The Bloody Brood [DVD] [1959]

The Bloody Brood
At the start of his film career and just a year before his appearance in Murder, Inc. would get him Academy Award notice, Peter Falk played Nico, the strung-out, emotionally dead psychopath who leads a group of societal misfits in this sick and slick, low-budget crime drama. Cliff (Jack Betts) is an ordinary young man determined to find out who murdered his kid brother by giving him a hamburger mixed with ground glass. Detective McLeod (Robert Christie), who is supposed to be investigating the case, is woefully inept, but Cliff has Ellie (Barbara Lord), a woman with problems of her own, willing to help him out. Eventually, the murder is traced to Nico and his henchmen as Cliff begins to sort out how the crime was committed. Although the dialogue is surface deep, just like the characters, the direction (Julian Roffman), the acting, and the repulsive nature of the content of this crime drama make up for any deficiencies. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi