According to the Blu-ray case for 1981’s Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker, the film “remains the most joltingly violent, psychosexual grindhouse shocker of the ‘80s”. How could I resist?

When his parents die in a terrible car accident, toddler Billy Lynch goes to live with his Aunt Cheryl (Susan Tyrell). 14 years later, 17-year-old Billy (Jimmy McNichol) still resides with her, though apparently resentful of his increasing maturity and independence, she attempts to tighten the reins.

Uptight and horny, Cheryl throws herself at repairman Phil Brody (Caskey Swaim) and kills him in a fit of rage when he declines her advances. When Billy comes upon this event, he winds up potentially implicated in the murder, as Detective Joe Carlsen (Bo Svenson) doesn’t buy their claim that Cheryl defended herself from Phil’s rape attempt.

As someone who was a teen when Butcher hit screens, I remember how homophobic the era was. Granted, society accepted gays better in 1981 than in 1971 or 1961, etc., but we had a long way to go.

Nonetheless, Butcher seems remarkably homophobic, even as a product of its period. Admittedly, the filmmakers clearly don’t intend to represent hatred of gays as okay, especially because one of the movie’s most honorable characters is a homosexual man and the prime homophobe offers a pretty loathsome role.

Nonetheless, this theme becomes a jarring part of Butcher, mainly because it seems wholly unnecessary. Though the movie uses Carlsen’s theory that Billy killed Brody in a fit of jealousy related to the kid’s suspected gay relationship with another character, this domain doesn’t matter in the long run.

As such, we’re left with a lot of distasteful homophobic content that doesn’t really go anywhere. However, given that the rest of the movie fails to find direction or coherence, I guess that becomes par for the course.

Despite the teasing promise of a particularly lurid and outrageous thriller, Butcher really just offers one of many 1980s slasher flicks. Nothing about it stands out as original or creative.

Well, I guess it makes even less sense than most of its genre, especially as matters progress. Along the way, the filmmakers seem to have realized how pointless the story is, as they eventually jettison even the most rudimentary logic.

Though Carlsen’s investigation and its ramifications play a large part in the flick’s first half, this theme goes strangely absent much of the rest of the way. Instead, we get one bonkers plot revelation after another, none of which make a lick of sense.

Not that the prior 45 minutes or so seemed coherent either, but Butcher really does go off the rails as it progresses. The movie embraces the Generic 80s Horror vibe and with it a completely lack of anything that works in terms of narrative or characters.

Expect plenty of dangling story points as well. For instance, the movie sets up Billy’s classmate Eddie (Bill Paxton) as a prime antagonist but this concept just evaporates along the way.

None of the actors ever seem on the same page. McNichol appears dishwater dull as Billy, whereas Tyrell goes completely cartoon crazy as Cheryl.

Hoo boy, does Tyrell offer an over the top performance! An Oscar nominee less than a decade earlier, perhaps she felt unhappy to slum in drive-in slop like this so she just decided to “act down” to the part.

Whatever the case, Tyrell makes Cheryl a completely unbelievable and unrealistic character. No one ever quite seems to recognize how weird she appears, and that just makes the end result even more bizarre.

Butcher does include some interesting “names” in its cast. McNichol’s younger sister Kristy enjoyed the better career, but he went through a minor “teen idol” phase.

Obviously Paxton eventually became beloved, and though their best days were behind them by 1981, both Tyrell and Svenson experienced fairly good careers. We also find Julia Duffy, who would score a popular role on TV’s Newhart a few years later.

McNichol pulls off his teen role okay, as he was only 20 at the time. Paxton looks far too old for high school at 26, and 30-year-old Duffy seems ridiculous as a late teen.

Indeed, Duffy was only six years younger than Tyrell! Granted, Tyrell looked 36 going on 56, but still.

Even without these casting anomalies, Butcher would become a bad movie. It simply offers an incoherent stab at 80s slasher horror without any true redeeming qualities.

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The dated nature of the original photography held back the image, but it mostly looked fairly good.

Sharpness was largely fine. Some shots could be a bit tentative, and I can’t claim the movie boasted razor-sharp delineation. Nonetheless, it displayed appropriate definition the majority of the time.

I saw no jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain seemed natural, and print flaws only became a minor concern, as I saw a smattering of specks but nothing significant.

