Born For Hell
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''Born for Hell'' (
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
: ''Die Hinrichtung'', "The Execution"; also released as ''Naked Massacre'') is a 1976
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
directed by
Denis Héroux Denis Héroux, (; 15 July 1940 – 10 December 2015) was a Canadian film director and producer. Biography Born in Montreal, Quebec, he was the older brother of prolific Quebec film and television producer Claude Héroux. Héroux wanted to beco ...
, and starring
Mathieu Carrière Mathieu Carrière (; born 2 August 1950) is a German stage and screen actor with strong French connections. He has appeared in around 250 films worldwide and in 4000 hours of television. Carrière is also a director and a writer and is known as a ...
,
Debra Berger Debra Berger (born March 17, 1957) is an American actress, artist, and designer. Life She was the daughter of actor William Berger from his first marriage in 1957. She was the step-sister of actress Katya Berger and half-sister of child actor ...
, and
Christine Boisson Christine Boisson (8 April 1956 – 21 October 2024) was a French actress. Biography Boisson was born in Salon-de-Provence on 8 April 1956; her mother was French and her father was from the West Indies. After she registered in a model agency, ...
. Its plot follows a disturbed American
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
veteran who, after arriving in
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, terrorizes a house full of international female nursing students. The film is set against the historical backdrops of the
Northern Ireland conflict The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
and the December Raids in North Vietnam. The screenplay is loosely based on the crimes of serial killer
Richard Speck Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941 – December 5, 1991) was an American mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in their South Deering, Chicago, residence via stabbing, strangulation, strangling, slashing their throats, or a combina ...
, who murdered eight nursing students in
Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in 1966. The websites
Letterboxd Letterboxd ( ) is an online social cataloging service for film founded (partially with investment company Tiny since 2023) and owned by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011, and headquartered in New Zealand. Members can rate and review ...
and The Grindhouse Database list this movie as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre.


Plot

In late 1972
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, during the early stages of the
Northern Ireland conflict The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
, a disturbed American soldier named Cain Adams arrives after deserting in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. Eager to return to the United States, Cain is unable to board a ship from Belfast for approximately one week. While meandering around the city, Cain eventually meets a middle-aged prostitute who propositions him. In her apartment, Cain humiliates her and threatens her with a knife before leaving. Meanwhile, a group of eight young international female
nursing students Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
—Bridget, Christine, Leila, Jenny, Pam, Amy, Catherine, and Eileen—are preparing for their last week of exams before graduation. One afternoon, the women gather in the house they share to celebrate Eileen's birthday. Leila, who is pregnant, eagerly states that her birthday is next and wishes for a small cupboard. Bridget, en route home from a shift at the hospital, witnesses a shooting in the streets that kills a man. Simultaneously, Cain stumbles upon the women's residence, entering through a door in the kitchen. He is met by Amy and Leila, who offer him food and a bottle of wine before sending him on his way. Pam subsequently leaves for her night shift at the hospital. Later that evening, Christine, alone with Jenny, confesses that she has romantic feelings for her, while Christine attempts to calm Jenny, who is shaken by the death she witnessed earlier that day. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the women, Cain returns to the house and breaks in through a downstairs window, confronting Jenny and Christine in the living room. Cain rounds the women up, as Amy attempts to negotiate with him, believing he wants to rob them. Holding them at knifepoint, he proceeds to bind their hands, promising to let them go once Pam returns from her night shift. While doing so, he recounts anecdotes from his childhood, including his aunt telling him he was "born for hell" because he regularly missed Sunday church services; on his arm, Cain shows the women a tattoo he has of the phrase. Cain brings Amy downstairs after leaving the six others bound in an upstairs bedroom. When he attempts to rape Amy, she fights back, leading him to strangle her to death with a belt. He then takes Jenny and Christine downstairs, strips them nude, and attempts to force Jenny to perform oral sex on Christine. When she refuses, Cain beats her with a belt. He then forces Jenny to violently stab Christine to death, before strangling and killing the blood-covered Jenny. Shortly after, Pam arrives at the house with her coworker Jill, only to find the lights disabled. In the darkness, Cain ambushes the women, stabbing Jill to death first before knifing and killing Pam. After turning the electricity back on, Cain returns upstairs and finds Eileen and Leila missing. He soon locates Eileen, who has hidden in a closet, and stabs her to death. Leila, who has hidden under a bed, watches as Cain proceeds to murder Bridget. Catherine, now in a dissociative state, begins to laugh. Cain brings her downstairs, showing her the corpses of her friends before seating her at the kitchen table, feeding her a piece of Eileen's birthday cake. In her dissociated state, Catherine proceeds to take Cain's switchblade and stabs herself in the chest, committing suicide. Cain returns upstairs, collapsing on the bed under which Leila is hiding, and falls asleep. At dawn, Cain awakens and leaves the house. Later that morning, he watches from a nearby pub as paramedics remove the bodies of the women from their house and listens to locals discuss the murders. News broadcasts publicize the killer's distinctive tattoo, which Leila has described to authorities. Later, in a public bathroom, Cain attempts suicide by slashing one of his wrists. However, he is discovered by a civilian and taken to a local hospital, where a surgeon tends to his wound. Cain regains consciousness as the surgeon cleans his blood-covered arm, revealing the "born for hell" tattoo. The surgeon looks at him and says, "So it was you." Cain replies, "5000 pounds. It's a lot of money for a man who wants to die." The film ends with black-and-white photos of the nine nurses.


Cast


Production

The film was shot on location in Dublin, with some second unit scenes shot in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Interiors were filmed in the then West Germany. According to actor Mathieu Carrière, the film's producer and co-writer,
Géza von Radványi Géza von Radványi (born Géza Grosschmid; 26 September 1907 – 27 November 1986) was a Hungarian film director, cinematographer, producer and writer. Biography Born Géza Grosschmid, he took the name Radványi from his paternal grandmother ...
, served a larger role in directing the film than its credited director,
Denis Héroux Denis Héroux, (; 15 July 1940 – 10 December 2015) was a Canadian film director and producer. Biography Born in Montreal, Quebec, he was the older brother of prolific Quebec film and television producer Claude Héroux. Héroux wanted to beco ...
, did.


Release

The film was released in
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
on 16 December 1976. It later screened in
Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
, Canada in April 1977.


Controversy

Upon its release in the United States, the film was met with criticism from
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
groups in
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, who felt that it was exploitative in its graphic depictions of
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
. The Austin Rape Crisis Center, the Coalition for Battered Women, the Women's Equity Action League, and Radical Lesbian Feminists were among the groups who held public protests at the film's local release in December 1976.


Home media

In 2007, Apprehensive Films released ''Born for Hell'' on DVD.
Severin Films Severin Films is an American independent film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. It is considered a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label. History The label was created in 2006 in Los A ...
released the film on
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
on 20 July 2021.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Born for Hell 1970s exploitation films 1976 films 1976 horror films Canadian films based on actual events Canadian horror thriller films 1970s English-language films English-language Canadian films English-language French films English-language German films English-language Italian films Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Films about veterans Films directed by Denis Héroux Films set in Northern Ireland French films based on actual events French horror thriller films German films based on actual events German horror thriller films German serial killer films Films about home invasion Italian horror thriller films Obscenity controversies in film West German films 1970s Canadian films 1970s Italian films 1970s French films 1970s German films English-language horror thriller films