Northville Cemetery Massacre (1976) User Reviews

Lives Up To It's Title

[Flixer1957 · 6/10 · 29 September 2004]

**May Contain Spoilers**

Other writers have more than adequately described the plot of this ultraviolent biker vs. redneck opus so I'll get straight to the editorializing. Picture, if you will, a cross between THE HUNTING PARTY and/or THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME with Harleys thrown in, and you'll get an idea of what we're dealing with here. The proceedings are acted out by a number of players who were one-hit wonders with this picture and that's a shame; most of them are good enough that I'd like to see more of them. There's occasional comedy such as a Patton parody and the sight of bikers toking up in jail--you'd think the cops would have searched them for dope but what do I know? There's enough action throughout to keep this flick lively but most of the mayhem is concentrated at the end and it's here that the movie lives up to it's title. The long, agonizing final gun battle is as frustrating as it is bloody; most of the bikers couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, even if they were inside the barn. I rented this many times from a video store down the road, then bought it outright when the store folded and sold its stock. Start searching the auction sites for your copy today.

Interesting and Bloody Cult Film

[wolverines1012 · 6/10 · 18 January 2007]

The DVD came out this Halloween, and I was able to get a copy signed at the 30th Anniversary re-release party in Northville. I hadn't heard about it before, but growing up in the area I was excited for it. It was made almost a decade before I was born so I felt no nostalgia for the time period and the way of life. I did however enjoy seeing what is now a fully-developed town back when it was just farm land.

The quality of the DVD menus and extras are phenomenal. I'm very glad the spent the time and money on creating a quality product. Since I hadn't seen it before, I can't say if the video or sound was remastered. It seemed like there could have been more work done to spruce up the actual film (there are a few jump cuts that seem almost accidental and the audio doesn't always line up with the mouths).

I enjoyed the extreme violence (not something you want to watch while babysitting) and the demonization of the 'pigs'. It certainly speaks of a different time and is rewarding with an interesting combination of action, drama, and comedy. I think I enjoyed most the fact that this was an actual motorcycle club and not actors (for the most part).

In conclusion, this film is never very believable, but is almost always enjoyable. If you are from the area (and not too sensitive to violence, sexuality, and language) definitely pick up a copy. I think this film crosses a few lines (in a good way) and takes you out of your comfort zone. It never really makes you think, but the motorcycle club is well developed as a single character (none of the members really stand out individually) and at times the cinematography is surprisingly good. It's not incredibly well put-together, but for its time and budget, I would consider classifying it as amazing.

Above Average Biker Picture

[bob wolf · 27 July 1999]

This is one of those low-budget biker vs the cops pictures that permeated the early seventies movie scene. Unlike those other titles though this one features some of the most violent scenes I've ever watched.

The story concerns a small town sheriff who savagely rapes the daughter of one of the town's more respected residents. He places the blame on a group of fun-loving bikers just passing through. The sherrif and the father of the girl go on a rampage, slaughtering every biker in sight.

The final stand-off between the sherrif and the father and the remaining bikers inside the town's Northville Cemetery is violent to the extreme. The bloodletting in this scene is on par with the finale scene in The Wild Bunch. The special effects are also amazing, especially for a film with this low a budget.

What I appreciated most about this film is that in the final shoot-out you'll notice that the two men trained in firearm usage, the sherrif and the father, a big game hunter, manage to hit everything they shoot at while the bikers, an untrained bunch, miss everything. It's that kind of realism that I like.

A mexican stand-off between the film's two main characters is never concluded before the film fades to black. We are left to wonder what happens next. I loved that! Imagine if Leone chose not to show what happened next when Eastwood, Van Cleef and Wallach had each other all lined up in that threeway stand-off.

Northville Cemetery Massacre is a fun, violent movie that is definitely not for the squeamish or for children.

Low-budget film-making at its best

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 18 April 2007]

Wherever they go, the members of the motorcycle club known as The Scorpions seem to wind up the target of local law enforcement. They can't even drive their motorcycles down the road without drawing unwanted (and unneeded) attention of the local "pigs". But things escalate during a Scorpions wedding in the middle of the field. A girl is raped in a nearby barn and the police and the girl's parents blame the bikers. A few of the local yahoos, including the real rapist and the girl's father, decide to take matters into their own hands. Regardless of the Scorpions' guilt or innocence, the stage is set for a final showdown.