Colors appeared acceptable albeit a bit on the dull side at times. Still, the hues generally felt well-rendered as a whole.

Blacks were fairly rich, and low-light shots delivered decent clarity. Nothing here excelled, but the image seemed satisfactory given the source limitations.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack, it seemed mediocre even for its vintage. Speech showed a fair amount of edginess and could feel somewhat reedy, so the lines appeared bland, though they remained perfectly intelligible.

Effects seemed iffy, as those elements lacked much punch and could feel a bit shrill at times. Music came across as similar, with thin, rough tones at times. This wound up as a meh mix, without any boost when I considered the age of the material.

We find three separate audio commentaries here, the first of which comes from actor Jimmy McNichol. Along with moderator Jeff McKay and an additional unnamed moderator, we get a running, screen-specific look at McNichol’s career and aspects of the Butcher shoot.

Don’t expect much that one could call compelling here, unfortunately, as we mostly get banal thoughts about McNichol’s “teen idol” era and a smattering of Butcher details. The participants go quiet too often and this never turns into a track with a lot of substance.

By the way, McNichol claims that at one point, he was the second highest paid actor in Hollywood. Given that he never made any big movies or starred in successful TV shows, this seems delusional, to put it mildly.

For the second commentary, we hear from co-writers Steve Breimer and Alan Jay Glueckman. Accompanied by film historian Nathaniel Thompson, this track examines the premise's roots and story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, themes, various titles and related topics.

The commentary starts very well, as the first act or so provides a lot of insights. Though it remains acceptably interesting, the track peters out some as it goes. This means it remains listenable but less informative along the way.

Finally, we get a commentary from unit production manager Eugene Mazzola. Moderator Michael Felsher moderates this running, occasionally screen-specific view of Mazzola’s career and his memories of the Butcher production.

As indicated in that last sentence, the conversation only sporadically addresses the film as we watch it. The first segment of the commentary covers Mazzola’s overall time in Hollywood before the rest gets into various domains about Butcher.

This format works fine, as we get a lot of good information. Felsher interviews Mazzola well and ensures that we get a solid chat about the topics at hand.

Called Extreme Prejudice, we get an interview with actor Bo Svenson. This reel lasts nine minutes, 49 seconds.

Svenson tells us about how he came to the film and some experiences. The actor brings us a brief but informative and entertaining chat.

Point and Shoot fills 15 minutes, four seconds. It features director of photography Robbie Greenberg.

During this reel, we learn about how he came to his career as well as his experiences during the Butcher shoot. Greenberg offers an engaging set of memories.

Next comes Family Dynamics. The 16-minute, 51-second program offers info from editor Ted Nicolaou.

As expected, Nicolaou mainly looks at his work on Butcher along with notes about other aspects of his time in Hollywood. Like Greenberg, Nicolaou delivers a fine overview.

A collection of Cast and Crew Interviews appears. We hear from McNichol (8:29), actor Susan Tyrell (10:55), actor Steve Eastin (9:38), makeup effects artist Allan A. Apone (4:56) and writer/producer Steve Breimer (12:22).

McNichol covers some basics of his casting and experiences. This feels redundant given we already got virtually the same content in his commentary.

Tyrell seems more interesting, mainly due to the fact she seems to be bonkers. She actually offers a mini-commentary, as she reacts to the film while she watches it.

At the start, Tyrell claims nothing but miserable memories, and it feels unclear if she means it - because again, she appears to be nuts. She does toss out a few notes about the film, but no one can trust the veracity of these comments given that either she's a kook or she's playing the Susan Tyrell Character as a form of performance art. This leaves us with a weird and largely pointless chat.

Matters get back on track with the meat and potatoes interview with Eastin, as he gives us a succinct look at his experiences. Apone follows suit and explains his work as well as other impressions of the production.

Finally, Breimer gives us his thoughts about the movie's creation. Given his presence in a commentary, his notes here tend to feel repetitive, though he brings them to us in a tight manner.

The disc concludes with both a trailer and a TV spot for Butcher.

Silly and scattered, Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker becomes a tedious slasher flick. It lacks anything scary or ominous and just seems ridiculous. The Blu-ray delivers reasonably positive picture as well as iffy audio and a broad mix of bonus materials. Not much about this goofy horror flick works.