I had no idea what I was getting myself into with "NURSE JILL". What we do get is an atypical, no frills, hallucinogenic 16mm independent exploitation throwback(?), although set in modern times, but filmed in the style of that grindhouse era, even with some added grain. A very experimental and unique effort, as it goes a step further, wasn't intentional due to a lack of resources (no budget), but how it played out, there was no spoken dialogue, just minimal dialogue cards flashing up on screen like out of a silent film. It surprisingly works. My favorite aspect of the film was the moody, retro sounding music score, which never lets up with its vast expressive arrangement, creating the perfect ambiance and working well alongside the authentic shot-on-location atmospherics.
It had me thinking of those sleazy, scuzzy, soul-destroying Giallos, slashers and psychopathic 70/80s features, and the narrative is broken up into three parts; Victim (probably the most effective), WTF (is the best way of describing without spoiling it) and stalker rapist (where I found it to lose some interest in spite of the psychological toiling and retribution angle). They do connect, but it's quite random, especially the squirmy bizarro Waters-esque mid-section. Where you get a disfigured woman (supposedly the victim in well-done make-up FX) held captive by an utterly strange, depraved family, where two scrawny brothers strip, constantly fondle themselves and pretty much jack off right in your face as the camera zooms in. Just say there's even a deleted scene from that segment involving a golden shower. So yeah, it doesn't hold back, so be warned.
While the nudity is quite graphic and sexual violence can be intrusively nasty. Blood and splatter, and there's little of it, is terribly meek though, in what looks like food leftovers, but a $3,000 budget can only go so far. That's why I found the first segment to be the most efficient, it's a little more one-note as it focused on the mannerisms of a solid Heather Marie Vernon to draw upon the suspense and paranoia from such a simple layout having a mask wearing creeper (sometimes in POV shots) stalking her as she goes about her business. I never got bored of the constant wandering of the streets imagery.
In the end I found it fascinating, rather than entertaining.
