Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker 

Spooktober fifth is here, and to finish this no theme opening week I have a real doozy. If you, like most honest god-fearing folk, have never heard of Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker, then you may need to take a seat because it is 100% crazier than what you are expecting. Following the death of his parents as a young child, Billy Lynch lives with his aunt Cheryl, an unmarried woman who has an unhealthy fixation on Billy. Between being the star of the basketball team, with scouts from the University of Denver checking on him, and being a loving boyfriend to to classmate Julia, Billy seems to be slowly pulling away from his aunt Cheryl, which upsets her. So then she murders a man, claiming that it was in self defense. From then on, this movie becomes a bizarre amalgamation of investigative sequences where the world’s worst detective repeatedly tries to assert that Billy is secretly gay and part of a love triangle. 

You might say, wow, that’s a crazy movie plot! Dear reader, that isn’t the movie plot. That is the first 15 minutes. Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker delves deeply into so many bizarre plot points and story elements that it was hypnotic, completely holding my attention even though I started watching it at about midnight. This is naturally a low budget indie feature, because what studio would produce or distribute this in 1981, and that adds an entirely new layer of depth to it. Everything feels slightly off, from the performances to the sets, to entire characters. I can’t say too much more about the movie without giving away big plot points, but just know 2 things. 1) This is more disturbing than most gore movies I’ve seen and 2) I will never ever forget this movie. So if you think you’re hard enough, you can go to the free streaming service Tubi right now and watch this. If you dare. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.