Northville Cemetery Massacre proves that you don't need a big budget to be effective. On a budget of about $1.58, Northville Cemetery Massacre is able to be an entertaining, thought provoking, and unique experience. This is low-budget film-making at its best. Northville Cemetery Massacre's got more atmosphere than a movie with 100 times the budget (actually, I think the movie's low budget helped to contribute to this). I usually reserve the word "atmosphere" to describe horror movies, but it is more than appropriate here. The movie comes off as gritty, dirty, and very realistic. Most of the cast is made up of the members of a real biker gang from Detroit. These aren't actors. And while it does show negatively in some scenes, overall, the real bikers add a sense of realism you couldn't get from a bunch of Hollywood actors. They dress, talk, look, and act like bikers. The final showdown is very nicely done with action, gunplay, and blood galore. And I thought the special effects looked great. I wouldn't doubt that most all of that $1.58 budget I mentioned went into the final scenes. Finally, another highlight is the score by Mike Nesmith (yeah, that Mike Nesmith). Most similarly budgeted films do not have music this good.

If you're into low-budget 70s exploitation, Northville Cemetery Massacre is one you shouldn't miss.

Bad to the Bone? Not quite

[Coventry · 5/10 · 4 July 2011]

"The Ultimate Biker Flick" … That's what the DVD-cover proudly exclaims, and I more or less tend to agree, although that certainly wasn't my feeling during the first fifteen minutes. The plot introduces the hardcore-to-the-bone Detroit Scorpions. They are what you would call a "nice" biker gang! The Scorpions stop to help elderly folks with flat tires, drive their motorcycles through the car wash, play darts using a Richard Nixon picture and openly smoke weed in their prison cell. They also wear shirts with images of Jesus on them and everyone kisses each other on the lips. Yes, long-bearded men included. Basically The Scorpions are just a bunch of hippies driving motorcycles instead of colorful Volkswagen minivans! I have to admit that, approximately fifteen minutes into the film, I was severely getting worried that this "gem" absolutely wouldn't live up to its reputation or its delightfully morbid title. Fortunately enough – for the sake of cult cinema at least – they pass through a place run by filthy perverted police officers. One of the redneck deputies rapes the daughter of a prominent citizen and puts the blame on the bikers. He's a truly honorable deputy too, by the way, because he himself encourages the father's victim to take the law into his own hands and hunt down the bikers illegally. Now here's a man who deserves to wear a police badge, yeah! When two of the Scorpion bikers are cowardly gunned down outside their clubhouse, the rest of the gang decides to fight back … but against who? "Northville Cemetery Massacre" is truly a delight for tolerant fans of extremely low-budgeted 70's amateur trash! Occasionally during the film, there's a musical narrator who sings about what's going on in the film and the lyrics are highly intellectual, like for example "A friend with weed is a friend, indeed". Furthermore there's the hilarious abuse of exaggeratedly dramatic music, severe synchronization issues, laughable acting and a lot of supportive biker cast members that don't even look tough enough to drive a Vespa. It's also an extremely violent movie, although the violence is not exactly what you would call shocking. There are a lot of bizarre and even downright WTF sequences in "Northville Cemetery Massacre", like the secret meeting between the bikers and an utterly deranged gun collector. The interactions between the hillbilly assailants are too incredible for words, but hey, at least they can aim and shoot a lot better than those sissy bikers! It takes the Scorpions, what … 800 bullets before they finally hit something?!? 90% of the biker gang has been slaughtered before they even have a clue where the shots are coming from! They must be the most worthless gang in history. I bet the real Hell's Angels and Outlaws frequently watch this movie during their club meetings, just to laugh their butts off and to remind themselves how badass they, in fact, really are! In all honesty, this is a really bad film. Similar to "Mad Foxes", but slightly better and less sleazy. But hey, at least it's great fun!

Cut the crap we come for guns ............

[merklekranz · 7/10 · 7 April 2021]

Any movie with an underground bunker built like a World War 2 submarine, has to be seen to be believed. With a periscope coming up in the gun merchants front yard through a Madonna lawn ornament, this is just so cool. The film is built around real bikers, which gives "The Northville Cemetery Massacre" a unique feeling of authenticity. Slow motion blood squibs abound, the biker music soundtrack is totally appropriate, and the acting, while crude, only lends to the film's reality feeling. If you are into "biker films" like "Born Losers", or "The Glory Stompers", this is a must see. If it sounds like I am pounding the table for "The Northville Cemetery Massacre", I am indeed. MERK.

