Violated (1953) User Reviews

Interesting

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 18 July 2009]

The story follows the police investigation of a serial killer with a hair fetish. Lt Mack (Mitchell Kowall) and Det. Dana (William Martel) enlist the help of a psychiatrist Dr Jason (Jason Niles) who we first see checking up with one of his patients, George (Fred Lambert), who has recently been released from jail. We also follow the story of photographer Jan (Wim Holland) and Susan Grant's (Vicki Carlson) attempts to make it as a model in New York. We are also introduced to the world of burlesque where Lili Damar (Lili Dawn) is queen of the scene. At the end, Dr Jason reveals the causes of what makes the killer tick, and the film finishes in a similar way to the beginning with an encounter between a man seemingly helping out a young woman who has dropped some papers.

The film starts in quite an arty way - the soundtrack is very effective - as we see the first murder being committed. The music is good throughout the film. However, the acting is wooden and some of the dialogue is suspect, eg Susan's over-use of sentences that start "Gee....". The film is grainy and in poor quality over a certain section but the film has a novelty value. At times it feels like a silent film with a gripping soundtrack and this effect helps, in my opinion, to give this film a cult/art-house status.

Good Intentions And Burlesque Numbers

[boblipton · 4/10 · 3 October 2019]

When young women start turning up dead, a couple of cops begin to hunt for the sexual predator who is killing them.

It's an exploitation film, intended to show prostitutes and maniacs, with a thin veneer of respectability added by a couple of brief talks on how psychiatric care should be better. The acting was downright poor, with the usual dull-voiced lecture by the psychiatrist, and poor line readings by everyone but the strip-club owner. That was played by William Mishkin, who spent the next quarter century producing and distributing such fare as THE RATS ARE COMING! THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE! and GUTTER TRASH. Surprisingly to me, I found Pat Rich's cinematography to be pretty good, although some of his work seems like an attempt to liven up a poor piece of exploitation.

THis might have been racy in 1953, but it's nothing these days.

Like all the others you reject me too!

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 4 August 2015]

***SPOILERS***Filmed on location in, where most of the places in the movie are no longer in existence, 1953 New York City the movie "Violated" is about a serial killer the mad photographer Jan C. Verbig, William Holland, who targets young women for their hair not bodies that he clips off after murdering them. It's a faddish that Verbig developed in childhood when he caught his mom with another man in bed stroking her long blond hair!

Taking time off from his job developing as well as snapping pictures at "Earnie's" a strip club in the Manhattan red light district Verbig becomes infatuated with stripper Lii Demar, Lili Dawn, and tries to make it with her at all cost. Even going so far as blowing his identity as the "Hair-Cut" serial murderer who's already murdered and shaved or clipped off the hair some half dozen young women. While targeting Lili the deranged lunatic also has his eye on young blond and pretty Susan Grant, Vicki Carlson, whom he promised to break into the world of fashion photography as a fashion model!

It's when Lili rejects Verbig's clumsy advances toward her that he goes completely berserk and strangles her only to blow his cover in being identified by those at "Earnies"" where Lili works as a stripper as the last person seen with her alive before she was found murdered! Bearly escaping from a police manhunt Verbig as mad as ever and forming from the mouth as a rabid dog makes it to his studios in Greenwich village and finds Susan there looking to get photographed by him and thus start her career, as Verbig promised her, as a top fashion model. By then the police got a clue, through hair samples in his clothes, to who the crazed and murderous psycho is and got there in the nick of time to prevent Verbig from doing her in!

***SPOILERS*** The movie ends with a sedated looking Virbig strapped down on a bed at New York City's Bellevue's psychiatric ward being examined and giving a dose of truth serum by Dr. Jason, Jason Niles, in order to find out just what makes him tic. And also see if there's any way to cure him from his murderous urges that already cost the lives of some half dozen young women. Despite Dr. Jason's recommendation to have Verbig's life to be spared, by reason of insanity, and committed to a mental facility to be studies as well as cured of his murderous urges. Instead Dr. Jason recommendation is overridden by the jury in Verbig's trial who found him sane and sentenced him to Sing Sing's electric chair instead! And with his death also was killed any way of knowing how to cure future Jan C. Virbig's medically as well as psychologically before they commit their first and many to follow murders!

Strange Mix of Horror and Noir

[Michael_Elliott · 3 October 2017]

Violated (1953)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Greenwich Village comes under attack by a psycho who is stalking women. Not only is he killing them but he's also scalping them. The lead investigator (Mitchell Kowall) teams up with a psychiatrist (Jason Niles) as they try to determine the killer who might just be a released sex offender.

