The Jackhammer Massacre - 2004 * * *

Self destruction is only the beginning.

With a name like 'Jackhammer Massacre' you can really only expect bad things from this movie. Shoddy camera work and over-the-top acting by people who are probably getting about 50 pence a day for their efforts. But I'm fairly open with movies and was happy to give it a go, even thinking it might be so bad that it would make me laugh.

The first thing I thought of after seeing the film was how little massacring actually occured. The story actually seemed to centre around a drug addict whose need for heroin causes him to go on a 'rampage' (he kills several people who do nothing but stand there and watch him as he sticks the machine in their gut). Fair enough it's not your usual massacre movie. The bloke does actually have a reason to go crazy, even though it's not exactly a good excuse. Some of the most disgusting scenes don't involve murder, but actually involve him injecting his already infected arm with more drugs and pouring bleach on his scars. Those scenes made me feel physically ill so I assume the desired efffect to put people off drug-taking worked. There were funny parts to the movie that I had already expected-people never seem to run fast enough in these films, added to which you can always tell when the movie has been shot by a man as we get long and extended views of women's breasts/bums. For a cheapy done film however this wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected and I had no problem watching it right through to the end; for once a murder film is made with an actual message.