OK, Not great

[arfdawg-1 · 3/10 · 23 January 2014]

Mayhem starts when a gang of bikers is accused of a sadistic rape in a small town.

The guy who directed this also directed Harry and the Hendersons. It's a very 70s movie. And cheaply made. Lots of voice dubbing. Got a real biker gang in it.

The movie is set up to show that the bikers seem like good guys -- they change a tire for some old couple in the first frame. Then one of the bikers pick up an albino hitchhiker (who i at first thought was a girl!)

It's not a great movie.

Useless Trivia

[delj · 8/10 · 27 January 2005]

I saw The Northville Cemetery Massacre along with Satan's Sadists as part of the monthly Grindhouse dbl feature in Hollywood at the New Beverly Cinema. The director, William Dear, humbly introduced the film and shared some amusing antidotes. Hopefully I am remembering them correctly.

The title of the movie was supposed to be Freedom R.I.P. As was the case with many genre films of the 70's, distributors changed the title without informing the film makers. The print that we saw had the title Wheels Of Death.

The film which was only supposed to take a few weeks to shoot actually wound up taking several years. They would run out of funds and when they had more funds would resume filming. This explains a few continuity issues.

Due to budget limitations, the blanks used in the guns were for revolvers/rifles/ shotguns. No automatic weapons. This explains why the arms dealer only gives the bikers the firearms that he does. The biker firing a fully automatic assault rifle is firing live rounds.

Nick Nolte does a voice-over for one of the characters.

Explosive and entertaining biker action

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 6 October 2023]

This is one of the last of the films of the original bikersploitation boom. Set in a small town, a corrupt police officer rapes a woman and blames it on a generally good-natured biker gang, leading to a bloody showdown between the free-spirited bikers and sadistic hick police.

I would have to say that, despite being late to the party, this one is in the upper bracket of the genre. It does have a simple by-the-numbers story but the ingredients are mixed well. They have hired a real biker club to play the gang and that really adds to the authentic feel. There's an effective country-rock soundtrack from none other than Monkee Mike Nesmith. On the more left-of-centre side of the fence is the presence of a gun merchant who lives in an underground bunker replete with periscope! But if there is a single individual factor which gives this one its reputation it has to be the finale, which is so full-on, it ensures that the title of this one is highly accurate. The influence of The Wild Bunch is pretty easy to spot - its slow-motion deaths and exploding blood packs galore in this intense shoot-out in a graveyard. And they even somehow also manage to shoehorn in an exploding helicopter! Its great, violent fun basically and a hell of a good way to round off what had already been an above par bit of biker action.

Low-Budget but Still Fairly Interesting

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 14 December 2015]

While driving around and making a nuisance of themselves in Michigan a motorcycle club called "the Spirits" turn off onto some private property and have a small wedding. Afterwards they proceed to have a party during which a young man and woman from the town go to a nearby barn to make out. They are unaware that the police have chased their comrades out and when they are discovered in the barn by two cops the young man by the name of "Chris" (David Hyry) is beaten unconscious and the woman named "Lynn" (Jan Sisk) is raped. Afraid to tell anybody who did it the deputy manages to convince a couple of the townsmen that it was the motorcycle club and then convinces them to take the law into their own hands. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this was a fairly interesting "biker film" which used a legitimate motorcycle club known as "the Scorpions" to augment the cast. Although they certainly did a decent enough job it was quite evident that this was a low-budget film and the movie suffers because of it. Even so, it's not a bad movie by any means and I rate it as about average.

This movie should be a cult classic but isn't . . .yet.