For 1953, VIOLATED is pretty hot stuff from start to finish. This is basically an exploitation film that mixes horror and film noir elements and the end result is fairly entertaining even if there are many flaws with the picture. If you're familiar with the 1980 slasher MANIAC you'll know that the lead character there scalped his victims. That film was heavily influenced by the 1966 film AROUSED. Well, I think it's safe to say that MANIAC also borrowed from this picture.

The first thing you'll notice about this picture is that fact that it's working on a very small budget. I know noirs made a name for themselves by having small budgets but this here is a lot lower than you'd typically expect. What really sets the film apart isn't its story so much but the fact that it's willing to push the boundaries of good taste. After all, this here was seven years before PSYCHO and you've got a sex maniac, a psycho stalking women and a burlesque subplot where there are plenty of ladies not wearing too many clothes.

Those exploitation elements is what keeps the film alive and moving throughout its short 67-minute running time. The performances are very hit and miss and the majority of them would be called amateurish to say the least. The lack of any real acting talent makes for a documentary like feel and the music score by Tony Mottola really adds a lot of sleaze. VIOLATED is a film that should probably be better known than it is.

Pretty hot for 1953....and rather tame by today's standards.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 14 October 2016]

This is a super-cheap picture from Panther Productions. You'll notice how cheap it looks right away and has a definite homemade quality to it--with some choppy edits, lots of unknown actors, cheap music and amateurish lighting and camera-work. This does not mean it's necessarily a bad picture...but certainly one that lacks polish and looks pretty crappy. But, for an exploitation film from this era, this isn't at all unusual.

The story begins with a pretty young lady being murdered and scalped! The film actually shows very, very little when it comes to this. Throughout the story, more ladies are being murdered the same way and apparently they have a connection to a photographer. Much of the film follows him and his infatuation with a stripper who is stringing him along--the rest of the film consists of the police trying to put the pieces to the puzzle together to solve the crimes.

Overall, this is a film that looks cheap and terrible but STILL is interesting if you like exploitation flicks. To be this sort of person, you really have to look past the shabbiness of the production...and it is shabby. No real flashes of brilliance here otherwise...just a rather gritty and strange tale that seems way ahead of its time. Worth seeing...for the right sort of viewer. Being a lover of film noir would help....though this one is so poorly done I don't think most folks would consider it noir.

Good setting, but that's about it

[scsu1975 · 3/10 · 21 November 2022]

Low-budget flick, filmed in NYC, about a photographer who kills women and cuts off locks of their hair. Producer William Holland plays the photographer, and screenwriter William Mishkin (I know, these are real household names) has a bit. An exotic dancer named Lili Dawn plays one of the victims. She's not bad looking if you can imagine Hedy Lamarr with about twenty more pounds on her. The musical score consists of a guitar played by Tony Mottola.

Except for the 1950s view of the city, this film doesn't have much to offer. The acting is pretty bad, and the dialogue is worse. As the film's shrink explains, "the human mind is a vast domain. When its door is unhinged it's open to an endless variety of queer happenings." Like this movie.

Disturbing subject, excellent execution makes for intriguing early independent cinema.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 26 August 2015]

With mesmerizing music by Tony Mottola, vintage shots of some out of the way New York City locations and a plethora of creepy characters, this cheaply shot thriller is a film way ahead of its time. A serial killer is stalking models from some of New York's sleaziest agencies, literally scalping them and leaving their corpses out in public. The detectives head into the world of New York's biggest low lifes and find out that some of these female victims weren't necessarily "ladies". Shots of such changed neighborhoods as the 14th Street Arcade, the Bellvue Sanatarium (still in operation as a men's shelter), Greenwich Village and the West Side Highway dominate the photographer's eye as sometimes moving, often creepy music brings the viewer into a view of the Big Apple that they may never have witnessed before.

For this type of independent film (which seems like something that John Cassavettes might have done early in his film career), the actors are all unprofessionals, some of them bit players from other movies, but mainly people who made only this film and no others. Their performances cannot be described as acting, but many of them seem so natural that it becomes even spookier. When you compare this to the number of low-budget movies that did manage to get a general release (and featured truly wretched acting by paid professionals), "Violated" is a very refreshing discovery because it seems very true to life in a totally demented, horrifying way. The film really delves into the mind of its leading character, played by the scary looking William Holland, and while you definitely will find him repulsive, you begin to understand what does drive somebody being held together only by a string of sanity into the realm of the diabolical, and so the film ends up working on many different levels: psychological thriller, horror, film noir, and social drama.

Art Grind Hybrid, Find a Copy!

