The Love Butcher | 1975 | USA | Mikel Angel & Don Jones

This serial killer oddity from the ‘70s was originally put into production by Mikel Angel as The Gardener before being completed by Don Jones who included much more graphic death sequences and additional scenes to pad out the film. It follows the grotesque gardener Caleb who tries his best to assist the busy housewives of a suburban idyll with their lawns, only for them to reject him for his strangeness. After he sings the praises of his brother Lester, the wonderful man himself visits the various women and charms them into falling for him, only for the crazed Lester to reject them fatally. As police interest in the domestic killings begins to expand in volume, the connection between the two brothers becomes more and more blurred until the shocking truth is ultimately revealed. Even with the accomplished and gloriously theatrical performance of main man James Lemp, the film may have faded from obscurity under its original title, but the final result helmed by Jones fell foul of the DPP’s watchful eye, probably just for the title’s suggestive hint of sex and violence together.