[reptilicus · 8/10 · 11 June 2001]

Apparently the 10 or 12 people (worldwide!) who have seen this movie have not yet spoken up enough about it to elevate it to cult classic status. When I first heard about it I mistakenly assumed from the title that it had something to do with zombies or vampires or something like that. Well it doesn't! There are monsters to be sure but the kind we all run the risk of encountering; the narrow minded bigot who hates anyone who differs from his own view of what "normal" should be. This movie deserves to be recognised for many reasons. For one thing the 2 biker gangs in it (The Scorpions and The Road Agents) are real gangs; for another the music was written by Mike Nesmith. Yes, THAT Mike Nesmith, the former Monkey; and for yet another it is one of the most brutally honest independent movies to come out of the 1970's putting those glossy, sugar coated versions of biker life put out by American International to a well deserved shame. (Sorry, Roger.) We are on the side of the bikers from the opening scene when they surround an elderly couple in a car with a flat tire. We are expecting the worst but the bikers change the tire and ride on without even waiting to be thanked! This was filmed in 1976 so the Vietnam War was over and the Hippie Era had crashed dismally but America was still licking its wounded ego over the war they "lost" and returning soldiers came home to a society that made them pariahs. Many fought back against the only enemies they had left, the societal dropouts who had dodged the draft and had been living free and indulging every impulse from mind expanding drugs to free love while they, the alleged "good Americans", had been away fighting a hopeless case.

Okay that was the editorial, now back to the review. A redneck sheriff's deputy rapes a local girl who has rejected his romantic advances and puts the blame on a member of a biker gang that is passing through town. This sets off a smalltown war and underscores the intolerance and potential for violence that lurks beneath the shallow veneer of the Norman Rockwellian style smalltown life. The bikers fight back by arming themselves and soon it's rednecks vs. bikers and bullets are flying by the hundreds. The use of explosive squibs is used primarily for shock value but this is the earliest movie I can recall (apart from THE WILD BUNCH, that is) that used them quite so much. Prior to this screen violence had been mostly bloodless until Sam Peckinpah broke new ground with THE WILD BUNCH which left audiences and exhibitors alike gasping.

There is a PATTON-inspired speech in front of a giant American flag; there are shootings, knifings, beatings, one exploding helicopter that is the worst special effect in the movie (an obvious miniature) and a powerful ending that . . .oops, almost gave it away. This is a hard movie to find but it is well worth the search. Check it out and then don't be shy about e-mailing me and telling me how you feel about that ending! Trust me, you WILL be talking about it.

A fairy tale for lefties

[Bill357 · 7/10 · 1 April 2009]

I saw a clip once of Hunter S. Thompson, who literally wrote the book on outlaw biker gangs, where he stated that the left wing in America wanted very bad to make bikers part of their movement and were frustrated by their refusal to sign up and be "down for the struggle".

Despite their appearance and their hedonism, bikers were pretty much right wing, gung-ho about Vietnam, and racist to boot. The Northville Cemetery Massacre presents it's protagonists the way they wished it had been, a bunch of hippies on hogs, freaky and scary with a soft underbelly, scaring then helping old folks, throwing darts at a picture of that dastardly old communist hater Richard Nixon. All portrayed as victims, especially the main character, who's a victim of the system and American foreign policy.

I think the reviewer who wrote that this wasn't a gloss job like the AIP bike movies should watch Gimme Shelter and get back to me.

All considered, it was pretty entertaining and a movie that really lived up to it's title

Northville Cemetery Massacre

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 19 August 2022]

Between an uncredited Nick Nolte doing ADR for the lead and Mike Nesmith doing the film's music for free, Northville Cemetery Massacre near accidentally has a better pedigree than most biker movies. Directed, written and produced by William Dear (who also made Harry and the Hendersons and Angels In the Outfield because life is strange) and Thomas Van Dyke - with Jim Pappas, Phil Nyus, Robert H. Dyke and James King contributing to the script - this was shot as an independent film in Michigan under the original title Freedom R. I. P.

The Spirits, an outlaw motorcycle club played by actual outlaw motorcycle club The Scorpions, are at war with the cops after Deputy Putnam (Craig Collicot) attacks their hippie friend Chris (David Hyry) and assaults his lover Lynn (Jan Sisk), blaming them for the crime and sending her father (Herb Sharples) after them with a sniper (Len Speck) on his payroll.

The Spirits are just a bunch of fun loving motorcycle riders - they even held an elderly husband and wife fix their car - but after a helicopter attacks their three coffin biker funeral, well, there's going to be some payback.

Shot in 1971 and not released by Cannon until 1976, this whole thing has a bloody close that wipes out just about the entire cast, so don't get too committed to anyone. It's got a ramshackle quality that I really liked and if only it had come out when it was made, when biker movies were still in fashion, it may be better known.

The Great Music!