[rufasff · 7/10 · 3 January 2004]

This is a wonderful period piece with the feel of Kubrick's "Killer's Kiss"; made around the same time. Though clumsy in places, it's still more professional and better than "Kiss", and perhaps as interesting a visual walk through fifties New York City.

A homicidal photographer hunts down and kills women who reject him, until he is caught by a sweaty, working class cop. An interestingly progressive view of a maniac, the killer is a kind man caught in a compulsion he cannot control. Many of the actors seem to be real people playing themselves; though this is for the most part more effectively done than in many more "respectable" films.

When the stripper snaps "You make my skin crawl, you jerk!" it chills to the bone. New Yorkers may find many locations still recognizable, and you gotta love the big poodle. According to IMDB, no one here was ever involved in another

film but the producer, who went on to bring us the films of the notorious Andy Milligan. Too bad, much talent is on hand. Find a copy!

A poor man's "Peeping Tom"

[Mbakkel2 · 7/10 · 9 July 2017]

"Violated" is a film about a homicidal photographer. Wait a minute, this description also fits to "Peeping Tom". Yes, there are many similarities - but also many dissimilarities - between those films.

The similarities: Both perpetrators have a strenuous relationship with women. The crimes in both cases are caused by unpleasant childhood memories.

Mark in "Peeping Tom" was used as a guinea pig for his father's psychological experiments on fear and the nervous system. Jan in "Violated" discovered that his mother's lover stroke her long hair, which triggered both his hatred of women and hair fetishism. He cuts off the hair of his victims after he killed them.

The dissimilarities: "Peeping Tom" had the advantage of being made on a large budget with high-classed actors by one of Great Britain's most reputable directors, Michael Powell. The film was shot in Eastmancolor.

"Violated" was made on a shoestring budget by Walter Strate, his only feature film. Some of the actors were amateurs and they only appeared in this film. To be honest, most of the acting (also by the few professional actors) is quite unskillful. A reviewer on IMDb.com has, however, claimed that this adds more realism to the film. It was shot in gritty black and white on location in New York City.

Mark in "Peeping Tom" incorporated his work as a photographer in the murders. Jan in "Violated" doesn't do that, although he kills a couple of his models.

Mark is a handsome guy in his twenties, while Jan is an unattractive man in his forties.

It is a matter of personal taste if you label this film as a noir or not. I think that Tony Mottolas moody guitar-playing expresses the loneliness and hardships of New York City's unfortunate residents, giving the film a touch of noir at least in the soundtrack.

underground psychopath

[eric-baril · 7/10 · 21 January 2014]

Who has ever heard of the director Walter Strate?

Like directors Jack Copeland and Edmond Angelo, he is completely unknown on planet Hollywood.

"Violated" is full of weird tricks : obsessional bluesy guitar music, underground location in New-York like in "Killer's Kiss", scary story of a sexual psychopath tormenting and killing pin ups to scalp them, amateur dialog and a desperate final twist.

"Violated" is the first movie produced by William Mishkin, also screenwriter of the movie. After "Violated", he will produce sex exploitation movies but that's another story.

If you love "Dementia", jump on this one.

Not too bad

[Delrvich · 7/10 · 22 July 2020]

Obviously low-budget indie with some very suggestive scenes. Some confusing editing and overacting. But, relatively good. Creepy semi-ambiguous ending. Vicki Carlson was a doll.

Low-budget shocker from promising one-time director

[downahatch · 7/10 · 18 January 2023]

Violated could have been a standard psycho-on-the-loose thriller but for director Walter Strate's keen eye for detail. Background details really bring the Greenwich Village location to life and give you insight into the characters lives and motivations even when the performances don't. The violent scenes are shockingly effective without bloodshed and are a precursor to Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) (he saw this, don't tell me he didn't). Violated perfectly illustrates the oppressive and persistent nature of the lustful men on the street all young women must contend with. It's a shame this was Strate's only film as it transcends its low budget and seedy milieu to make some solid points.

Psychotronic or Grindhouse?

[searchanddestroy-1 · 7/10 · 17 November 2022]

Well, I am not a specialist of this kind of stuff, not like Quentin Tarantino, but it is always fun to watch one of these once in a while, and certainly not every day. It is bad acted and directed, as a horror film of this period and belonging to the same poverty row cinema. It is a serial killer movie before its time and for buffs of these topics, and there are many of them, it is a real gem to discover. But for me, who I am not, it was boring, flat. The ending is rather surprising; first the arrest of the killer, very realistic for this kind of stuff, and the following where the audience can nearly feel empathy for this criminal of the worst kind. But the acting is sooo bad, listen to the dialogues. Oh my God !!!