Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981) | The twisted exploitation horror’s UK Special Edition 4K UHD/Blu-Ray release

When it comes to Psychotic Women/Hagsploitation/Grande Dame Guignol cinema, the US indie horror Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (AKA Night Warning) ranks in my top 10, and UK genre-fans can now check it out in a brand-new Special Edition Dual 4K UHD/Blu-ray and Standard Blu-ray release from Severin Films. Available from 13 May 2024.

Giving a supremely unhinged performance is Susan Tyrrell – best-known for John Huston’s Fat City (1972) and Andy Warhol’s Bad (1977) – who plays Cheryl Roberts, the overprotective aunt of Billy Lynch (Teen Beat magazine pin-up actor and singer Jimmy McNichol) who was orphaned as a baby after his parents died in a horrific car ‘accident’. Now a gifted high school basketball player, Billy gets the chance to go to college on a scholarship and starts dating school newspaper photographer Julia (Julia Duffy) – but Cheryl is determined to keep him by her side – at any cost!

Events soon conspire against poor Billy when his mad aunt stabs a television repairman to death and claims he tried to rape her. Bigoted, homophobic detective Joe Carlson (The Inglorious Bastards‘ Bo Svenson) is assigned the case, and when he discovers the repairman was in a relationship with Billy’s coach, Tom Landers (Steve Eastin), he suspects a gay love triangle gone awry and targets Billy as the killer. But Carlson’s fellow investigator, Sergeant Cook (Britt Leach), suspects something’s not quite right with Cheryl. And so, the stage is set for Cheryl and Carlson to become increasingly unhinged as the psycho-thriller gets darker and darker until its blood-splattered finale…

The most bizarre thing about this terrific little bleeder is that it was helmed by William Asher! OMG! When I saw his name on the credits, I thought this couldn’t be the same guy who directed some of my faves – like the Beach Party films and TV’s Bewitched? Well, it is, and having listened to the three audio commentaries on this release, Asher really embraced the project and its themes of toxic motherhood, homosexuality, incest and necrophilia – all framed within a modern-day Oedipus tale written by Alan Jay Glueckman (who participates in one of the audio commentaries), which also includes a positive portrayal of gay relationships (something that was extremely rare at the time).

Who knew Asher would be capable of handling such material – but he does, with aplomb. And he did so as a replacement for the film’s original director, Jan de Bont (yep! he of Speed fame), who was fired when the film fell behind schedule. Asher also doesn’t shy away from the horror elements, which include a mummified corpse, a pickled severed head and death by a kitchen knife, machete, revolver and a fireplace poker. Plus, some pistol-whipping and meat tenderiser bludgeoning.

And while Tyrrell rightly steals the show (her performance is a masterclass in acting psycho – and the licking scene with the spilt milk is a doozy), I loved Marcia Lewis as Cheryl’s nosey but good-natured pie-making neighbour, Margie (who so channels Bewitched‘s Gladys Kravitz), while a very young Bill Paxton (credited as William here) makes his feature debut as Billy’s jock nemesis, Eddie. Julia Duffy, of course, went on to great things, including Newhart.

Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker is now scanned in 4K from the negative with hours of new special features (check them out below), courtesy of Severin Films. A total must-have!

SPECIAL FEATURES
• Audio Commentary with actor Jimmy McNichol [ED: This was my least favourite of the three AC’s – as there are lots of pauses in the conversations between Jimmy and the two moderators, who really should have done more research before interviewing Jimmy]
• Audio commentary with co-writer/producer Steve Breimer and co-writer Alan Jay Glueckman [ED: This was my favourite of the three ACs as it explores the film’s genesis, production and release in detail]
• Audio commentary with co-producer/unit production manager Eugene Mazzola [ED: Lots of interesting detail here about the film’s production]
• Extreme Prejudice – Interview with actor Bo Svenson [ED: Thankfully, Bo is nothing like the character he plays, and has great respect for the LGBT+ community, and praises the film and its cast and crew ]
• Point and Shoot – Interview with DoP Robbie Greenberg [ED: Great to hear the future two-time Primetime Emmy Award winner giving us a breakdown of his early career, working on the film and giving his critique on it after all these years]
• Family Dynamics – Interview with Editor Ted Nicolaou [ED: Ted ended up working for Charles Band but started out being the sound recordist on Texas Chain Saw Massacre and got the Butcher Baker gig thanks to Jan de Bont, but remained on the production after his pal left the film).
• Cast and crew interviews with actors Jimmy McNichol, Susan Tyrrell, and Steve Eastin, make-up artist Allan A. Apone and producer Steve Breimer [ED: These are all worth checking out, but by far the must-see is Susan – fuelled by a stiff hit of tequila – watching the film for the first time, and getting over-excited by her own performance. Hilarious and rather special as the featurette is dedicated to Susan, who died in 2012, and includes shots of her with her tattooed prosthetics following her bilateral below-knee amputations).
• Trailer
• TV Spot