[Scott_Mercer · 8/10 · 29 January 2005]

I too was fortunate enough to view the screening of this film the other night in Hollywood at the monthly Grindhouse screening. Lots of hippies, bikers and shootings in slo-mo with blood packs spurting a la Peckinpah. Apparently this movie is quite a rare little number. Shot in Detroit in 1974 and 75, released to drive-ins in 1976, and as such I believe we can state definitively that this film marks the very end of the classic "biker film" cycle (no pun intended) started 10 years earlier with "The Wild Angels" starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra and Bruce Dern.

One very important fact not mentioned by any of the other commenter's, and confirmed by Mr. Dear, was the fact that the music for this was scored by the great Michael Nesmith. I am a fan of his time in the Monkees as well as his great "solo" records released throughout the 1970's. If you've heard Nez's work from this period, you will certainly recognize his distinctive sound in the music here. I believe most (but not all) of this music was recorded especially for this film, and as such would be a treat to hear for any Nesmith admirers.

How to describe his style? Cole Porter on the Prairie could be one shorthand meme, but that does a disservice to his elegant yet down home music. He combines western cowboy songs, country-rock, blues, Caribbean Pop and lilting, wistful melodies in a unique fashion. Some of the musical themes are what you would expect in a picture like this: some hammering blues-rock and some country truckin' songs. One of the songs was sung by Garland Frady. Nesmith released some LP's by him on his Pacific Arts record label which he operated at that time.

Director William Dear worked further with Nesmith after this. He directed Time Rider, produced by Nesmith, and directed several of Michael's music videos in the 1980's. Dear had a funny line: he looked up Nesmith during an appearance at McCabe's Guitar Shop (local music store and live music venue in Santa Monica) He showed the movie to Nesmith, who said, "This movie is terrible!" "I know, you wanna score it?" "Okay."

Some wise company like Blue Underround or Synapse should contact Mr. Dear and arrange a DVD release of this toot suite! And plenty of bonus materials and a commentary track? Yes please!

UPDATE 10/18/2006: THEY HEARD ME!

Northville Cemetery Massacre is now out on DVD, with THREE commentary tracks and other bonus material! Thank you VCI Entertainment! I'm ordering one right now!

An excellent 70's drive-in biker flick

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 20 February 2007]

A rowdy and scruffy, but basically decent and likable biker gang stop off in a small Southern town. They are immediately antagonized and put in jail by the browbeating local yokel cops. A brutish deputy rapes a teenage girl and blames it on the bikers. This in turn begets a chain of harsh and vicious violence with grievous consequences for the cops and bikers alike. Directed, written, edited and photographed in an effectively blunt'n'basic no-frills scrappy fashion by William Dear and Thomas Dyke, this extremely raw and compelling low-budget vintage 70's exploitation nugget packs a very strong and lingering wallop. Michael Nesmith's groovy-rockin' score, the rough, grainy, unpolished cinematography, the appealingly naturalistic acting from a game no-name cast (the real life motorcycle club the Scorpions from Detroit portray the biker gang), several nifty folkie songs on the soundtrack, the fabulously profane dialogue, a few nice 70's period touches (for example, there's a dart board with Richard Nixon's face on it on a wall in a bar), and a potent and provocative subtext about uptight middle America's gross inability to tolerate anyone who boldly defies the repressive toe-the-line straight-arrow conventional conformist norm all combine to give this picture a wonderfully ragged and cynical edge. The outbursts of violence are properly ugly and shocking, with high quality splashy squib work and strikingly stylized use of strenuous slow motion ala Sam Peckinpah. The climactic graveyard shoot-out rates as a definite exciting highlight. The astonishingly bleak and downbeat ending concludes the whole affair on a truly haunting and resonant note.

An amazingly violent and brilliantly entertaining seventies film!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 22 February 2007]

For fans of seventies exploitation flicks, Northville Cemetery Massacre is a must! The film is typically thin on plot, but this isn't important as directors William Dear and Thomas L. Dyke have ensured that the film is packed with the important stuff - that being gunfire and tons of blood! The film appears to take influence from Easy Rider in that it features a troupe of bikers coming under scrutiny from the local community and police force simply because they ride bikes and don't have jobs, but it's clear that most of its inspiration comes from the robust violent flicks that were all the rage throughout the seventies. I don't doubt that this film was a major influence on Walter Hill's popular gang flick The Warriors. The plot focuses on a gang of bikers (calling themselves a biker's club). The local police force is none too happy about them hanging around the town, and after a brutal rape is committed; the blame naturally falls on the gang. A number of their troupe are slaughtered by unknown gunmen, and after their rival gang is dismissed as suspects; the real culprits come to light...

