A houseful of female wrestlers enjoying a baby-shower for a friend find themselves staring down the wrong end of a maniac’s gun. That maniac is Sam Butler and he’s midway through his first-ever rampage. Beginning early that morning, Butler, played with unflinching intensity by Ari Levin, discovers his wife in bed with the local sheriff. In a spur of the moment decision, Butler grabs the sheriff’s gun and kills both of them.

Afterwards, Sam contemplates his actions, and decides that his wife, and all women for that matter, are to blame for what had just transpired. Sam’s pure hot rage erupts into a violent rampage. With his wife’s decapitated head by his side, Butler prowls the streets of Las Vegas looking for victims. The first victim, a hooker, played by Tina Prunty, protests vigorously and winds up having a blade driven through her mouth in a shocking scene which is filmed in broad daylight in downtown Las Vegas. With her severed limb dangling from his bumper, Butler drives away nonchalantly, looking for another mark.

At the same time, a group of female wrestlers are having a baby-shower for their friend Barbara. Innocent fun turns into a hellish nightmare as Sam stumbles upon the group and, after tying them up, begins to dispatch each one of them in incredibly gruesome ways—including one controversial moment which involves an abortion and subsequent fetus removal. Not even a good samaritan with a bat, and a couple of flustered cops, can halt this bloody thrill-ride. A final shot of Sam sitting in a blood-filled bathtub, holding his wife’s head, is absolutely jarring.

Las Vegas Bloodbath is bottom-rung filmmaking, for sure. From its minimal story, to its horrendous editing and uninventive cinematography, this is about as shoddy and amateurish as you can get. Released in 1989, this shot-on-video feature also has the distinction of being, possibly, one of the most disgusting micro-films ever made. Special effects wizards William Darold McDonald (The Corpse Grinders 2) and David Dalton, who also did the music for the film, are able to produce some very realistic looking gore scenes; definitely too good for a film this inferior. Interesting to note that only William Darold McDonald went onto have any kind of career in films, often working for horror legend Ted V. Mikels. The rest of the cast and crew would never make, or appear in, another film.

Sadly, whatever credibility the special effects bestow upon the picture is immediately stolen away by the poor acting ability of the cast. Too many times people can be seen looking at the camera or even smirking when they are supposed to be expressing horror. The most egregious moment comes late in the film when one of the women begins to laugh as she’s being murdered, eventually turning her head away from the camera. Nothing pulls a viewer out of a film faster than that kind of stuff – noting how important it is to have a good editor on staff.

Ari Levin, who seems locked into a sort of concentrated pose throughout, offers a brief glimpse of his limited acting ability when he stops to reminisce about his honeymoon with one of his victims, in a rather unorthodox scene.

To his credit, David Schwartz, who wrote, directed and produced the film, is at least willing to take chances. He really is quite brazen, evidenced by shooting one particularly gruesome moment—which also features the actress being disrobed—in a back alley in broad daylight as cars drive by. This is daring stuff that most other directors might have retreated from in favor of something less risky.

Las Vegas Bloodbath is a technical mess that is redeemed only slightly by some very superior special effects.

One star.