In the build up to the world famous mardi gras held in New Orleans, several prostitutes are disappearing and turning up dead and mutilated. They have been sacrificed for an archaic Aztec ceremony. With the festival approaching it is left to Sgt. Frank Herbert (Curt Dawson) to uncover the beast before the street party. The film leaves no illusion to the audience who is committing these murders, as the first scene involves John (William Metzo) entering a bar with the intention of procuring a prostitute for "something special". In fact whenever John is on the prowl, he always speaks to someone asking who the most evil woman in the bar is. The fact that he requests someone evil never actually gets mentioned to the cops by anyone interviewed. Bizarrely, the first woman Herbert speaks to, Shirley (Laura Misch Owens), simply tells him that he worn a distinctive ring on his finger, leaving vital details alone. What transpires after this is even more baffling. After asking rudimentary questions about the suspected killer, Herbert asks Shirley out to dinner and they begin a short relationship. Unbelievable.
There are in fact so many issues with this film that it would be tedious to even mention them all. The majority of the "action" in the film - including the rather repetitive, and dull sacrifices - is shot in frustratingly bleak long shot. Each sacrifice is practically identical to the last; well I guess this could be justified slightly by suggesting that it is a ritual sacrifice and therefore would be similar. However, the director could at least use some different camera angles, or even perhaps use a moving camera instead of the constant static shots. As for the sequences shot during the mardi gras, it seems they must have filmed a street that forgot to have a full display, as it looks about as fun as a hernia.
Well, I'm guessing that this film is fundamentally influenced by the wonderfully crass cinema of Herschell Gordon Lewis, so you could argue that it is intentionally crap. Well, if that were the case then we would need to re-evaluate the cinema of HGL. For if it was simply about the ludicrous dismemberment of girls with all the illusion of a badly painted butchers shop, then the world would probably be less aware of the Lewis effect. Yes, the likes of Blood Feast (1963), 2000 Maniacs (1964) et al, are awful examples of cinema, but the audience knows very well that his tongue is placed firmly within the cheek. Mardi Gras Massacre fails to even be humorous, and does not have the intentionally hyperbolic, histrionic acting. Simply put, this film was a waste of my time, it wasted the time of the actors, but luckily director, Jack Weis, never directed a film again. Hurray!!
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