The fact that there isn't a lot of plot is completely unimportant. This film is all about atmosphere, and that is delivered through the gritty picture (the film obviously had little to no budget), the soundtrack and the grubby look of most of the central characters. Northville Cemetery Massacre is wickedly entertaining throughout, and despite the numerous continuity errors; remains enjoyable thanks to the entertainment value. The way that the guns are used is excellent, as we get to hear every shot, and each one usually results in a lot of blood being spilled - the budget certainly had room for a lot of squibs! Despite the fact that the budget is low, the violence is brutal and realistic; and it's all owed to the gritty cinematography. There are a number of standout scenes throughout the movie but, as the title suggests, the ending features a huge shootout; and that's where the film really takes off! Of course, it's mostly just mindless violence - but the constant stream of shooting and bloodshed makes for fantastic viewing, and this ensures that a very entertaining film ends on a major high. Overall, Northville Cemetery Massacre is an under seen seventies gem and I highly recommend tracking down a copy!

Decent film

[bonniean · 8/10 · 25 February 2020]

The movie wasn't bad. I remember when the cemetery scenes were filmed. They were actually filmed in Maplegrove Cemetery in Westland, MI sometime around 1972 or 1973. I went to the Jr. High School next to the cemetery. And we were told to keep away from there while they were filming. I also watched alot of the filming from my neighbors back yard who lived across from my parents. His yard backs up to the cemetery. I always wondered what happened to the movie. I finally got to see it 40 some yrs later.

Solid And Entertaining Biker/Action/Exploit/Revenge Film...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 12 February 2010]

I had no idea what to expect from this one when I pulled it from my stack of discs. I was expecting some sort of lame, low-budget early '80s slasher-film based on the title...what I got instead was a solid, mid-'70s bikers-versus-rednecks semi-exploit/action film instead. I'm glad my initial suspicions were wrong.

A group of rowdy but otherwise relatively non-threatening bikers called the Scorpions is harassed by the local pigs when they roll through a small redneck town. A local girl is raped by one of the town's deputies-and in order to shift the blame away from himself-of course blames the bikers. The cop/rapist goes so far as to stir up some of the other yokels, including the girl's father, to take revenge on the bikers in such a way as to make it look like the work of a rival club called the Road Agents. Before going to war with the Agents-the Scorpion's President decides to call a meeting with them first. It's quickly determined that the Agents weren't the culprits in the murder of the Scorpion's fallen brothers, when an unseen sniper starts taking shots at both club's members during the meeting. After stocking up from the local arms-dealer, the Scorpions eventually find out who was really behind the rape of the girl and murder of their boys when the real bad- guys shows up at their brother's funeral...and it's all-out-f!ckin-war...

NORTHVILLE CEMETERY MASSACRE is a great film. Despite the obvious low-budget, everything about this one works. The storyline is simple but effective, there's the right mix of build-up and payoff, the acting is actually pretty solid all around, and the ending is absolutely classic. To compare it to a more well-known film, this one reminded me a lot of FIRST BLOOD (though NORTHVILLE pre-dated that film by several years...) with it's similar concepts of the prejudicial treatment of people thought to be 'unsavory' by those who are supposedly 'respected'- and of pushing someone into a corner until they have no choice but to strike back. Solid and universal themes that if handled properly will always make for good film-making. As for other content-there's a decent amount of bloody violence to satisfy the action-lovers, and the rape victim is a natural, girl-next-door, absolute beauty and you get to see her tits...something that I'll never complain about in a film. Though there's nothing overtly sleazy about NORTHVILLE...(the rape is implied as opposed to being shown)-I would still classify this one in the exploit genre and would highly recommend it to that audience, as well as biker-film fans, or anyone that enjoys '70s-styled action-films. Definitely recommended. 8.5/10

The greatest biker movie ever made!

[jakeloves · 10/10 · 20 January 2002]

The greatest biker movie ever made! In fact, it's the only biker movie I like. Every other biker movie promises so much and delivers so little. This film gets the job done. Thank God at least one movie made the genre proud. I feel the same about The Mack. Every other movie of the blaxploitation genre just didn't have the bite their bark promised. But The Mack pulled it off. Some great movies were made in the 70's and 80's. Escape from New York, The Thing, Road Warrior, Dawn of the Dead, Squirm, Blues Brothers.

