in any sense (He's not a really cool, or "killer," nerd), you know what is going to happen. Harold gets fed up and goes on a rampage, assuming that removing people's flesh in inventive ways will somehow restore the dignity he has lost. A logical man would probably just get some therapy, move to a new town, or pretend to be a hunk on the Internet. But KILLER NERD is anything but logical.
This film has all the trappings of the Ugly movie genre. It's shot on VHS, lit with what appears to be a handful of matches (most of them soggy), filled with continuity errors, and directed like a funeral. My favorite goof comes while Harold is watching a late-night movie; before a commercial the announcer says he's watching "Ty-Bor;" but when they return the movie has become "Ty-Bar" which sounds like it should star Billy Blanks. Sometimes the editing is so poor that the cuts come seconds before the dialogue is read. Miniature eternities roll by as the performers stare off into space, until finally, emotionlessly, they reply "Yeah. Let's go." It's like a movie with a learning disability.
These flaws work in the movie's favor. If KILLER NERD had been well-shot and stylishly directed, the visuals would not have meshed with tremendous dialogue like "Roses are red, violets are placid. You screwed me over, here's a face full of acid!" and "Step right up! You're the next contestant on the cavalcade of death! Nerd! Nerd! Nerd! Nerd! Nerd! Nerd! Nerd!" And a "classy" movie would not have been able to put together a soundtrack this strong, with songs like "Thrashasaurus Rex" "Slave to the Blade" and "Axemaster" by bands like Silent Knight, Indian Rope Burn, and Axemaster.
As the murderous spaz, Radloff plays the early scenes like a corpse and the later scenes like the corpse in WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S. His forced, staccato laughter, used to suggest the character's insanity, is already haunting my dreams. The fact that he took the role was proof enough for me that the guy was nuts; he should have just stopped right there. The Nerd could have been a computer programmer or a movie reviewer, but instead he chose to kill the people who annoyed him. Please everyone, don't fall into the same trap as KILLER NERD. It's not worth it. Trust me; you don't want your exploits shown in video to the sound of Thrashasaurus Rex. Just re-adjust your pocket protector and take a deep breath. It'll work out fine in the end.
IF YOU LIKED KILLER NERD, CHECK OUT: BRIDE OF KILLER NERD (1992). Hard to get a mate when you're killing every person you know, but Killer Nerd finds a way!
Review by www.moviepoopshoot.com