Great movie!!!

[tbyrne4 · 10/10 · 11 January 2007]

Just got finished watching this and felt compelled to write a review right away (very rare for me). I had heard this was something of a cult item and an excellent biker flick so I decided to check it out. Very impressive!! "Northville Cemetery Massacre" is a low-budget biker flick from the 70s that is probably the best pure biker film that I have ever seen. Plot and characterizations are strong and simple. The film is compact and has tremendous visual energy and uses sound and music beautifully. Very well directed.

And the title ain't kiddin either - a massacre is exactly what this film delivers!! It's kind of like a cross between "Easy Rider" and "The Wild Bunch" (in fact, I think that is an apt description). Up until now the two films that (for me) defined the biker film were "Born Losers" (where, admittedly, the bikers were the bad guys) and "Easy Rider". I think "Northville Cemetery Massacre" is superior to both. This is also a very beautiful film, especially in the early, more tranquil scenes. The bikers are portrayed as playful and earthy. In particular a wedding scene that blends into a scene of two characters making love in a barn is an absolutely beautiful, artistic collage of image and sound. Extremely impressive. See this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Only UK Copy!

[bml84 · 8/10 · 16 January 2010]

I saw this film on VHS back in the early-mid 80's. Being about 12-13 I loved the Ultra-Violence and the entire concept. I must have watched it through twice in as many days and the finale a few times more. Not often a film with 'Massacre' in the title actually delivers but this one did. In Spades.

The only setback was that I seemed to be the only person who ever saw it. Ever. Seriously. Back in those days of the 'Video Nasty' we used to compare splatter films at break during school but I was the only person who ever knew of this one. Same for years. Even up till now, come to think of it.

Its a tribute to its raw power that I can still recall so much of it. The bikers, the corrupt law, the 'Paton' skit,the shootings and the massacre itself. And the fact that not one of the bikers could actually fire in a straight line and had no idea of the concept of cover. Hey-Ho!

And the ending is one of the best, most powerful and most disturbing ever filmed. Its stuck with me over 20 years.

Now THATS what you call a Finale'.

I'm loving this

[dlbloom · 22 October 2006]

I'm going to see this movie at a restaurant in Northville this Halloween(2006) and I'm loving these reviews. I and my girlfriends used to date a few members of the Scorpions in the late 60's and early 70's. I knew they had made a movie but I never knew the name of the movie and who was actually in it from the club, I'm also surprised to learn that some of the Road Agents were in it. I partied many times at the Road Agents Clubhouse, if I'm not mistaken it was on 5 Mile Road in Detroit. The late 60's and early 70's were big time biker era's in Detroit and its west side Suburb's. It was a blast. The reviews regarding the Scorpions and Agents was right on, they were a fun loving bunch of guys mostly into riding their bikes, partying and getting buzzed. I could write a book on the crazy things we did and how much fun that time in my life was, I'm really looking forward to finally seeing the movie for myself, thanks for the great reviews.

Let's get the filming years right

[tamaresque · 8/10 · 9 June 2018]

A few people seem to think that the film was shot in the mid 70's but it was definitely shot in the early 1970's - It started in either 71 or 72 as Freedom RIP and then continued sporadically from then on. How do I know? I was in the Northville cemetery in Michigan a couple of times while the filming was taking place as I was then dating one of the filmmakers. I moved to Australia in July 72, so it was definitely before then!

If the acting isn't the best, then that's because those guys were not actors; they were actual bikies.

Why is this still unreleased on DVD

[deadelvis1988 · 8/10 · 5 October 2006]

Anyone who is a fan of the Something Weird DVD series should be somewhat familiar with this little gem. I saw this a few times on broadcast rabbit ear T.V. back in the eighties. It was often run after the Elvira show on weekend afternoons. They usually paired it with such classics as The Giant Spider Invasion, Tarantulas: Deadly Cargo, or Kiss of the Tarantula.

It may not win the hearts of all but if you are a fan of revenge, narrow minded rednecks, aimless gun play, biker films, real gritty biker films and facets of the independent 70's cinema then this film might just be what the doctor ordered.